318 



Diseases of Sheep. 



shortly disappear. Epsom salts, to the extent of two ounces, 

 may be usefully given ; and, when the sheep recovers, it should be 

 housed during the continuance of severe weather. The first week 

 of spring will cure every patient without further trouble. 



Consumption is a more common disorder among sheep than 

 is generally supposed : the animal being usually killed as soon as 

 a wasting of the condition becomes apparent, consumption has 

 scarcely time to assume its peculiar and decided character. The 

 lungs of the sheep, however, are rarely found quite free from dis- 

 ease. This may be ascribed to various causes. While the cough 

 is only in an incipient stage the animal does not lose condition or 

 appetite, and consequently the animal is disregarded until dis- 

 ease has made considerable progress. His exposure to wet and 

 cold continues ; he is shorn with the rest of the flock, without 

 regard to weather or to his peculiar infirmity of cough ; and thus 

 the symptoms are daily aggravated, when, by a little prudential 

 management in the beginning, he might possilDly have been cured. 

 At length, if his gradual decline renders it expedient to destroy 

 him, he is killed before the real nature of the complaint is dis- 

 covered. Attention should be given to every case of cough as 

 soon as it shows itself; and the best precaution is at once to 

 remove the sheep to a sheltered situation. 



The Foot-Rot is a complaint which I am well assured has by 

 the generality of writers on the subject been treated of much more 

 from theoretical knowledge than practical experience ; for, although 

 the symptoms and remedies appear plausible and read well, yet a 

 short trial of the latter will soon prove their absurdity. It is a 

 disease with which I am intimately acquainted, having for six 

 years superintended a flock in a county where it was very preva- 

 lent, and I have cured thousands. The disease generally com- 

 mences with a soreness between the claws attended with slight in- 

 flammation, which quickly insinuates itself beneath the horny 

 part of the hoof. The crust becomes gradually detached as the 

 ulcerous sores extend, and, finally, the hoof itself is lost. 



It is most prevalent in the fall of the year, and, as this form of 

 the complaint is found to affect many of a flock at the same time, 

 it is generally considered to be highly contagious : but there is no 

 sufficient e\idence of this, and my experience is opposed to the 

 doctrine.* For instance, when residing in Cambridgeshire I was in 



* Does the author draw the proper distinction between " foot-rot" and 

 *' sore feet?" I can scarcely conceive a more dangerous error than the be- 

 lief that foot-rot is not infectious. If it were acted upon it would more than 

 decimate our flocks in the course of a very few years. — W. Youatt. 



In differing from such an authority as Mr. Youatt I may be considered 

 presumptuous, yet, feeling convinced by my own experience that I am right, 

 I still maintain that *' foot-rot" is not very infectious. The sheep alluded to 



