CHAPTER XII. 



Diseases of the Digestive System. 



These generally arise from errors in diet, the food being 

 either too bulky or too concentrated, too rich or too poor, not 

 sufficient food or over-feeding an excess of indigestible foodstuff, 

 or a deficiency of the same, to which may also be added irregular 

 feeding. A concentrated food, if fed in large quantities, pro- 

 duces indigestion, the effect being felt in the stomach. Food 

 should not enter the stomach in a wholly digestible state, as that 

 organ needs a stimulus to make it work, the stimulus resulting 

 from the irritation caused by the indigestible matter in the 

 food. It will be found that of all the classes of diseases affecting 

 sheep those of the digestive system are the most numerous, more 

 losses probably occurring from them than from all the other 

 classes combined. 



Hpbtba; Sore JMoutb. 



This is a very troublesome and at times even fatal affec- 

 tion. It is generally seen occurring among lambs in the early 

 spring, those still sucking the ewes being most frequently 

 affected. Older sheep sometimes are severely affected by it. 

 Stock over two years old, however, is rarely attacked by this 

 disease. There seems to be some ground for the belief that feed- 

 ing sheep turnips has a tendency to cause this condition ; errors in 

 diet are also supposed causes, improper sanitary conditions, the 

 spores of certain fungi, low vitality, and in aged sheep carious 

 teeth, etc., have all been set down as causes of aphtha. The 

 fact, however, that even in simple aphtha the teats of the ewe be- 



