FOOT ROT IN SHEEP.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2106, 2 October 1890, Page 3

FOOT ROT IN SHEEP.

There is- a large number of prescriptions for this malady, for it is so universally diffused east of the onehundredth meridian that the ingenuity of many thousands of men has been brought to bear in combating >*• r»i ‘ tr-' (“!?•>»*• oi«o;- p . r j i8 J ~ eSB ly obtam.He, ,o cWp, Md „„ efficciou, if rightly applied, that we do not deem it worth while to describe any other remedy. If aay fl oC Water has ever applied blue vitrol, and afterwards resorted to something else, that is strong presumptive evidence that he either did not sufficiently prepare the feet beforehand, or did not apply it with thoroughness. Eirst, if the disease has made such progress as to have passed under the horny shell of the hoof, it will be necessary to hunt it out thoroughly. The ulcerative matter may be so accumulated and hardened in the track of the malady as to prevent any remedy from reaching the real seat of the disease, where it is feeding on the fresh, healthy tissues under cover of the hoof. Hence the knife must be employed to lay bare the virus where it is at work. All scraps of shell or horn, rendered useless by having been separated from the membranes which secrete them, should be cut away ; also all remnants of the fleshy sole which the disease has killed. The only safe guide for the shepherd is to keep cutting off thin slices until there are very plain indications that the next stroke would draw blood ; in other words, that healthy tissues are near at hand. If a little blood is drawn it should be stopped at once by an application ef butter (chloride) of antimony; a flow of blood washes away the vitriol.

Second, the vitriol ought to be applied so that it will penetrate moat readily to the seat of contagion. Hence, it ought to he dissolved in water, a saturated solution, all it will dissolve, rather than in such viscid, gummy substances as red or white’ lead, tar, <fcc. Hence, too, the water when applied should be hot—as near scalding point as possible without taking oIE the hair or wool, say 185 degrees Pahr. A kettle ought to be kept boiling near by, from which hot liquor can be dipped into the bath when needed to raise the temperature.