484 Feeds mid Feeding. 



Sheep require salt, and it should be supplied them at regular in- 

 tervals. In winter it may be given in a trough used only for this pur- 

 pose. In summer salt may be rendered doubly useful by scattering 

 it on the sprouts growing about the stumps, on brush patches, or over 

 noxious weeds. Some western sheep raisers never salt their sheep 

 but allow them to eat alkali, which is safe for them when it contains 

 80 per ct. of salt.^ It is believed that salted sheep are less liable to 

 become locoed. (91) 



784. The stomach worm. — In the territory east of the Mississippi 

 river the stomach worm, Strongylus contortus, is a serious menace to 

 sheep raising, lambs being especially susceptible to attack. The eggs 

 of the parasite pass in the droppings of the sheep and are scattered 

 about the pastures, where they soon hatch. Sheep become infested 

 only by swallowing the worms while grazing. Fields on which no 

 sheep, cattle, or goats have grazed for a year, and those that have been 

 freshly plowed and cultivated since sheep grazed thereon, are prac- 

 tically free from infection. Old blue-grass pastures are especially 

 to be avoided. During warm weather, otherwise clean pastures may- 

 become infested in from 3 to 14 days by grazing sheep thereon. 



To remove the worms from the intestinal tract of sheep, various 

 drenches are recommended by breeders, such as 1 tablespoonful of 

 turpentine, benzine, or gasoline, thoroly mixed with 5 to 6 ounces of 

 fresh cow's milk, with a tablespoonful of raw linseed oil added. The 

 above dose, suitable for a lamb of average size, should be increased 

 for older sheep. Creosote has been highly recommended, 8 ounces 

 of a 1 per cent solution in water being a dose for young lambs. Wing^ 

 advocates feeding dried tobacco, either alone or mixed with salt, to 

 lambs and ewes as a preventive and remedy, but breeders disagree on 

 the value of this treatment. 



Tho these remedies are of value, prevention of infection has 

 proved more successful. Kleinheinz, the shepherd of the Wisconsin 

 Station, recommends the following system of handling sheep and 

 lambs : In the northern United States worm-free and infested sheep 

 may graze together in a clean field at any time from the last of 

 September until May with little danger. From June to Septem- 

 ber change to fresh, clean pasture every 2 or 3 weeks. Annual pas- 

 tures, as rape, clover seeding, etc., are well adapted to this system. 

 This effective method requires several separate, clean pasture lots. 

 In the warmer sections the sheep should be changed to clean pasture 



^ Wilcox and Smith, Farmer 's Cyclopedia of Live Stock, p. 590. 

 " Sheep Farming in America. 



