22 BULLETIN 573, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



must be repeated. The appearance of stomach worms sometimes 

 can be prevented to some extent by the use of copperas or turpen- 

 tine, which may be fed with salt. Equal weights of copperas and 

 salt may be used, or the salt may be saturated with turpentine. 



The small tapeworm 1 is at present the most serious internal 

 parasite on the project. This worm is usually found to be 4 or 5 

 inches in length, although a few reach a length of 6 inches. Usually 

 it produces no bad effect until the sheep are changed from green 

 feed to dry feed in the fall. At this time the worms enter the 

 sheep's bile duct and cause death. While the worms are still in the 

 intestines the same treatments that are valuable in expelling stomach 

 worms are effective in expelling the small tapeworm, but no known 

 treatment is effective after the tapeworms enter the bile duct. The, 

 life history of this parasite is not well understood. So far, the worm 

 has been found on the project only in those flocks that have been 

 kept on certain summer ranges. 



The large tapeworm 2 is not common on the project. Where this 

 worm is present it is easily removed from the mature sheep through 

 the administration of a dosje of 2 drams of extract of male shield- 

 fern in half a cup of milk. Lambs are given sqmewhat smaller doses. 

 The treatment is followed two hours later by a dose of castor oil. 



Foot-rot. Fortunately foot-rot has been extremely rare on the 

 project. So far as known, it has not occurred where the yards used 

 in winter have been kept dry and clean and where the sheep have 

 not been grazed in wet pastures in summer. A remedy which is 

 popular in Idaho consists of the application to the affected parts 

 every four days of a solution of 1 pound of copper sulphate in 1 

 gallon of vinegar. 



Digestive disorders. The three principal digestive disorders among 

 sheep on the project are scours, constipation, and bloat. Sheep fre- 

 quently suffer from scours shortly after they are turned on fields to 

 clean up beet tops. The difficulty may be prevented if the sheep 

 are given some feed in addition to the beet tops. This feed may be 

 hay, or it may be provided through giving the sheep access to stubble 

 fields in connection with the beet-top pasture. Some farmers over- 

 come the difficulty by pasturing the sheep in other fields and hauling 

 the beet tops to them. This practice is not common, however, 

 because of its labor requirements. The remedy usually applied is 

 a teaspoonful of ginger in a cup of warm water. In severe cases, the 

 remedy is 1 teaspoonful of laudanum administered in milk to mature 

 sheep and somewhat smaller doses for lambs. Constipation ordi- 

 narily occurs among the older, broken-mouthed sheep in the winter 

 in the flocks which are fed hay alone. A dose of Epsom salts or castor 



* Tacnia fimbriatc, - Taenia expansia. 



