A Treatise on Sheep Part 12

Whatever may produce pressure on the brain, the symptoms which indicate it are nearly always the same. The sheep has a dull, stupid look, turns very often round and round, and will, when water is in its way, stand staring at it till at last, giddy and confused, it plumps fairly in.

If, when the symptoms are very unpromising, convulsive movements should occur, they may be taken as a favourable sign, as they indicate a diminution of the pressure on the brain. A minute description of the morbid appearances in hydrocephalus could serve no good purpose, I therefore pa.s.s on to the prevention of st.u.r.dy.

(170.) _Treatment and Prevention of St.u.r.dy._ The variety caused by hydatids can only be prevented by the use of dry, well grown, wholesome food. Dr Jenner found that he could cause hydatids to form in rabbits at will, by feeding them on green succulent provision; and it is well known that this form of st.u.r.dy prevails among sheep chiefly in marshy places, as the fens of Lincolns.h.i.+re.

Water in the head is generally induced, as first pointed out by the Ettrick Shepherd, in the _Farmer's Magazine_ for 1812, by the back of the animal being chilled, as is evident from the following facts:--

"1. It is always most general after a windy and sleety winter.

"2. It is always most destructive on farms that are ill-sheltered, and on which the sheep are most exposed to those blasts and showers.

"3. It preys only on sheep rising their first year, the wool of which separates above, leaving the back quite exposed to the wet and cold.

"4. If a piece of cloth or hide is sewed to the wool, so as to cover the back, such a sheep will not be affected with the disease."

Bratting is therefore the best preventive, and it is as cheap as it is effectual. One pair of old blankets, worth only some four or five s.h.i.+llings, will furnish coverings for forty hogs, and if laid carefully aside in spring, they will continue serviceable for two or three years.

An operation can avail nothing--slaughtering the sheep is therefore the only expedient.

When the existence of a hydatid near the surface of the brain is denoted by the skull yielding, at some particular spot, to the firm pressure of the thumb, its extraction must be set about in the manner described in paragraph (118), where I have also given my objections to the common modes of operating.

(171.) _Trembling._ Several affections are included under the name of _trembling_ or _leaping-ill_, all having, in common, more or less of the symptoms which these names denote. They may be considered as arising from exposure to cold and damp, especially on long fatiguing journies, as in bringing sheep from the Highlands to the south of Scotland, when it frequently prevails to so great an extent, on reaching the low country, as to oblige the shepherd to leave eight or ten behind him at every stage. Injuries of the loins, either inflicted by themselves in jumping and running, or by others from rough usage in the fold, are common causes of the disease; but in this variety the hind quarters only are powerless. Another species is owing to oppression of the brain from congestion, in this way resembling incipient st.u.r.dy, and occurring only in very fat sheep.

(172.) _Treatment of Trembling._ The first variety is best met by rest, shelter, and a supply of nutritious food; but as the animal is incapable, in many cases, of collecting it, the shepherd must lift it from one rich part of the field to another, so soon as it has cleared away the gra.s.s within its reach. In the second kind, as caused by accident, the sheep must be slaughtered, as, should a cure be attempted, the treatment will be too tedious and complicated to succeed in ordinary hands. Copious blood-letting, and doses of Epsom salts, will be found of most advantage in the third species; but if the sheep can be disposed of so much the better, as this kind of _trembling_ is almost certain, unless combated by energetic depletion, to end in st.u.r.dy.

(173.) _Wood Evil_ is nothing more than a cramp of the hind legs, owing to water dripping upon them from trees after a shower of rain, and is best treated by enveloping them in flannel, wrung out of hot water; but if the sheep is at the time very chill, gentle friction must first be used, else dangerous consequences will ensue. Rubbing with warm turpentine has been recommended, and is apparently worthy of a trial.

(174.) _Inflamed Eyes._ The pollen of flowers getting into the eyes while feeding, is a common cause of this annoyance, which need not be described, as, from being visible, it is known to all. Examine the eyes, and remove any irritating body. Then, if the disease be of recent date, bleed the animal largely from the jugular vein, and give it several doses of Epsom, or Glauber's salt. After the inflammation is subdued, or should it be in the suppurating stage when first noticed, hold the lids asunder, and drop upon the eye, three or four times a day, a solution of white vitriol, five grains to the ounce of water.

Where this cannot be had, pure _cold_ water dashed against the eyes and head several times a day will serve as a subst.i.tute.

Though sheep are not so much incommoded by blindness as other animals, from the instinctive care usually taken of the sufferer by the rest of the flock, still such a mishap should always be prevented by energetic treatment at the commencement of the symptoms.

(175.) _Soft Cancer of the Eye_, or, as it is also called by medical men, _Fungus Hematodes_, is of very rare occurrence among sheep, and indeed would not have deserved a notice here, were it not that, from being a malignant disease, it might be looked upon as quite incurable.

I can only describe it as a soft, spongy tumour, rising from the bottom of the eye, involving all the textures of that organ, so as to render them scarcely recognizable, and bleeding on the slightest touch. It is readily removed by pa.s.sing a stout thread through the front of the eye with a needle, so as to afford the operator a hold by which to pull it outwards with the left hand, while, with the right, he cuts round it with a narrow-bladed knife. The operation is attended only with slight pain, but must not be considered the sole curative means; the sheep must have, at the same time, a frequent change of pasture, to prevent a recurrence of the tumour.

There is a very large tumour of this description at present in the museum of Guy's Hospital, taken from a sheep which recovered perfectly.

APPENDIX

REMARKS ON THE MANAGEMENT OF SHEEP IN AUSTRALIA.

As the preceding pages were not written so much for the well-educated farmer, as for those who practise sheep-husbandry without previous training, it may not be considered amiss, consistently with the plan of the work, to sum up the chief points to be attended to in the management of sheep in Australia. This I shall do from the best authorities, and guided by the direct advice of extensive sheep proprietors who have long resided there, and had every experience in the subject.

Though it was for some time, according to Dr Lang,[42] a matter of controversy in the colony, whether the Merino or the Saxon Merino produced the finer wool or was more profitable for the sheep-farmer; the preference is now given to the Saxon breed, as they not only yield an excellent fleece, but are much superior in carca.s.s to the pure Merino. The fact, however, of Australia having been considered, from its earliest colonization, as unrivalled by any country in the quality of its wool, goes far to prove that, with ordinary care, almost any variety may be brought to yield a very superior produce. The mildness of the climate, the extensive range of pasture, the steady supply of food, and the consequent unvarying health of the animal, give the poorest breeds a superiority which could hardly be attained in any other quarter of the world. Indeed, as noticed at paragraph (70.), Australia appears by nature intended to produce fine wool, and fine animals, even from the worst beginnings.

[42] History of New South Wales, Vol. i. p. 309.

Great, however, as the capabilities of the colony are for the growth of the finest wools, the intending emigrant must not suppose that he will obtain them without devoting to the subject a particular portion of his regard. Mild warm air, and abundant diet, will go far towards putting him in possession of a superior flock; but without earnest attention to the minor details required in the management of his sheep, the most favourable locality will avail him little.

Let Australia be ever so much praised, as being peculiarly adapted for the rearing of sheep, they have there, in common with every kind of animal in every part of the world, a certain liability to disease.

With all its boasted steadiness of climate, bad seasons occasionally occur, and lead to sickness among the flocks, and in addition to the usual chances of loss arising from this cause in other countries, there is, in some parts of it, a still more dreaded mischief resulting almost unavoidably from the moral const.i.tution of its society. A convict-servant who has a pique at his master, has it often entirely in his own power to subject the flocks under his charge to some one or other of the serious diseases to which sheep in all countries are peculiarly liable. He may pasture them on an improper spot, and thus induce diarrhoea, or even rot; or he may drive them a few miles from their usual feeding ground, as Dr Lang remarks, when there is n.o.body present to take cognizance of the fact, and thereby bring them into contact with a scabbed flock. "The chief source of the wealth and prosperity of the colony," says Dr Lang, "is thus, in great measure, at the mercy of the most worthless of men; and so much is this the case, that a highly respectable and intelligent magistrate, observed in the course of a short conversation I had with him before embarking for England, that if there should not be a large annual importation of free emigrant shepherds from the mother country into the colony, the owners of sheep throughout the territory will in future be under the necessity of reducing, or rather of preventing the increase of, their flocks."

Thus circ.u.mstanced, the Australian settler has surely sufficient reasons for inducing him to make himself familiar with the management and diseases of the animal, on which he is placing his princ.i.p.al dependence.

When the country is dest.i.tute of timber, the sheep are very easily managed, and so many as a thousand may be trusted to a single shepherd; but in general, they are divided into flocks of about three hundred breeding ewes, or four hundred wethers. "Every flock," says Mr Cunningham, "has a shepherd, who takes his sheep out to graze before sunrise in the morning, and brings them in after sunset at night. He keeps always before the flock to check the forward among them from running onwards, and wearing out the old, sick, and lame; making all thus feed quietly, so as to keep them in good condition. In summer, he sees too that they have water during the heat of the day; and in drawing up under a tree for shade, when it is too hot for feeding, he pa.s.ses occasionally gently among them, spreads them out and makes them take a fresh position in as small groups as possible, under another tree; because when they remain too long together in one place, they are apt to become broken winded. It is a rule that sheep should never remain in one spot so long as to paddle the ground much with their feet; and hence, in riding round your sheep stations, you have something whereby to judge whether or not your instructions are attended to. The shepherd takes out his victuals with him, and is required to be on the alert all day long, to prevent the sheep from being lost in the woods, or the native dogs from pouncing in among them. They must always be driven slowly to pasture, and if you perceive that the shepherd can walk quietly among them, without disturbing them, you may set him down as a gentle and careful man; for if he uses his flock harshly, they will be naturally terrified by him. Three flocks are always penned together under the charge of a watchman, who counts each regularly _in_ at night, and the shepherds again count them _out_ in the morning; so that they form a regular check upon each other, and prevent losses from carelessness or depredation. The watchman has a small weather-proof watch-box to sleep in, and is a.s.sisted by a watch-dog; he keeps up a good fire, which generally deters all native dogs from approaching the fold. The hurdles are made of light swamp oak, iron bark, or gum, measuring seven feet long, with five bars, so close together that a young lamb cannot creep through, and usually cost about 1s. 6d. a-piece. They are s.h.i.+fted to fresh ground daily, being sloped outwards, and propped together by means of forked sticks, driving a stake through between the bars here and there to keep the hurdles firm, and prevent the wind from blowing them over, little support being derived from their feet, which are pressed but slightly into the ground. All branches of trees are carefully removed from the hurdled grounds before the sheep are driven in, to prevent any of the latter being staked; the hurdles too are never pitched where ant hills are, or under a tree with rotten boughs upon it, while the trees with black bark are carefully denuded thereof, to prevent discolouration of the wool." Bells are attached to the necks of the stoutest leaders, to keep the flock together, and give warning of any thing going wrong within the fold.

The breeding season is, in some instances, at the commencement of summer, in others, at the commencement of winter, but in general it is in March or April, the rams having been put to the ewes in October.

This deviation from our practice of spring lambing, is owing, according to Mr Cunningham, to the breeders finding that the pasture is particularly good in the autumn, from a sort of second spring taking place, while the lambs stand the cold better than the heat, and are less annoyed by the gad-flies. The sheep usually double their number every four years.

Sheep-shearing takes place at the beginning of summer. The usual plan of was.h.i.+ng is previously had recourse to (see paragraph 99.), but of late it has become customary, with some proprietors, to wash them with a spout. This is done by bringing them one by one under a stream of water, falling from a moderate height; but it is not likely that it will ever be generally adopted, as it requires very peculiar facilities in regard to water, and is besides a plan fraught with danger to the sheep. It ought to be kept in mind, that a stream of water playing on the body, produces a very stunning effect, which may destroy life in an inconsiderable time, and has, in this way, been often employed for putting criminals to death. Be this as it may, the Australian sheep-farmers have doubtless been led to resort to the spout, owing to the fleeces being so full of filth as to be cleaned with difficulty in the common way. The finer the wool, the more abundant is the yolk or viscid secretion on the skin, and the greater, consequently, is the quant.i.ty of filth which sticks to it. The dirtiness of the wool becomes, in this way, no mean test of the value of the sheep. Some of the fleeces lose fully three-fifths of their weight by was.h.i.+ng. The average weight of the fleeces from the improved breeds, is from two to two-and-a-half pounds. The ewe fleece seldom exceeds one pound and a half. "The wool is packed in bales, wrapped in canva.s.s, and forwarded for exportation to Sydney, on drays drawn by oxen. Some of the more extensive sheep-farmers send home their wool direct to their agents in London, where it is sold according to its quality, at from one to three s.h.i.+llings, (the freight to London being only three-halfpence) a pound."[43]

[43] Historical Account of New South Wales, by John Dunmore Lang, D.D., Vol. i. p. 350.

The highest prices yet obtained for some of the picked parts of the finest fleeces, are 10s. 6d. per pound. This, however, has been given only once.

The quant.i.ty of wool s.h.i.+pped in 1835, was 3,776,191 lbs., and was valued at 380,000 sterling.

Three acres are required on an average for the support of each sheep, but on account of the mildness of the climate, there is no necessity for providing winter food.

The range of pasture is so extensive that the sheep are liable to comparatively few diseases. The great dryness of the climate, keeps the fleece always in so comfortable a state, that they are almost never struck by the fly which, as explained at (147.), always deposits its eggs on the moistest part of the skin. Mr Cunningham once observed summer-dropt lambs with milk blotches, become fly blown, but this was in wet weather. Scab, or itch, is the most common disease, but of it I need not say any thing here. It never presents much variety, and is a disease better understood than almost any other. Ample directions for its treatment are given at (140.). It is easily checked if the job is gone about with determination. The great points are to take it in hand the moment it appears--for when it gains ground, all chances of a wool-crop are at an end for that year at least--and to use tobacco-juice most liberally, as it not only leads to the immediate death of the itch insect, but appears to have a specific effect in leading to the restoration of the wool. The balm of Columbia, which is at present so lauded for accelerating the growth of hair, is supposed, on good grounds, to be an incognito preparation of tobacco-juice. Rot is the only other important sheep-disease in the colony. It was unknown till 1827, when it broke out in a wet lying part of the Bathurst district, and succeeded, as Cunningham says, in that part of the country scourged by it, to a long fall of heavy rains, which supersaturated the blades of gra.s.s. For the method of treating this disease, fortunately rare in Australia, I must, in conclusion, refer to the body of the work.