220 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



July 



5! 



GRUBS IN THE HEAD OF SHEEP. 



The following valuable communication, written 

 by Robert M. Montgomery, President of the Ohio 

 State Wool Growers' Association, is copied, some- 

 what abridged, from the Rural New Yorker : 



In April, 1862, my attention was called to a 

 flock of sheep owned by my neighbor, Mr. A.. 

 He had about one hundred, of which thirty-five 

 were what are hereafter to be known as "tegs." 

 They were apparently in fine condition until the 

 first of February. But then the tegs began to de- 

 cline — refused their food, and went languidly 

 about with watery eyes and drooping ears — dis- 

 charging from the nostrils, and exhibiting general 

 and increasing debility. Early in March they be- 

 gan to die. Those which sickened early died in 

 from three to four weeks. But those which sick- 

 ened later in the season died in from five to eight 

 days. After some ten or twelve were dead, it was 

 suggested that there might be "grubs," and an ex- 

 amination disclosed large numbers of them lying 

 high up in the head, and many of them in the 

 root of the horns. The only available remedy 

 known to us, being a decoction of tobacco, was, 

 of course, resorted to, and was administered to 

 sick and well ones indiscriminately. There was 

 some asafcetida in the tobacco juice, but I do not 

 consider this important. All which showed an ad- 

 vanced stage of the disease when the tobacco was 

 first given, died. A part of those which exhibit- 

 ed a milder indisposition recovered slowly, and 

 those which seemed well at that time continyed 

 well, and the disease, whatever it was, ceased to 

 prey upon the flock. And here let it be noted, 

 none of Mr. A's sheep sickened or died except 

 the tegs. Let it also be noted that the male por- 

 tion of them remained entire until they were five 

 or six months old, and consequently had horns 

 nearly or quite as large as if they had been rams. 

 The ewes and wethers (stags) were kept together 

 and treated in every way alike. Two only of those 

 without horns died ; while but three or four of 

 the eighteen having horns were left. 



Taking counsel of my neighbor's misfortune, I 

 then paid more attention to my own sheep. I 

 found nothing wrong with any of the flocks ex- 

 cept the ram tegs, of which I had about sixty. 

 I found but one of them which would have at- 

 tracted the attention of a casual observer ; but 

 three or four others, to an experienced eye, showed 

 evident symptoms of disease. The syringe was 

 immediately in requisition, and tobacco and asa- 

 foetida injected up the nostrils of the sick and well 

 alike, on every alternate, or at most on every 

 third day, for perhaps two weeks. The result 

 was that about six of the sixty died. Some eight 

 or ten others sickened, but eventually recovered, 

 and the remaining forty-five continued in good 

 health and condition. It may be remarked here 

 that my neighbor, who neglected to apply any rem- 

 edy till the disease had made serious inroads, lost 

 about 80 per cent, of his horned tegs, while I, hav- 

 ing applied remedies early, lost only 10 per cent. 



Presuming that the grubs were the probable 

 cause of the disease, two questions arose. Could 

 liquids be so injected as to reach their location ? 

 and what effect would certain liquids have? To 

 obtain an answer to the first question, I examined 

 carefully the structure of the head. But to make 

 "assurance doubly sure," I selected a sheep which 



was quite sick, and bored a hole one-fourth of an 

 inch in diameter in each of the horns about an 

 inch above the wool, and also two holes in his 

 bead, about half way between his horns and eyes. 

 I found that liquids injected into the nostrils came 

 out freely through each and all of these holes. 



It then remained to determine the effect on the 

 grubs in different stages of development, varying 

 from the white one of less than a quarter of an 

 inch in length to the full grown brown one of one 

 and a quarternnches. I placed them first in a de- 

 coction of tobacco and asafcetida. The small ones 

 died in about two minutes, but the larger ones, 

 although showing signs of discomfort, gave no in- 

 dication of immediate death. 



From the above, and from other observations, 1 

 deduce the following conclusions : — That the eggs 

 are usually deposited in the latter part of summer ; 

 that it depends very much on circumstances when 

 they are hatched ; that a large proportion are thrown 

 out and are never hatched ; that it also depends 

 on circumstances whether the grubs are fully de- 

 veloped in a long or short time, usually, however, 

 in the latter part of winter and early spring. But 

 1 have seen them very small in the spring, and 

 have also seen them fulLgrown in the fall. I con- 

 clude, also, that they are not confined to any one 

 class of sheep, though young sheep, and especially 

 if they have horns, are more subject to them, be- 

 cause the larger opening at the root of the horn 

 affords them a more secure resting place above and 

 beyond the sneezing power of the sheep to dislodge 

 them ; that sheep in delicate health are more sub- 

 ject to be affected by them than strong, healthy 

 ones ; that sheep may and often do have grubs 

 and still remain in good health, but that in other 

 cases they produce serious and often fatal results. 



And now, Mr. Editor, if I may presume to ad- 

 vise your readers, it is as follows : Let the sheep's 

 nose be smeared with pine tar so frequently as to 

 carry the smell all the time during the summer. 

 This seems to be a partial preventive, but not ab- 

 solute ; therefore, as a more certain resort, let it 

 be followed during the fall (say once a month) 

 while the grubs are usually but partially developed, 

 with injections of tobacco juice ; because, it will be 

 remembered that in the experiment above, the to- 

 bacco proved immediately fatal to all the small 

 ones, while it but slightly disturbed the larger 

 ones. This will ordinarily be sufficient, but may 

 be continued as circumstances indicate. This 

 practice, however, is attended with some little 

 danger to the life of the sheep ; because, if the 

 tobacco is too strong or in large quantity, and (to 

 use the common expression) goes the wrong way, 

 it will produce sickness and perhaps death in from 

 one to five minutes. But this is not a common 

 occurrence. Sometimes, after they have fallen 

 and are apparently dying, if they are taken up by 

 the hind legs and shaken severely they will recov- 

 er. It does them no harm after the first parox- 

 ysms are over. 



I can give no such directions about preparing 

 the tobacco as will enable an inexperienced hand 

 to get it certainly right at first. I advise, there- 

 fore, as follows: — Take half a pound of plug to- 

 bacco and steep it in six quarts of water ; then 

 with a good syringe inject a small tablespoonful 

 into each nostril, and try it on the least valuable 

 ones first, and then increase in strength or quan- 

 tity as the sheep are able to bear it. 



