140 



FARMER'S CYCLOPEDIA OF LIVE STOCK 



ease be treated in a preventive way by 

 avoiding tbe conditions wbich cause it, 

 it is the best policy to fatten all ewes 

 wbicb have once aborted and sell them 

 for mutton. It is useless to take further 

 chances with them as breeding stock. 



Garget — This trouble may be due to 

 exposure to cold soon after lambing, 

 bruises caused by the lamb, or by strik- 

 ing against stones or other hard objects. 

 The disease appears most frequently in 

 old ewes and the time finally comes with 

 every ewe when she can no longer be 

 used for breeding purposes for the rea- 

 son that the udder is almost sure to be 

 affected with garget or mammitis. On 

 the western sheep ranges where little 

 attention can be given to each particu- 

 lar ewe in regard to the condition of the 

 udder, it has been found advisable not 

 to keep ewes for breeding purposes be- 

 yond the age of about six years. In 

 small flocks where individual treatment 

 can be given to each affected ewe, doses 

 of Epsom salts in 3 or 4 ounces may be 

 given followed by an ointment applied 

 directly to the udder and consisting of 

 4 ounces of vaseline, 2 ounces of cam- 

 phor ointment, and V2 ounce of extract 

 of belladonna. The ewe should also be 

 thoroughly milked for a few days in or- 

 der to relieve the congestion of the 

 udder 



Sore eyes — Dust, pollen and other ma- 

 terials may cause an inflammation of the 

 eyes and this trouble is particularly fre- 

 quent on the dry, dusty ranges, especially 

 where the dust contains considerable 

 alkali. If it is possible or desirable to 

 give individual treatment in such cases, 

 a good eye wash may be prepared by 

 mixing 30 grains of boric acid and 15 

 grains of sulphate of zinc in 3 ounces 

 of water. Occasionally an eye disease 

 or ophthalmia appears in an apparently 

 infectious form, but it may be due to the 

 presence of dust as just mentioned and 

 may affect a large number of animals 

 giving the appearance of an infection. 

 If the discharge from the eyes should 

 become thick and purulent, it may be de- 

 sirable to shut the sheep up in a dark 

 place. After bathing the eyes in warm 

 water blow into them a mixture of equal 

 parts of calomel and boric acid. 



Eczema — On account of the fact that 

 the skin of sheep is so abundantly pro- 

 tected by the heavy coat of wool, eczema 

 is of rare occurrence among these ani- 

 mals. Occasionally an eczemic condi- 



tion of the skin is brought about as a 

 result of parasitism of internal worms. 

 A form of the disease known as moist 

 eczema occurs in sheep which are in 

 poor condition and suffer from unusual 

 exposure to cold rains. Eczema may ap- 

 pear most frequently on thin Avooled 

 sheep, especially in animals on which the 

 wool parts on the back in such a man- 

 ner as to receive and hold water during 

 rains storms. Recovery ordinarily takes 

 place spontaneously and as a rule there 

 is no satisfactory treatment except to 

 change the conditions under which the 

 sheep were kept so as to prevent the 

 agencies which have caused the disease 

 from continuing in operation. Other 

 forms of eczema sometimes occur in 

 sheep, for example, one which is quite 

 similar to grease in the horse. Fagopy- 

 rism is also known in sheep. This is 

 due to eating too much buckwheat or 

 the milling products of this grain or to 

 eating large quantities of wild buck- 

 wheat, smartweed, or other wild plants 

 closely related to buckwheat. The symp- 

 toms consist in a swelling and slough- 

 ing off of the external part of the skin, 

 particularly about the head, face and 

 other parts of the body covered only with 

 short wool. 



Foot rot — Apparently there are two 

 forms of foot rot, the contagious and 

 noncontagious. It is not always cer- 

 tain, however, that the slight cases which 

 appear to be noncontagious are not 

 caused by the specific organism of foot 

 rot. Infection apparently takes place 

 as a result of injuries to the hoof, partic- 

 ularly between tbe two halves of the 

 hoof, and this infection is particidarly 

 dangerous when the hoofs are allowed 

 to grow too long so as to inclose vari- 

 ous filthy substances between the two 

 halves. As a result of an extensive 

 study of this disease by Mohler and 

 Washburn it appears that the first evi- 

 dence of the disease is a slight lameness 

 which rapidly increases, and a reddened, 

 feverish condition of the hoof. The ex- 

 perienced sheepman is able to detect at 

 once the existence of the disease by the 

 peculiar odor of the infected hoofs. 

 When no treatment is applied pus forms 

 under the hoof and leads to the com- 

 plete loosening of the hoof, finally also 

 attacking the bone. If no attention is 

 given to the affected animal, the disease 

 may assume a chronic form and lead to 

 great malformation of the hoof and bone 



