266 



Foot-Rot of Sheep. 



[JULY, 



specially constructed shallow baths, containing one of the 

 preparations recommended below, on two or three occasions 

 during the first week or ten days after arrival and before mixing 

 with the other stock. 



3. The shepherd should always wash and disinfect his hands 

 after examination of the recently imported stock before attend- 

 ing to any of the old stock, and the same remarks apply after 

 the examination of any individual suspected case. 



4. It is advisable to afford contaminated pastures a rest from 

 sheep until a winter's frost has intervened. 



5. Attention must be given to the sheep fold and other pens, 

 which should be thoroughly and effectually disinfected, and 

 the manure and a few inches of the surface soil should be 

 removed and ploughed into the land. 



Remedy. — 1. In the first place examination of the entire 

 flock and separation of the healthy from the diseased animals 

 should be carried out. The apparently healthy sheep should 

 be daily, or every second day, put through a shallow bath or 

 trough containing some suitable preparation, and the treatment 

 may be advantageously continued for ten to fourteen days 

 after the last case is detected. 



2. It has been observed that a sheep may apparently recover 

 without treatment from foot-rot, and the disease may break out 

 again in the same sheep after an interval of several weeks. 

 The second attack may be even worse than the first attack, 

 but the animal may eventually recover without treatment, 

 or it may die. Treatment, however, is necessary to avoid 

 loss, and prompt measures will materially assist in arrest- 

 ing the spread of the disease to other members of the 

 flock. The earlier the cases are recognised and treated, the 

 more readily and certainly will they yield to treatment, and 

 aggravated and advanced cases — usually the result of neglect — 

 should rarely occur. Everything possible should be done to 

 prevent the disease extending into the deeper structures, 

 which cannot be effectually treated without permanent damage 

 to the foot. After thorough cleansing of the affected foot, all 

 detached horn should be freely but carefully removed, so as to 

 expose the affected sensitive surfaces. A little skill and patience 

 must be exercised in paring away the horn of the foot, and the 

 •operation should not be carried out in the somewhat rough and 



