A DUMFRIESSHIRE FARMER ON A CURE FOR SHEEPROT.

Waikato Times, Volume XIV, Issue 1233, 25 May 1880, Page 2

A DUMFRIESSHIRE FARMER ON A CURE FOR SHEEPROT.

Me. Robert Wall yon, Twiglees, Lockerbie, writes as follows :—: — When «iv amateur student with Professor Williams Principal of the new Veterinary College, Edinburgh, I interested myself in diseases which cause loss to stockholder, derermnumg to carry out the simple and rat onal treatment recommended for rot amongst others. My first opportunity was in the ca^e of a blackfaced (Highland) ewe, so much reduced that she had to be assisted in rising. I had 1 oz. of common salt gvien her daiJy, which she ate giuedily, and became very fond of, but would never take more. The symptons of rot soon be-rau to disappear, ami m three months the desired normal state of health was resloied, and the ewe went oil' to be Luted as a top of her hir,sel. I next bought 17 ewes, Cheviot and blackfaced, and -o weak weie they with the disease that I had them carted home. In addition to as much salt as they would eat t\\ ice a day. I added decorticated cotton cake, ground small, beginning with little up to half a pound each day. They were thus fed through the winter, until sufficient grass came, when the tre itiiK'iit was discontinued. Fifteen went off piime fat about August Ist ; one broke in among rams and had a lamb ; •mother not fat enough was left as the ' .-hot ;Mjut quite healthy to all appearance. The fate of this one may be instructive. This winter the salt was not administered, and it ultimately died of rot. The theory, as to .show salt is efficacious, is not that it destioys diicctly the flukes found in the hror ducts, but that it makes away with the eggs —at least to a great extent, -which are found in vast numbers m almost every part of the body, in the digestive system, and even circulating wi h the blood. If the treatment is continued long enough flukes die a natural death, and if there be no eggs to ultimately (on maturing) take their places, the animal Mill becoaie free of the pest. We cannot always hope to bfcure a peimanent lecovery, as tiic fate ot one of my sheep showed ; but if Aye have the numbers reduced to a minimum it is all that is necessary. It is ell known that llukes can be found in the livcis of almost every sheep from some oi the mos-? farms in Galloway, but do no harm to ninety-nine out of every hundred, and only when m large numbors. The sequence of changes in the aiiinu'l system is originated by irritation, and consequently inflammation, beginning in the biliary ducts, and exteuding through the liver, preventing it performing its proper functions to aid digestion ; the stomach then gets disoidercd, impel feet blood is the result, and time is all that is necessary to exaggerate the consequences into a pd'oibtcufc aiucmia resulting m death. Perhaps at this time a short account of the different stages through which the liver fluke (Distoino hepaticum) passes in its progress of development, may not H uninteresting. ****■ The eggs are voided by sheep in immense numbers with their excrement (one fluke sometimes producing 40,000) and get washed into pools of water and hatch as it were. They burst at one end and ciliated embryos come out and swim rapidly about, gradually elongating, the cilia fall off, and creeping lavv.e are left in the form of little sacs, cylindrical at one end and flattened out at the other into a tail and two winglike projections. These somehow gain access to the bodies of snails, styled intermediate bearers, and when fully matured in this form are called Raditfi. These are capable of producing within themselves like forms (Cercariw?), but which have no power of generation, and drop into the water, where they for a time have au independant existence, boring at last into a second intermediate molluscan host, losing their tails and incysting themselves under the skin. On developing into the pupa state they again appear in the water and are drunk up by sheep or cattle, or taken in with the short sweet grasses on wet, bare pasture. The gastric juices digest the sac-like coverings and the pupje are set free ; they may also be taken into the alimentary canal in the form of Cercarce (Sir Wyville Thomson). We next find the perfect worm in the liver ducts, causing that irritation which often ends in all the symptoms of rot, laying eggs by the tens of, thousands,

again to go the same wonderful cycle. These worms are seldom more than an inch long, are broad, thin, and flat, attaching themselves by a sucker to the under surface. Sometimes hundreds have been found in the liver of one sheep. I was amused at the way Professor Simonds, in his essay on "Hot in Sheep," floored indescriminately and without mercy, the attempt of every writer of note, ancient or modern, who tried to do anything in the way of proposing a treatment for rot, and expected at least to have soms sort of feasible course recommended that would suit all classes interested. Hill farmers, or in other words, large sheepowners, must feel thoroughly disappoiuted, and look upon- the suggestions, to say the least of it, as absurd. How could a man, with 3000 or 4000 sheep, who would save them from rot, under-drain all his wet lands ? or why should he, when it has been proved that surface drains serve the purpose quite as well ? How would the same man " well protect his sheep in seasons of excessive rainfall ?" or " provide for their nutrition by supplying them with a rich and generous deit, flesh -forming and heat-supporting, in proportion to the demands made on the system ?" or, finally, administer " such medicinal agents, &c., <S:c., as are recommended? If neither labor nor expense were factors in the calculation, it might be all well enough ; but what the farmer wants is a cheap and easy method of doing the best thing for preventing, as well as arresting, the progress of the disease, or, it may be, ultimately curing it. I feel confident this is to bo found iv the simple salt treatment described. I claim no credit to originality in this matter ; all I did was simply to carry out a successful experiment, based ou scientific principles, recommended to me. With the single exception of * ewes in lamb, salt may be given ad libitum, as, when taken voluntarily, sheep will not consume it iv quantity to do harm. Mine would never take more than loz. a day, even although coaxed by the addition of cotton cake. Sulphate of iron is recommended in treatment, and, although good, does not seem to be necessary with salt. Other preventives are directed mainly against the conditions favorable to the existence of snails which act as intovmediate hosts. Amongst these are surface and under-drainage. In Scotland, since open sheep drains have been so generally introduced, rot, in most districts, has entirely disappeared, while it has been reduced to the merest minimum in those in which it still lingers. As to liming and sowing of salt on land : the latter has been depreciated by some mistaking the reason it is applied for a direct attack on the undeveloped forms of the parasite. In this country we do not half appreciate the value of salt, either as a relish in the food of our animals, or as a manure. When travelling in Canada last fall I found some of the most intelligent farmers applied it to their crops in the same way we would dissolve bones. Of course we ai f e nearer the sea than the central parts of Canada, and get so much of the necessary salt from that source, yet we have not enough naturally. From the large percentage of salt in the ash of blood, it is plain it must be most necessary to the animal, and consequently to plant life. I will just mention in closing, that in the times of our grandfathers the treatment for rot in this country was to pour into each affected sheep a quart bottleful of salt and water, Avhich was said either to kill or cure. The killing would depend much on the quantity of salt used, as compared with the strength of the sheep to withstand its action. — North Brit hit Agricultnnd.