Diseases  of  Cattle  and  Sheep. 
545 
milch  cows,  that  consume  enormous  masses  of  food  of  a rich 
description,  liable  to  this  disease  ? Because  the  growth  of  these 
animals  is  completed,  and  the  capillary  arteries  are  reduced  in 
number,  and  are  neither  active  nor  irritable  as  in  younger  animals  ; 
besides,  other  workmen  are  employed  at  this  period  of  life — 
the  one  in  the  production  of  fat,  and  the  other  in  the  secretion  of 
milk — both  processes  being  safety-valves  to  the  vital  principle 
from  excess  of  food. 
2.  Insufficient  shelter  and  exposure  to  ratn  and  cold, 
and  the  consequences  resulting  therefrom,  will  now  come  under 
consideration,  when  the  subject  of  insufficient  food  will  be  further 
noticed. 
The  combined  agencies  of  cold  and  wet  on  the  animal  frame 
are  important  and  extensive.  When  continued  for  any  length  of 
time  they  appear  to  depress  the  vital  functions,  even  to  the  extent 
of  preventing  the  generation  of  heat.  This  effect  is  frequently 
seen  in  lambs  on  the  Cheviot  Hills  during  the  lambing  season, 
thousands  of  which  die  in  this  manner,  besides  ewes  that  have 
been  insufficiently  fed.  To  prevent  the  severe  losses  incidental 
to  such  seasons,  shelter  by  mounds  and  sheds,  and  belts  of  plan- 
tations, are  had  recourse  to  with  advantage. 
But  although  shelter  on  those  and  other  mountainous  districts 
affords  great  security  to  the  Hock  during  severe  inclement  w'eather, 
there  is  another  necessary  object  to  be  attended  to,  and  that  is 
the  accumulation  of  a stock  of  winter  forage,  such  as  hay  and 
turnips.  The  increase  in  the  weight  of  wool  and  mutton,  leaving 
the  average  mortality  from  the  want  of  it  out  of  the  question,  will 
amply  repay  the  outlay.  The  sheep  on  the  Welsh  mountains 
also  suffer  considerably,  and  great  losses  are  thereby  sustained 
from  want  of  shelter  and  exposure  to  cold.  The  lew  temperature 
on  these  truly  Alpine  regions  may  be  imagined  from  the  circum- 
stance that  sheep  frequently  wander  to  the  height  of  3200  feet  on 
Ben  Nevis,  and  the  decrease  of  temperature  with  increase  of  ele- 
vation is  in  the  ratio  of  1°  for  366  feet  of  ascent. 
The  management  of  cattle  on  mountainous  districts  is  equally 
miserable.  With  the  exception  of  breeding  cows  and  calves,  they 
are  mostly  wintered  in  the  open  field.*  I have  had  no  experi- 
ence of  the  effect  produced  on  cattle  exposed  to  such  influences; 
but  Youatt  t has  given  a distressing  description  of  the  winter 
treatment  of  cattle  in  the  Highlands,  the  consequences  of  expo- 
sure to  severe  weather  and  starvation.  A veterinary  friend  of 
* “ Excepting  breeding  cows  and  calves,  all  the  cattle  are  wintered  in  the  open 
fields.  A little  hay,  and  a few  turnips,  besides  straw,  is  given  in  severe  weather.” 
f “ One-fifth  of  the  cattle  on  the  average  used  to  perish  from  starvation  in  the 
winter,  and  the  remainder  are  afterwards  thinned  by  the  diseases  which  poverty  en- 
genders.”— Youatt. 
