EWE TROUBLES

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21246, 18 August 1934, Page 22

EWE TROUBLES

EXCESSIVE ROOTS FEEDING | INSTRUCTIVE SOUTHLAND ! EXPERIENCES I Some bi the most important research in Canterbury in recent years has been that carried out at Canterbury Agricultural College, Lincoln, 'which has drawn attention to the importance of the effect of nutrition and its relation to the incidence and control of certain diseases m sheep, -which, each year, are responsible for serious loss in every province. So far research in Canterbury has made good progress, and information has been made available to farmers through "The Press" from time to time, emphasising the importance of the problems being attacked through the channel of nutrition. The actual experimental work has necessarily been concentrated in Canterbury because of the limited funds at the disposal of the investigators. . _ This year farmers organisations in Southland and individuals and firms interested in that province's primary production have determined to support research in a practical way, and bocause of the longer winter and shorter production season causing peculiarly severe conditions of feeding, the province will probably play a large part I in the combining of facts secured during investigation under field conditions in that province, which will ultii matelv bring* to a conclusion the research into nutritional factors and their effect on disease. Mr Allan Leslie, ! veterinarian at Lincoln College, who i has been responsible for the organisation of this section of the college's research, recently extended his activities i to include, besides the extensive and thorough work in the experimental 1 Hock at Ashley Dene, in Canterbury. the comparison and co-relation of his results of the last four years with experience in the field in other provinces, and especially in Southland, Great Interest in Southland A representative of "The Press" has just concluded an extensive tour of Southland, and the interest of Southland farmers in the aspect of nutrition as one of the major factors in sheep troubles was obvious. They generally suppcrt the results obtained in Canterbury by the research, at Lincoln College, basing th: support on casual observance under uieir particular conditions. Fanning practice in Southland incl cs jo o of la ;, q a c 0 octs r er feeo. „ d d t co n r i r rs com nee 1 t i b (. t, J S c e I c Ti c k a l r c a co cc tr ted ro f f i mere r n It I c i e i uci c t to n lit! 1 • CtP u tl 1 c 1 c p \!t o t r c 1 th tn ! e S * d t e I b I o 1 3 ex s t t e hoi i r i po " r to e r f Car e o I ar II a c r t t } eec n Ira nt teo c c Troubles with Two-toofii Ewe* The occurrence of the slipping <:. i iambs by two-tooths is not uncommon, in Southland, and an effort :s being made to apply preventive nea=ur«r based en the assumption of th..; relationship between the gestational fee.ding anil that trouble. It was agreed by a great many farmers that it is true that most of the outbreaks of the trouble ai/pear v. Iter' 1 th>. ;■•■ heavy root lee-ehm; over a long peimxi. with the ration of other feeds limited, or where there is an absence of proper supplementary feeding. In the coming season it is possible that further evidence will be collected to prove that by balancing the ration of roots satisfactorily the trouble with young sheep can be "made a negligible factor. Improving the quality of the diet m a control-over ante-partum paralysis, or sleepy sickness in ewe;, is rcceiviui strong support, and several farms were visited and farmers interviewed to provide evidence that apparent benefits are obtained by improving the quantity and quality of the feed for sheep during the last few weeks before lambi:.-;. It is this "flushing up" that research claimed would act as a preventive measure. Its practical application in recent years in Southland obviously has been more than justified by results. It would not be correct to sr-y, however, that hetvy root feeding is net a very genera! practice. It i c . : —<i she- ■■ trouble- are very commo" sf.l':, a; m ether provim-f.; and k-calltirs. However, the belief :s certain';. - grew rr: that the onset cf this disease is associated with malnutrition or undernutrition. This stromtly supports the results of the research in Canterbury as far as it had gone to date. Dangers When Sheep on Down Grade In Southiar.a, where the root feeduig may be over a long period, and when the sheep in many ca*es are approaching lambing and gradually losing condition, the trouble is pronounced, and there is still a wide field for investigation. Farmers were very interested in tltis particular problem, and it appears possible that in the near future considerable practical support will be lent to the pursuing of investigation under Southland conditions. It was significant that en one of the best farms in the Southland province —one that has for many years in succession won the competition covering a very extensive area—the farmer stated that he had found that the less roots he fed during the winter months, and the more cf other classes of bet-ter-balanced diet used, the less trouble he had in the spring. That was no haphazard result, as on no farm could observations have been more thorough . or more reliable. It has become his : practice not to commence feeding roots ' until August 1 at the earliest. He • likes to keep the feeding limited toj six weeks. Of course, in Southland j the spring growth of grass, on an average, is expected to come away at the end of the second v/eek in September. By following that practice his losses have been reduced from severe to almost negligible. He also agrees that feeding of unbalanced rations—which amounts merely to improper management—is a factor which affects breeding efficiency, the incidence of disease, and the eco- I nomic life o! sheep. j