Diseases of Sheep. 



319 



the habit of purchasing ewes from a distant county, and generally 

 on their arrival found several affected with the foot-rot. They were 

 allowed to run with the other sheep, but the disease did not spread 

 to any extent, seldom above three or four of the flock being slightly 

 affected besides the new comers, and in a short time by attention 



were purchased in Devonshire, and from a flock seldom or ever free from the 

 complaint. They were sent to London in a steam-packet, and some of the 

 lame ones conveyed from thence in a cart. It is therefore clear it could not 

 be " sore feet" occasioned by travelHng. I have often found both fore feet 

 much diseased, and the hind feet perfectly sound; this, to me, appears a 

 proof of my assertion. The disease prevails most in small woody enclosures 

 where the land is of a rich quality, and is very troublesome in the autumn. 

 I consider that one of its chief causes originates from the dew remaining on 

 the rank pasturage, under the hedges, whilst the centre of the field is free 

 from it ; the feet of the sheep in consequence are alternately wet and dry. 

 These frequent transitions tend to harden the hoof, or vice versa, and end 

 in producing a soreness between the claws, which, if not immediately at- 

 tended to, ulcerated, corroding the hoof, &c. &c. — The Author. 



I have never heard a doubt expressed by any farmer with whom I have 

 conversed on the subject, of the foot-rot being contagious. — F. Burke. 



" There is much doubt whether the foot-rot is contagious ; it may in some 

 degree be so, by inoculation, when the disorder is at the worst, and a dis- 

 charge of the acrid matter is left on the ground. The writer had the care 

 of 700 ewes in the year 1829, and found that the tlock suddenly fell lame, 

 in the autumn of that year, from foot-rot ; no cause could be assigned for 

 such an occurrence : after considerable time a cure was eifected, and it did 

 not again appear until the autumn of 1839, a space of ten years, when it a 

 second time broke out, and, in the course of a few days after the disorder 

 had re-visited the flock, nearly half of the sheep were affected. I should, 

 therefore, suppose the cause to be one and the sam.e, although a part of the 

 flock in the first instance escaped its ravages. It is highly desirable, in 

 order to efibct a quick and certain cure, to dress the whole of the flock, 

 whether lameness has shown itself or not, as the disease takes place seve- 

 ral days before the lameness becomes visihle ; and by dressing the sheep 

 in this early state of the disorder the cure will be greatly facilitated. I have 

 never found a cure so soon produced as by using butyr of antimony, after 

 paring the foot in the usual way, care being taken to put the antimony be- 

 tween the claw of the foot with a feather." 



These remarks were written by John Rusbridger, Esq., my Agent in 

 Sussex, and who for many years has had the superintendence of my South- 

 down fiocks in that county. The autumns of 1829 and 1839 were both very 

 wet.— Richmond. 



I unfortunately had a good deal of foot-rot some years ago, and am de- 

 cidedly of opinion that it is infectious, and I think the more so on good pastu- 

 rage than on poor, unless great attention be paid to the sheep's feet being 

 regularly pared ; and I do think that Mr. Cleeve has not by any means laid 

 the proper stress on the requisite paring of the flock's feet ; for in good pas- 

 turage, where the sheep has to ramble very little for his food, his feet are 

 more liable to grow and form pockets over the sole, so that the matter left 

 by the diseased foot is the more liable to be taken up and retained ; whereas, 

 on a poor pasture, the animal is more on his legs, and consequently the wear 

 is equal to the growth of the horn, and the flock far less liable to have the 

 foot-rot communicated to them. I remained free from this dreadful disease 



