404 MANAGEMENT AND FEEDING OF SHEEP 



some offensive substance which will keep the flies away. 

 The following is one of the best of these : Take equal 

 parts of tar and grease, tar and fish oil, or tar and whale 

 oil soap. Mix them and apply with a brush. This appli- 

 cation must be repeated every few days, as it soon loses 

 its potency. A second method secures some strong 

 scented dip and applies the same as a spray on the sheep 

 as they are bunched. Yet another preventive, and prob- 

 ably the best that can be resorted to, is to provide the 

 sheep with a cool, well-ventilated and darkened resting 

 place in which they may remain during the heat of the 

 day in the warm season. Then it is that the fly does its 

 mischievous work. 



Treatment for grub in the head is practically out of 

 the question. In some rare instances a skilled veterinarian 

 may destroy the grubs by trephining, but in more in- 

 stances failure will result. The cost involved in the case 

 of common sheep is too great to justify resorting to this 

 kind of treatment. 



Ailments from digestive sources — The ailments from 

 digestive sources are many. In this volume it would be 

 impossible to discuss all of these. Such a discussion may 

 properly belong to a work on the diseases of sheep. The 

 following only will be discussed: (i) Bloat and its treat- 

 ment; (2) overtaxed digestion and its treatment; (3) 

 diarrhea and the treatment; (4) colic and the treatment; 

 and (5) stretches and the treatment. 



Bloat, sometimes and probably more frequently called 

 "hoven," may result from any abrupt change to a palata- 

 ble diet, especially one that contains much moisture. In 

 this country it is usually caused by eating too freely of 

 such rations as rape, clover and alfalfa, especially when 

 these are quite succulent. The danger is increased when 

 these foods are wet with rain or dew, or are in a more 

 or less frozen condition. Feeding upon the tops of imma- 

 ture mangels may also produce bloat. Fermentation of 

 the food in the rumen is the immediate cause of this con- 



