BIIEEP, THEIR DISEASES. 
320 
The Teeth. 
The sheep has eight incisors in the lower jaw, and twelve grinders— 
Bix on a side in each jaw, — making in all thirty-two teeth. At birth the 
lamb should have the two central incisors just pushing through. At a 
month old all the incisors should be up. At one year, sometimes not 
tjptil fifteen months old, the two first milk incisors will be shed, and two 
l^ew or permanent ones will appear. At two years old past, it will have 
tj^vo more permanent teeth, or four in all. At three years old past it 
will havo six permanent incisors, and at four years old past the eight 
permanent teeth, or a full mouth, as it is called, will be shown. This 
will be an accurate test as to the age of sheep, up to four years, varied of 
course by care and keep ; highly fed sheep developing faster than illy 
kept ones. At six the incisors begin to decrease in breadth, and lose 
their fan shape, as seen at four years old. At seven they become longer 
and narrower, and each year this shrinkage continues, until at last they 
become quite slender, the middle ones long, and at ten years they loosen 
and begin to drop out. In the West few sheep are kept to the age of 
ten years, except in the case of valuable ewes and bucks. The principal 
care necessary with the teeth is, if decay is suspected, to examine, and 
extract the decayed ones, or pierce the nerve with a hot iron. 
Swelled Head. 
Sheep sometimes are bitten by venomous snakes, but this seldom 
occurs, and when so the animal is usually beyond help before being 
fpund. The bites of insects however, sometimes give trouble. When 
swelling from this cause is discovered, cut the wool from around the 
wound, wash with warm water, dry, rub thoroughly with lard oil, and if 
the insect may have been a venomous one, give the following dose each 
hour until relief is obtained : 
No. h Scruple hartshorn, 
1 Ounce rainwater. 
Vegetable Poisoning. 
The faces of the sheep sometimes become poisoned from feed' j/g Rear 
noxious plants. Bathe the sore place with warm water, and then moisten 
with the following i 
No. a. 10 Grains acetate of lead, 
1 Ounco water. 
Dissolve. 
