Part 9 (1/2)

Scab was little known any where, but in the Highlands, and the south of England, till the good old custom of smearing with tar and b.u.t.ter gave way before the elegant modern innovations. Into flocks anointed in the old manner it may be carried by infection, but will seldom or never arise spontaneously among them.

It usually commences in spring among hogs, making its first appearance among the rams, especially those of the fine-woolled breeds, and is supposed to be induced by overheating, want, or even excess of nutriment, or pasturing on wet lands in rainy seasons.

(140.) _Treatment of Itch._ Subject the flock to a minute examination whenever the movements of any animal excite suspicion, and remove every one that is in the least affected. Place them in a separate enclosure, and apply either of the following recipes.

Take of Mercurial Ointment four pounds, Venice Turpentine half a pound, Oil of Turpentine one pint:

mix thoroughly.

Separate the wool from the head to the tail and draw the fore finger loaded with a portion of the ointment, along the bottom of the groove.

Then make lines from the middle of the back down each leg and score them in the same manner, thus concluding the operation. Some farmers prefer rubbing the size of a walnut of the ointment into the delicate skin inside the thigh. The former plan is, however, the better of the two, and is the one recommended by Sir Joseph Banks, who communicated the recipe to the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce, in the 7th volume of whose transactions it was published.

A most important benefit to be derived from the application of the mercurial ointment, is the security it affords the sheep from the attack of the sheep f.a.g or ked (_Hippobosca ovina_). The wool of sheep annoyed by this fly always contains joints or knots, owing to the occasional stoppage of its growth consequent on the fretting of the irritated animal. On this account dealers in wool are said to give a higher price for fleeces having the mercurial tinge, as they are supposed to be sound in the pile from having been exempted from the fly.

The next prescription is one of very great efficacy where the disease has reached the length of scabs, and has, with many variations, gone the round of almost every agricultural publication. The form I prefer is one submitted to me by Mr Wilkin of Tinwald Downs, near Dumfries, who at one time, several years ago, applied it with immediate good effects, to six hundred infected sheep.

Take of Tobacco sc.r.a.pings one pound, Strong decoction of Broom six gallons:

boil for half an hour, and then add three English pints of spirit of tar.

This quant.i.ty is sufficient to cover two dozen of sheep. The scabs, if large, should be raised a little with a knife to permit the free contact of the fluid, and no more of it should be applied than is here directed; for though it be in this dose comparatively harmless, a very small addition will destroy the animal.

A very good French remedy is made by melting a pound of fat or suet, and mixing with it (when off the fire) a fourth part of oil of turpentine. Rub it into the affected parts.

Whatever outward means may be employed, laxative medicines ought never to be neglected. One of the best and most generally used, consists of a tea-spoonful of flour of sulphur, given for two or three successive nights in double the quant.i.ty of mola.s.ses.

If ill-conditioned sheep are the victims of itch, convey them to a better pasture, but where the animals are fat, reduce their diet, and give each a dose of Epsom salts.

(141.) _Prevention of Itch._ Do not turn a healthy flock on to pasture, from which itchy sheep have recently been driven. If the disease occasionally breaks out on your ground, apply the mercurial ointment at clipping time: and, when you salve, add a pound of sulphur to every tub of smearing composition whatever it may be.

(142.) _Erysipelas or wild-fire._ This is an inflammatory affection of the skin, sometimes accompanied by blebs or blisters, occurring in August and September, and spreading rapidly through a flock. Though there is considerable ambiguity in the employment of these terms, I believe they are synonymous with red-water, the disease of which I have next to treat.

(143.) _Red-water._ The occurrence of this disease among sheep is very rare. Its nature and treatment are however allowed, by those who have seen it, to be admirably described by Mr Stevenson, in the 3d vol. of the _Highland Society's Transactions_.

”This disease commonly makes its appearance about the beginning, or end of winter, and first affects about the breast and belly, although at times it spreads itself over other parts of the body. It consists in an inflammation of the skin, that raises it into blisters which contain a thin, reddish, and watery fluid. These continue for a short time, break, discharge their matter, and are followed by a blackish scab.

When the sheep are exposed to cold or wetness, the skin being fretted makes the blisters rise, or they often arise from cold, affecting the animal internally, thus producing a slight fever, which throws out these vesicles on the body, similar to the scabby eruptions, which appear about the face, and more particularly the mouth of those persons affected with cold. The blood in this disease is but little affected, though a little of it oozes into the vesicles on the skin, and communicates to them that reddish tinge, which gives origin to the name.

”Red-water is a disease that but seldom appears in this country, and is almost never fatal. In cases where the disease is violent, a little blood should be taken. * * * * The sheep should be placed in a fold by itself, * * * * and the following medicine may be given for three or four mornings successively:--

Take of Flour of Sulphur two ounces, Mola.s.ses three ounces:

mix them, and divide them into six doses, of which one may be given every morning, in half a pound (half a mutchkin) of warm water. If this is found unsuccessful, half an ounce of nitre, mixed with the foregoing recipe, will be attended with good effects; after which, a dose of salts may be given, and the body washed with lime-water upon the part affected.”

(144.) _Leg Evil._--_Symptoms and Causes._ Like many other diseases, this is usually supposed to be contagious, merely because it often spreads quickly through a flock; the obvious fact of the exposure of the animals composing it to the same causes, such as peculiar diet and atmospheric variations, being entirely overlooked; but, as I have already remarked in paragraph (136), the only proof of a disease being contagious, is its spreading rapidly on the introduction, from a distance, of an infected individual into a previously-healthy flock.

Sheep which acquire fat at an early age, are peculiarly liable to this disease: a sufficient argument, if all others were wanting, against the unnatural and foolish practice of acc.u.mulating a load of grease on the bodies of young animals. By so doing, the action of the heart and lungs is materially embarra.s.sed, and, on the animal being chilled, or the balance of its circulation otherwise accidentally deranged, mortification (leg evil) is almost certain to occur. Even simple scratches are often fatal in these over-fat animals, from inducing gangrene.

The first intimation the shepherd has of the approach of leg evil, is the occurrence of fever and lameness, accompanied by blue or livid patches on the leg, generally about the upper part of the hoof or knee.

The skin on the affected parts, in a few days, exhibits scattered vesicles, not unlike the blebs which form in erysipelas; it then gives way, and the parts beneath are seen of a darker tinge, soft, pulpy, and completely gangrenous.