156 TREATMENT OF EWES AFTEE LAMBING. 



!_So far as my information extends, this malady is new, 

 infrequent, and in any other form than " stiflF neck " is yet 

 limited to comparatively few localities in our country. 

 Warmth, dryness, non-exposure to the damp ground, etc., 

 and the careful feeding (from the teats of their dams) of those 

 unable to suck, are conditions necessary to recovery ; and as 

 the weather becomes warm and settled it generally disappears 

 without other remedies. In a few cases, however, it has 

 proved quite destructive. VMr. Luther Baker, of Lafayette, 

 New York, had a very valuable flock of Merino ewes, about 

 20 per cent, of the lambs of which died one year, and 50 per 

 cent, another, of this malady — though his sheep were very 

 carefully and judiciously managed. This is by far the severest 

 mortality which has come to my knowledge. Mr. Baker then 

 put his ewes to ram so the lambs would not come until the 

 flock began to be turned to grass, and the malady almost 

 entirely disappeared. The present year (1863) he had but 

 two or three cases, and these were promptly cured by 

 administering three spoonfuls of lard and one spoQnful of 

 turpentine, once or twice, as required, to each lamb.J Some 

 of Mr. Baker's neighbors who had one or two diseased lambs 

 apiece, made use of the same remedy with equal success. 

 The dose above mentioned may prove rather large for a very 

 young lamb. Its constituents render itim appropriate internal 

 remedy for rheumatism. The cathartic, and the stimulating 

 and diuretic properties of the turpentine, are called for. Mr. 

 Spooner recommends (for a grown sheep) two ounces epsom 

 salts, one drachm of ginger and half an ounce of spirit of 

 nitrous ether — rubbing the afiected parts with stimulants, 

 like hartshorn or opodeldoc; and he says if the disease 

 assumes a chronic form, a seaton should be inserted near the 

 part. ^Rheumatism in grown sheep, or chronic rheumatism in 

 lambs, appears to be yet unknown in the United States!] 



Tkeatment of the Ewe aftek Lambing. — Every sound 

 principle of physiology goes to show that the ewe, like every 

 other domestic animal, and like the female human bein^, 

 should be suffered to remain as quiet as possible for some 

 time after parturition. To drive her for any considerable 

 distance immediately after her lamb drops, when exhausted 

 with her labors, and when her womb remains fully distended, 

 is cruel and injurious ; " hounding " her with a shepherd's 

 dog, in that situation, as is sometimes done in driving, because 

 she lingers behind tlie flock, is to the last degree brutal. 



