1905.] 



Navel III of Lambs. 



679 



'.he germs become fewer in number, and may ultimately be 

 reduced to a negligible quantity. 



A site for lambing the ewes must be chosen as free from 

 infective material as possible, and there is no doubt that ewes 

 lambing in the fields rear a greater number of lambs than in 

 temporary or permanent lambing yards. Shelter, if necessary 

 can be provided by strawed hurdles dotted about the fields in 

 the form of a cross, or arranged to break the prevailing winds. 

 These hurdles should be frequently re-strawed and moved to 

 fresh spots during the lambing season. 



The system in vogue in some counties of passing the whole 

 flock of ewes, if a big one, through one lambing yard cannot be 

 too severely condemned. A large flock should be split into as 

 many divisions as convenience will allow ; it is then possible to 

 confine disease to the divisions in which it occurs. If the 

 lambing yard system is adopted it is imperative that a fresh 

 site should be chosen each year. 



All dead lambs and the membranes in which they are born 

 should be buried promptly. Straw on hurdles and for bedding 

 should be renewed occasionally and hurdles should be lime- 

 washed. Manure and straw from hurdles should be placed in a 

 heap, fenced off from the ewes, and should never go on to sheep 

 pastures. At the end of the season the site of the yard should 

 be spread with lime and the hurdles lime-washed. 



In addition to these preventive measures, care should be 

 taken that the shepherd does not carry disease- from ewe to 

 lamb or from lamb to lamb. A shepherd's hands must be 

 continually and scrupulously cleansed ; washing with soap and 

 water is not enough, they must also be disinfected. Nails 

 should be kept short and scrubbed with a nail brush. His 

 clothes should be covered with a lambing coat which can be 

 washed. Dead ewes or lambs should not be skinned by the 

 shepherd. A little disinfectant should be applied to the navel 

 of each lamb immediately after birth. Stockholm tar has been 

 found useful for this purpose. A ewe which has given birth to 

 a dead lamb should not be allowed to run with the healthy 

 ewes and lambs. 



Treatment. — If an outbreak should occur the attacked lambs, 

 with their mothers, should be isolated on a spot not likely to be 



