Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1876-01-07
Diseases of Farm Stock.

Domesticated animals are necessarily
placed under unnatural conditions, vii.
without due precaution on the part a.
their keepers, are likely to produce dis
ease. The climate in which animals are
forcibly kept is frequently far more Sc
we're than the one in which they were
originally found, or the one they would
select if left to their own instincts. An
finals which have been bred for centuries
upon high, dry plains, in warm climates,
are taken to those of a directly opposite
character, and then, very likely, their
owners expect to rear them without af
fording artificial food and protection suf
ficient to compensate for losses sustained
by change of locality. Horses from AZ
RIGA and sheep from Spain are expected
to endure the rigors of an arctic climate
and establishment is often expressed if
they fail to do so without becoming dis
eased. We think, however, the greatest
cause for wonderment is that our domes-
ticated animals, as a rule, are capable of
enduring as great hardships as they do.
The principal argument advanced
against the reforms proposed by our most
thorough and enlightened breeders of
domesticated animals, is that they are
unnatural, and therefore useless, if not
positively injurious. Giving warm sta
bles, cutting, grinding and cooking food,
all come under this head of unnatural
processes. But as the very first step ia
ken toward the domestication of any an
imal was an unnatural one, as we'll as
the greater number of those which fol-
lowed, it must be plain to every reasona-
BILE person that strict lines of demarca-
ton between art and nature cannot be
drawn at the present day. Whether it
be wide departure from natural sur
rounding circumstances, or lack of
providing the actual necessaries and
the comforts of life, the fact is every
where apparent that all kinds of stock
are subject to diseases which do not affect
them in wild state, at least so far as
We know their history.
Domestication appears to be accom-
panied by diseases of peculiar class,
and while it may not be possible with
our present knowledge of their nature
to wholly prevent them, much may be
done in that direction. Believing in the
old adage that prevention is better than
cure, we will name few of the most
common diseases of farm stock and their
known or supposed origin.
HOOP ROT IN SHEEP.
This disease has long been known
among flocks inhabiting low, marshy re.
gions of country, but it often spreads by
incubation among those inhabiting high
and dry lands, if they tread over land
formerly occupied by diseased animals
To prevent this disease keep the ANNA
upon dry lands, and avoid herding a
night on damp, spongy soil. In win
ter see that the yards are well Uttered
with coarse hay, straw, or other materi
ais which will prevent injury to the fee
through excessive cold or moisture. A
severe bruise OF even a slight laceratior
of the flesh of the foot, if not attende,
to, may eventually develop this yer,
troublesome disease.
DISEASES OF THE SKIN.
These are numerous, but probably til
most common Is the one generally know
as scab." or itch" 1t Is caused by
minute species of miteor aearus, whic