DENTAL DEFECTS IN SHEEP.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1687, 1 March 1913, Page 8

DENTAL DEFECTS IN SHEEP.

REMOVING .TROUBLESOME MOLARS. The' Temoval of broken teeth and stumps from the mouths of aged ewes has, according to an Australian writer, resulted in a marked improvement in their condition. "Benaloby" Tecords tho incident thus in the ''Australasian""With equine dentistry, and with.much that appertains thereto; "most members of-the community, even those who own nothing more formidable than a solitary pony, or acquire their knowledge of tho subject from advertisements, illustrated- and otherwise, can claim 6ome measure of acquaintance. But I have never yet, until last week, when brought into contact with a Riverina manager, heatd of ovine dentistry. Having dono so, the subject.has appealed to mo as being. >6uo of those simplo and easy expedients^which cannot fail to carry success in its train.' Wo all know what a broken mouth in a owe means, and how some forms of feed, and some classes of .country,...establish a broken condition of'the ,mouth more rapidly than others, Wo in like manner know that when old ewes arrive at the gummy stage, they, undor,normal conditions of-feed and season, thrive better than when the mouth was in a broken state, and the irregularities'of the teeth hampered them in,the act of nipping oft a mouthful of , feed. Impressed with the possibilities •of the even biting surface which characterises tho lower jaw on tho complete disappearance of all teeth, one of the leading Riverina merino studmasters a while ago sot about making 'gummies' of 1200 old stud ewes, refnoving with a dentist's forceps all broken teeth and stumps. The animals seemingly suffered loss than than anj; of the ordinary victims of teeth-drawing, rind which,wore dealt with both expeditiously and easily, have since fed better than was their habit, and after 1 a lapse of a few. weeks only," were among the bestconditioned in the place. This idea may have occurred to, and been practised by, others, on an occasional individual sheep, but. I havo'never yet. heard of it being undertaken on any such extensive scale as the above. Se?ing how many studmasters retain 'their old ewes (often, the best .of all) in the stud until they actually succumb to sonilo decay, and to what an extent attention of th'.s sort to. the teeth must help any old.cwo in gathering, her keep, it will not surprise me in future to find the dcntis';'s forceps as conspicuously part of the equipment of shed and yard as car-markers, secateurs, and crutcli-ing-shears havo been in the past!"

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