Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1876-07-27
Sheep in Summer.

turned out to pasture, too many farm
ers are apt to neglect them, especially
as the grain and hay harvest requires
immediate and constant attention, and,
in good weather, give but little time
for attention to anything else There
is, nevertheless, no stock on the farm
which repayS SO much for a little
everyday attention as do sheep They
are, naturally, of a roaming DISPOSE
ton, not always satisfied with their
pastures, even if abundant; but like to
creep through or under the fence into
fresh and untrOdden fields. Where the
crooked rail fences surround the sheep
pasture, there are sure to be openings
between rails, wider at one end than
the other. Through one of these a
sheep will push its head, and eat greed
lily all the grass within reach, appar-
emily no better Or sweeter than that
in the pasture. In such a case it often
occurs that if the opening be wider at
the lower end, the sheep will work it's
head along upward till the highest point
is reached, where it will remain, sell
dom knowing enough to go back if the
head has to be depressed by so doing
If the opening is not wide enough for
the sheep to pull its head through, at
the upper end, it then is fast, or is
commonly called chung" Here it
will remain until it starves to death,
unless released by some one.
In hot, showery weather, sheep
(Merinos) are liable to a disease of the
foot called fouls" Unless this be
cured before the formation of puS in
the cleft of the hoof, it sometimes is
apparently contagious, and the flock
becomes considerably affected In this
case the usual remedies for ''fOOt-rOt"
are required to cure the flock. The
farmer who daily sees his flock is apt
to notice whether any sheep is lame,
and if any such case is noticed, the suf-
fering animal can be cured with out han
ling the flock, OF even, if the farmer is
a skillful shepherd, without taking the
flock to pen, or disturbing any except
the ailing sheep. A little vial Of salve
can be carried in the pocket when Wis
iting the sheep pasture, and a single
application will cure an attack of
fouls, if given when the sheep first be-
comes lame.
In order that there may be as much
interest taken by the sheep in the Wis
its Of the owner as by himself, it will
be found a good plan to carry little
salt and give it to them at each visit.
Sheep like a little salt every day, aud
any farmer of ordinary intelligence
will soon learn how much to feed them
at once so that they will be ready for
a repetition of the dose the next day.
This plan creates a perfect mutual un-
derStanding between the sheep and
their owner, and they soon become so
tame that he can catch and examine
any one of the flock without frightening
the remainder. Some advise feeding
little sulphur with the daily salt, or
perhaps once a week, to prevent foot
rot and expel ticks. Several seasons
experience in this practice. showed the
uSelessness of expecting any such re-
suits from feeding sulphur. The foot
rot has proved as yirulent and the ticks
as prolific when the sheep had sulphur
weekly as where none is fed. The fact
that a tick will live in a vessel con-
tanning sulphur until it dies of starva-
ton is proof sufficient that that drug is
not poisonous to ticks.
Within two or three weeks after a
flock is sheared, the ticks should all be
killed by dipping the lambs into tobac-
co water, or the tobacco and arsenic
solution recommended by English
Shepherds There is no danger to
sheep or lambs, if properly applied,
and reasonable care is taken that the
animals heads are not immersed so
that the liquor gets into the eyes or
mouth. If the sheep are dipped, as
we'll as the lambs, there will not
enough adhere to the udders of the
ewes to sicken the lambs in the least,
though some shepherds are SO careful
that they keep the lambs from their
dams for an hour or two, to permit the
liquor to drain away. Still this is not
necessary, as the proportion Of arsenic
is so small that it would take pint of
the liquor to nauseate or injure a
lamb. The tobacco is the more dan
gerous of the two ingredients. The
salye for foot-rot or fouls is made OF
equal parts by weight Of finely pulver-
lied blue vitriol and lard, well rubbed
together.
The farmer who gives his flock daily
attention, really spends less time with
them during the summer than the one
who visits them only twice in month,
for he never is required to hunt the
neighboring fields or farms for an es-
capped animal or flock he has no hung
sheep to put into his profit and loss ac-
count: his cases of foOt-rot are few,