LAMB MORTALITY

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22304, 19 January 1938, Page 13

LAMB MORTALITY

! SERIOUS RECRUDESCENCE | | REMEDIAL ADVICE i a Mention was made last week of the 2 reports which were coming to hanc 0 concerning the prevalence of larm f troubles, and in connexion with these i inquiries have been received from al - parts of the district by the staff o'. ■r Lincoln College. 3 The investigations instituted by the i staff reveal that deaths are due more s to entero-toxaemia (pulpy kidney) thar - to worm infestation. The advice of the - College is to shut up the lambs al night, feed with dry material such as a hay, oatsheaf-chaff, or crushed oats - and bran, the last mentioned ol , which is the best. If some molasses s can be fed at the same time so much :. the better. The lanibe wWcVx are beinj - attacked are in good fat condition anc £ die quickly. / In a minority of cases, as far as car t be observed, lambs are scouring anc s wasting away. This is due to worms e When lambs are dying from pulpj a kidney, and rape is ready to feed, th< s lambs should be weaned when put on s but should receive dry feed as well z There have been warnings in the pas i of the probability of a recurrence ol x the troubles. Such an eventuality was ? predicted some time ago by Mr D. J . Sidey. of the College staff, as a resul of the weather and the suggestion was ? made that the College bulletin on the t subject should be carefully read. It 3 is to be feared that this bulletin has i been only scanned by some farmers, j and not read at all by others. For , that reason it may be useful to reprint . the section in bulletin 97, dealing with proper feeding practices, as follows: ' Feeding Practice 1 Lambs should always be put on to ' rape with a full stomach and should ; have been accustomed to eating dry feed while still running with their mothers. It often happens that it is ■ quite impracticable to put lambs on ! rape at the ideal stage. Frequently the ; lambs must be weaned before the rape is ripe, and in the absence of suitable ; stubble or other fattening feed, the lambs are put on green or semi-green ' rape. Under fine weather conditions : with healthy lambs, little harm such as : scouring, may occur, but with poorer lambs or wet conditions scouring often occurs to a serious extent. Under such curcumstances, of course, good quality lucerne, clover hay or chaff should be fed along with the rape, though often the actual total weight of hay consumed by lambs thus fed, may be quite small. It would appear that the fattening value of rape is improved when thus fed or, at any rate, lambs on rape fatten better and quicker with a small ration of dry feed which tones up the digestive tract. This is doubly desirable in wet seasons and it is strongly recommended that for safer and easier fattening good quality dry feed should always be fed to lambs fattening on rape whether the rape is ripe or semiripe. Sometimes because of its dietetic value, a light seeding of mustard is sown with the rape crop. The sowing of 3—4lb of Italian ryegrass, half a bushel of early maturing peas or a few pounds of linseed an acre with the rape crop are beneficial. Rape is often used as a cover crop when sowing new pasture, but where the pbject is good pasture the seeding should be very light (not more than Jib). Grazing- Management Rape normally ripens 12 to 14 weeks after sowing, and once paving reached maturity it commences to wither and to deteriorate in feeding value. Although the period of feeding a ripe crop may be extended from a tew weeks to several months under certain conditions, a normal grazing period would extend over 4 to 6 weeks. Sometimes on light land in very dry seasons the period may be much shorter. In order to overcome the comparatively short grazing season, the sowing should be arranged to take place at intervals. One break is sown 10 days to 2 weeks after the first or preceding break. In practice where two paddocks are being sown in rape one is usually sown about two weeks after the other. Before the commencement of grazing the rape crop should be temporarily fenced into breaks of such a size that each break can be eaten out in about two weeks. Lambs may be put on to a break of rape and left there entirely without a "run off" of any kind. A "run off" on to oat stubble, hay aftermath or other good quality clean worm-free feed is good. Access to permanent pastures, possibly heavily infested with worms, should not be permitted, and it is equally undesirable to allow lambs to run back over previously grazed areas. A hay rack may be erected in the rape field. Some farmers keep lambs from water when on rape, but it appears that this precaution is nq£ necessary for healthy, thriving forward lambs. In the above mentioned investigation, lambs were given as much fresh artesian water as they cared to drink. Their daily requirement on rape in normal dry weather in February and March was one-third pint a lamb. On hot days a half pint a lamb was consumed, while on cloudy days or showery days, they drank practically no water at all. If the rape is partially green, however, it may be better to prevent access to water, as green rape itself is very luscious and extremely liable to cause scouring even with healthy lambs. The practice of putting lambs on to rape daily about 9 o'clock in the morning and taking them off in the evening at 4 or 6 o'clock, though claimed by some farmers to reduce death rates, does not seem necessary under average conditions. Many farmers who do not follow this practice do not have a higher death rate or more trouble in fattening than their apparently more careful neighbours. The investigation mentioned showed that the normal grazing period of lambs fattening on rape was, on an average, from shortly after daybreak to about 9 o'clock in the morning, and from 3 or 4 o'clpck in the afternoon to dusk. A midnight meal of short duration was also taken between 11 o'clock and about 1 o'clock. During the heat or middle of the day, in the early part of the night, and in the period before daybreak, the lambs chewed the cud or slept. Besides the extra work involved, putting lambs on to rape for practically the mid-day period does not coincide with their natural feeding periods. WHEAT SAMPLES LOW MOISTURE CONTENT HEADED LINES INCLUDED i The Wheat Research Institute has already received about 20 wheats for test baking. Their general character is very good, and nearly every sample is of higher quality than any of those received at this stage last year. All the wheats that have been threshed have very low moisture content, the average of the samples so far received being 13.6 per cent, and the highest of them being 14.7 per cent. Several of these lines have been headed.