GROWING WORSE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 97, 27 April 1938, Page 8

GROWING WORSE.

DISEASED STOCK.

KILLINGS AT WESTFIELD. NOT FOR CONSUMPTION. Since the beginning of March over 27,000 sheep and lambs affected with facial eczema have l>een killed at Westlield freezing works and condemned for human consumption. That number represents .'SO per cent of the total killings during the ]>oriod, and the position is growing worse. The [tcrcentage in tlu- past two weeks has -grown to (>O. Xo cattle or pigs suffering from the disease been killed. One of the companies which had closed down after the export season has reopened its works to assist the farmers, and so far 7000. sheep and lambs have been killed 'by it. As the carcases cannot be used for food tliey are boiled down to produce tallow, but even this is of inferior quality. The bone and blood are used for fertiliser products. Up to about 4/ a head is being received by the farmers, who have to pay transport (1/ a head) out of this.

The disease is reported to be spreading extensively through the Karaka district, [sweeping farms that had previously escaped lightly. On some farms over three-quarters of the stock Las been affected, but the position will not be 'clear until September. The farmers are waiting anxiously for a remedy to be found, and in the meantime arc trying desperately to cheek the depredations on their farms.

Waiheke Island stands now as an isolated area which has not been touched by the disease. Several thousand sheep are grazed there, and some of the highest graded wool is produced. Farmers there have conducted careful inspections and have found as yet no trace of the disease.