THE STOCK EMBARGO

Press, Volume LXIX, Issue 20956, 9 September 1933, Page 18

THE STOCK EMBARGO

REPLY TO MR PEIRSON Lincoln College replies as follows to the article in Saturday's issue of "The Press" giving the opinion of Mr J. Peirson, M.R.C.V.S.. of Gore, on the question of the stock embargo on account of foot-and-mouth disease in England:— The support for the embargo made out by Mr Peirson, of Gore, in "The Press" of September 2, is based on the possibility of animals acting as carriers of foot-and-mouth disease. We are aware of the recorded case of an animal, which had recovered, harbouring the virus of the disease for 246 days. The significance of this observation does not apply to the New Zealand embargo because: (1) There is no proof that any animal, large or small, can harbour the virus in its system and at the same time show no symptoms of disease; (2) the policy of slaughtering diseased animals and | their contacts in Great Britain eliminates the chance that recovered animals will introduce foot-and-mouth I disease. Seagulls are reported to be attacking young lambs in the Hawke's Bay district. During the last week a number of losses have occurred in flocks in and around the Farndon district, which can only be put down to the activities of the gulls, states a Napier report. One farmer on this area has lost no fewer than nine of his lambs in the last two days, whilst a few others had wounds about the head and neck which indicated attacks by the gulls. In a few of the cases where death had occurred, the eyes had been picked out, but in practically every case, the gulls appeared to have concentrated their attacks on the back of the neck. While this particular farmer has kept a sharp look-out for any seagulls attacking the lambs, he stated that during the whole time that he had remained about the paddocks the birds kept in the air and he reached the conclusion that the attacks must have been made during the night, or in the early morning. It was not only the weakly lambs that were attacked, for the lambs that survived the attacks included some of the largest and best-conditioned in the whole flock. This trouble was very prevalent in Hawke's Bay two seasons ago and caused a considerable amount of anxiety, seagulls attacking and killing lambs as far inland as Central Hawke's Bay.

SAVING THE LAMBS TO TJfK EDITOR 01' THE I'&ESS. • Sir—ln these diflicult times farmers J have'a very hard row to hoc, so that every lamb they save is a few more shillings to come and go on. The first thing, of course, to look to is the breeding ewe, if we are to have good, strong, healthy lambs. We must select strong, bold and vigorous rams at mating time, and see that the are in good condition and have a bloom on them, and your Prospecte of a good percentage at lambing time will be all right. The greatest care of the ewe during pregnancy must be Paken especially during the winter ttf the feeding is essential If y° u le j£. in? on turnips and green feed, supulfmented with chaff, you have not Sldrnfculties of the man who is feeding on chaff alone, as many farmers have had to do this year. HandCeding on chaff can be successfully done if the farmer will observe the who read my letter in the paper early in the winter and used the table of rations mentioned will have had no difficulty in carrying his sheep through the winter and having a strong, healthy ewe at lambing time, fit to rear a lamb or two whatever she happens to have; so for the benefit of those who did not read it I am repeating again: To every 50 ewes, take one bag of oatsheaf chaff, empty on a suitable mixing floor, then get a 44-gallon kerosene drum, cut out the top, and put in 121b of molasses and mix thoroughly; to every bag of chaff put four gallons of the mixture, putting half on the chaff, and mix once, then put the other on, and mix again. A good addition is a little wheat or bran, but I have fed more than 300 ewes on one paddock since the end .of May on lhat ration, without the bran. I have, however, added a few ounces of wheat a head since the beginning of August without the loss of one sheep through i hand-feeding, and they are lambing : now with good results. The great secret is the molasses and water, which assist the sheep to bring back their cud. Always start feeding in plenty of time before the sheep start to lose condition. Give them plenty of exercise daily for a month before lambing, and always have a lick of mineral salts near the feeders, as they need double the quantity when fed on chatf. So much for the ewe before lambing; now, what about after? The lamb for some time gets all its food from its mother, so we must see that" she is fed on milk-producing feed, to enable the lamb to get a good start in life, which is one of the great essentials in getting fat lambs away from their mother. The mortality among young lambs is often great, especially when they begin to feed and thrive. One of the best ways to minimise the loss is to give them plenty of exercise daily by rounding them up in the paddock and giving them a good stir round. Where possible, move to a fresh paddock. * Another loss is from wool ball. Most farmers have the idea that wool ball is caused By the lamb taking it in from the udder of the ewef but I entU J e *J° , say that 90 Per cent of the deaths from this complaint are tl° W T ? 01 P^ ked »P from the pad! docks. If a farmer went to iho trouble and picked up Til the woo! that was lying about, the risk toS this would be greatly dimin shed H you look tor pieces of wool you wi H ones that L L V T es > but the *n»U ones, inat do the damage. We never TheraJeTuVtinr for them" tolet-eaffif with* the * firsf the lamh«! tnko >r« *u mouthful iui. lamps tane. To the ewe thev arc harmless, to the lamb fatal %J^t £. advanced 6^ 6 North Loburn.Septeffi 1 ? g° W -

larnXn! peSS gf & One farmer remits "?hi? a^ ke l Bayout of one flock rtdanQ h f. drafted this season only ninTrf^^ llß ewes [Jrom anotoe?Taw,i£^J M »^ Bd