100 



treatment will be so considerable that in view of any uncertainty of 

 cure few ranchmen will undertake it. 



Preventive treatment. — The most effective service rendered to man 

 and beast by the pliysician has been through the prevention of diseases 

 and the preservation of health by hygienic measures. Appreciating this, 

 and that effective prophylactic treatment of the sheep against infection 

 by Tcenia Jimbriata could not be realized except by the most thorough 

 knowledge of the complete life history of the parasite, my attention was 

 -turned to the investigatiou of its younger stages and those of other un- 

 armed tcenice which were available. Such are the difficulties of this in- 

 vestigation that the gap in the life history, which may exist between 

 the time when the embryo passes from the sheep until it is found, less 

 than a quarter of au inch long, in another sheep, has not been completely 

 investigated. 



From the present knowledge of the development and life of this par- 

 asite there have arisen more difficulties in forming rules of prevention 

 than was at first anticipated. The presence of the adult and young par- 

 asites throughout the year, and the methods of Western sheep ranching 

 are factors which are all-powerful in keeping up the tape-worm disease. 

 The case is not a hopeless one, however, for there are certain phases of 

 feeding and watering the sheep which can probably be advantageously 

 changed, both for the prevention of this and other diseases. 



The feeding occurs on the prairie and in the corral. I would recom- 

 mend that the ewes with their lambs should be pastured on a portion 

 of the prairie that had not been run over by sheep for some months 

 previous. They could be driven to the new pastures about the time 

 that the lambs begin to nibble at the grass and drink water. After the 

 lambs are weaned they should be changed to fresh uncontauiinated 

 pastures until winter, and other older sheep put on the range vacated. 

 If there be sufficient range the lambs could be kept on as nearly unin- 

 fected ranges as possible until they become two-year olds. In feeding 

 lambs on grain and hay measures should be taken to keep the food 

 from the ground. The grain should be fed from troughs placed either 

 on a board floor that could be cleansed or on ground kept scrupulously 

 cleaned of all droppings. The hay should be fed from racks. The 

 corrals for the lambs should either be fresh oues or the old ones should 

 be periodically and thoroughly scraped out and cleaned. They should 

 not be put with a greater number of old sheep than is absolutely nec- 

 essary. 



The watering occurs at various places. The usual method is the 

 watering at rivulets or ponds. This should be done, but such places 

 should be fenced in and troughs provided into which the fresh water 

 could run. These troughs should be raised a little above the surface of 

 the ground so that they could receive no surface drainage. By the aid 

 of pumps and wind-mills this could be easily accomplished. Most water- 

 ing places are so situated that by conducting the water through pipes 



