A Treatise on Sheep:: The Best Means for their Improvement, General Management, and the Treatment of their Diseases.Blacklock, Ambrose
Science
A Treatise on Sheep:: The Best Means for their Improvement, General Management, and the Treatment of their Diseases.
Blacklock, Ambrose
Sheep
When a copious flow of blood has been obtained, remove the sheep from
the tub, and administer two ounces of Glauber's or Epsom salt,
dissolved in warm water, substituting a handful of common salt when
these cathartics cannot be procured. It is needless to give a purgative
without bleeding, as, till this is done, it will not operate. When in
spite of this the bowels continue obstinately constipated, give a
glyster of tobacco decoction, made by boiling a drachm of the leaf (the
full of a pipe will do) for a few minutes in a pint of water. Half of
this only should be injected, using the other if circumstances require
it. Place the sheep in a house, or any comfortable situation, bed it
with straw, throw a horse-rug over it, and promote the purging by warm
gruels. When out of danger supply it with moderate quantities of
laxative provender, and keep it for ten days apart from its fellows, by
which time it will, in all likelihood, be well recruited.
(129.) _Prevention of Braxy._ Change of pasture will at once suggest
itself. Let it be to a succulent one, on which old sheep have been for
some time feeding; the hogs will thus be hindered from filling their
paunches too rapidly. But, if heathy food is the staple provender,
allow your sheep four or five hours of turnips in the twenty-four,
permitting at the same time free access to common salt. These, from
their laxative effects, will serve as antidotes to the dry sapless
grasses, which have led to the disease. Such places as mossy soils,
abounding in evergreen plants, will also serve the purpose. Burn your
ley heather, as nothing is more decidedly prejudicial, not only from
its constipating qualities, but also from being surrounded by a grass,
which is so much relished by the sheep, that they resort to the spot
long after it has been eaten to the quick, and devour in their
eagerness much that is foul and unwholesome from frequent puddling. You
thus obtain a good supply of sprouts, as invaluable for opening
qualities, as the old heather is to be dreaded for its astringency.
Finally, be aware that careful herding is not the least efficacious of
preventives; a quiet, even-tempered, and thoughtful shepherd, being
here of far more value than the stores of the apothecary.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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