SHEEP AND DIGESTION.

Ellesmere Guardian, Volume XLVI, Issue 3232, 29 June 1928, Page 8

SHEEP AND DIGESTION.

The organs of digestion in the sheep arc excessively developed to permit it to extract nutriment from coarse and seemingly innutritious foods. So that this may be accomplished nature has so constituted the nervous system that the nervous energy is expended in the stomach and intestines, causing a larger amount of vital and chemical forcc-j to be exerted. Hence it will be found that the brain of the sheep is small and poorly developed; particularly is this so in the highly improved breeds of heavy wool producers. In comparison with other herbivora, the muscufar system is weak and not fitted for laborious exercise; the vascular system is also feeble, the amount of blood circulating in the system being considerably less in proportion to the body weight than in the horse, for example. Owing to the complex arrangement of the digestive system, it is prone to disease, and it will be observed (writes Dalgety's Review) that of the diseases affecting sheep, those affecting the digestive tract are more common than any other. Parasites are the most serious and fatal causes of disease in sheep; they affect the animal internally and externally, those affecting the internal organs being responsible for the greatest losses. To secure and maintain a standard of health in the flock, it is necessary to ensure that the digestive tract is kept in a healthy condition.