SOME ANIMAL DISEASES 
5 
legs and lips are more commonly affected. There is not much in¬ 
flammation surrounding the diseased area, only deep, angry looking 
ulcers that will not heal and gradually grow larger. This condition of 
the lips of sheep is not to be confused with a sore mouth condition 
which often appears in sheep and lasts for a few days when they have 
first been put on heavy feed. 
In case of infectious dermatitis the feet are especially liable to 
become sore, between the claws or just above the hoof; the mouth 
will become so sore that they can not eat and very seldom do they 
recover without treatment. 
Treatment: If the sheep be watched carefully and upon the first 
appearance of the disease the ulcers are cauterized deep with a stick 
of lunar caustic, the disease may be checked. If the disease has pro¬ 
gressed far, the ulcers penetrating deep into the flesh and the system 
poisoned by the toxins of the germ, it is better to destroy them and 
burn the carcasses. 
If the disease has made its appearance in your flock proceed to 
clean it up in exactly the same way as is recommended in the preceed- 
ing article on sore mouth disease of pigs. 
Poisonous Weeds. 
By Dr. Geo. H. Glover. 
The weed has been defined as a plant out of place. We have in 
the arid West probably a greater variety of plants, certainly a greater 
variety of poisonous weeds than can be found anywhere else in the 
United States. The different loco weeds easily take first place from 
the standpoint of the disaster wrought to the livestock interests of the 
State. The Experiment Station is doing everything possible with its 
limited means to investigate the different poisonous plants on the open 
range, and with the view especially of trying to determine some means 
of lessening the heavy mortality by prevention, antidotes, etc. 
LOCO WEEDS. 
About four years ago the Colorado Experiment Station undertook 
a co-operative investigation of the loco weeds in conjunction with the 
U. S. Department of Agriculture. 
This much has been determined, as reported by the Bureau of 
Plant Industry, Bulletin No. 121, part 3. 
Symptoms of Loco Poisoning: “The principal symptoms are the 
lowered head, rough coat, slow staggering gait, movements showing 
lack of muscular coordination, sometimes more or less paralytic 
symptoms, a general diseased nervous system, and in the later stages of 
the disease, extreme emaciation.” 
Pathological Changes: “The principal pathological changes are 
pronounced anemia of the whole system, diseased stomach walls, and in 
acute cases a congested condition of the walls of the stomach, while in 
chronic cases there are frequently ulcers. Generally speaking, locoed 
cattle have ulcers in the fourth stomach. There is an excess of fluids 
in the various cavities of the body. This is especially noticeable in the 
epidural space of the spinal canal. Plere the effusion is more or less 
