THE ANIMAL PARASITES OF SHEEP.

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume XX, Issue 2850, 4 July 1892, Page 2

THE ANIMAL PARASITES OF SHEEP.

Two years ago, under the title of * The * Animal Parasites of Sheep, prepared under [ the direction of Dr !'•. Salmon, Chief of the Bureau of Animal Industry, by Cooper Curtice* D.T.S., M.D,' was published by the Washington Government probably the fiuest work on the subject which has ever appeared in any language. Not only was tho information complete and exhaustive to the present state of knowledge upon the various parasites affeoting sheep, but it was established with a serifs of coloured and plain illustrations of the various stage* of ihe different diseases in a manner which is creditable in the highest degree to the Government of the United States. Scarcelyhad this invaluable work to the sheepowner appeared than a second addition had to be issued, and now we find that Messrs Turner and Henderson, Sydney, h.voboeu enterprising enough to publish an Australian edition of this valuable American work, in a slightly abridged form. Wo have to acknowledge the receipt of a copy of the Australian edition from Messrs ! Wildman and Lyell, booksellers, Victoria Arcade, and though not equal in finish to the one issued by tho Government with nearly seventy millions of English-speaking people at its back, the Australian edition is a production thoroughly creditable to all concerned. In addition to the letterpress, it gives twenty-four well -executed plates of all the principal parasites affecting sheep, and it is not too much to say that the book ought to be in the hauds of every flockmaster in the colony. We need only refer to the many millions of sheep now depastured in all the colonies of Australia and New Zealand, to show the importance of the owner of flocks being thoroughly posted up in al' the information obtainable respect- j iug the diseases to which sheep are liable. That there is need for such information the complaints which have been made for several years past of sheep dying in large numbers, during the winter and spring seasons especially, amply testify. For * number of years the settlers in the Bay 0f Plenty district have laboured hard to get/ people to believe that that district was afflicted with some form of sheep disease not /known in other places, but on every occasion when a careful examination has been mfiule of the affected sheep there has always been found ample evidence that the sheep died from a number of diseases already well known to those who have made this class of complaints a special stndy. Inattention to pastures, and carelessness in keeping sheep clean and healthy, are the fruitful causes of nearly all kinds of diseases whioh affect the sheep stook on the farm. In the work be* fore us, Dr Curtioe on this snbjeot remarks:—

•Pastures -whioh are ordinarily unoared for further than to provide feaoes for securely confining the Bheep, need oareful supervision. Wet swailft, bogs, and swamps should either be fenced out or drained. Pastures which are overstocked, and in whioh a flock of sheep is kept continually, are the most fertile sources of. infection. Not only do the sheep become" more frequently infected when they are compelled to eat the grass close to the ground, but the chances of their being compelled to graze on an infected area are largely increased by keeping them ranging over the same ground of limited area week afcer week. Old sheep stand such treatment much better than young ones. For the latter, those fields which have not been pastured on by older sheep are better. The practice of feeding the Bheep over fields from which the crops are renewed is a grand one not only for the sheep, but for the fields. These remarks, of course, apply more strictly to fenced farms and not to uufenced sheep ranges, but even in these certain portions of the range can be reserved for the lambs. The practice of allowing lambs, after they are old enough to wean, to feed after older sheep is also a source of infection.'

These are judicious remarks, and amply support many of the views which have already been expressed in our columns on the diseases affecting our flocks. The author points out the general uaelessncss of the dog in dealing with sheep on fenced lands, and shows not only the danger which the dog causes as a beast of prey, but the danger to which sheep are subject when dogs are kept from the various parasites which inhabit the dog. The medical treatment required in each form of parasitical disease to which sheep are subject is clearly pointed out, and will be invaluable to those having the book at their command when their flocks beoome affected. Prefaced to the Australian edition is a care-fully-written article upon ' Worms in Sheep,' written by 'A Pastoral isfc,' which originally appeared in the Australasian Pastoiaiists' Keview, We sincerely commend the work to all our sheep -owning readers who are not in the possession of the original American work. — New Zealand Herald. -