330 



Diseases of Sheep. 



tended, the ordinary diseases of sheep, I will beg: the attention of 

 the sheep-master to some precautionary rules, which, at first sight, 

 may appear commonplace, but which, experience daily tells us, 

 are too much forgotten in practice. The object of the farmer 

 ought to be to grow as many sheep on his farm as is con- 

 sistent with the feed it supplies, and if he exceeds or falls short of 

 this just proportion he will either way be a loser. This is too 

 obvious to require much illustration. In the former case the sheep 

 are starved, and will neither do justice to the land nor pay when 

 sold to the butcher : in the latter much valuable food is wasted, 

 and his profits, as a matter of course, diminished. Another 

 point of consideration is the sudden change of food to which some 

 subject their flocks. The majority of the diseases that I have 

 mentioned in the preceding pages proceed from a sudden change 

 from a scanty to a luxurious diet. It is no uncommon occurrence 

 to see a flock, which has been nearly starved during the winter, 

 suddenly turned into abundant pasturage on the approach of 

 spring ; or others, which during summer and autumn have re- 

 ceived little attention, and been hardly folded, abruptly put into 

 coleseed or turnips. Diseases arising from indigestion and reple- 

 tion soon follow, and the farmer is astonished at the extent and 

 rapidity of his losses. All this might have been avoided by 

 making the transition a little more gradual. At night the sheep 

 should be removed from their new feed, good sweet hay should 

 for a time form a considerable portion of their diet, and, by slow 

 degrees, the flock might be initiated, as it were, into the full en- 

 joyment of their rich succulent provender. 



Again — a farmer sometimes attends a fair, and purchases a lot 

 of sheep that have been driven a long distance, and for several 

 days have had little better grazing than they could pick up along 

 the side of the drift-way. When he gets them home he imme- 

 diately turns them on to his best grass, and, by this imprudent 

 act, introduces fever or dysentery into the flock. Had he, on 

 the contrary, placed them on a short, cool pasture for a few days, 

 their condition would have improved, and the tone of their sto- 

 mach and bowels have gradually risen to due strength for the 

 reception of richer for}d. 



The farmer, on purchasing his stock, would do well to inquire 

 into the description of the soil to which the lot had been previously 

 accustomed ; and also into their previous habits, as whether they 

 had been folded, &c. If the sheep have been bred on land much 

 superior to his own, he would be wise to reject them, for they are 

 unlikely to thrive on inferior pasturage. If they have come from 

 inferior soils, he must be very careful in preparing them, by gra- 

 dual indulgence, for the richer feed to which they are about to 

 be ransferred. 



