Dipping At Same Time Advocated By Officer

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29384, 10 December 1960, Page 9

Dipping At Same Time Advocated By Officer

If farmers co-operated with each other to the extent of mustering and dipping all their sheep at the same time, considerable progress wpuld be made towards eliminating lice and keds from sheep in New Zealand, Mr J. Gibson, stock inspector of the Department of Agriculture in Christchurch, told farmers attending a farm school on the West Coast last winter. The extension of the period during which sheep could be dipped to nine months' of the year was tending to put back further and further the time when the country would be rid of these parasites, he said. It increased the possibility of a farmer having his sheep contaminated again following dipping, from a neighbour’s sheep. Best Time Although officers in his own department and many farmers did not agree with him, Mr Gibson said that he believed that the best time to dip sheep was at weaning. Most farmers in a particular district could be expected to wean at about the same time so that a widespread coverage would be obtained. Rams could also be dipped with safety at that time.

It was the practice of many farmers to dip all of the sheep they were keeping, but not to dip sale sheep. It was a good farmer who at some time did not have a box between the two groups and at that rate dipping at all was a waste of money. There was an old argument that dipping detracted from the ap-

pearance of sheep for sale, but a farmer would know that sheep had been dipped and he would be foolish to pay the same for similar dipped and undipped sheep. Where sheep had been dipped, one of the risks of farming had been eliminated and in any case he could be sure that any loss of appearance would only be transitory and was no worse than a shower on them.

Stragglers brought in at dipping time should never be sent home undipped, Mr Gibson advised. If they returned again a farmer would be certain that they had been dipped. Mr Gibson described a control scheme on the Port Hills in which about 80 farmers on 60,000 to 70,000 acres had co-operated. Before the control measures, he said that it had been a particularly bad area for lice, movement of stock from one property to another could not be prevented/ no property was free of parasites, and farmers were forced, to sell their stock privately instead, of through saleyards. The country had been divided into five blocks with three farmers forming a co-ordinating committee in each area. It had been decided that all sheep in a block should be dipped within a month. All pet lambs had been brought in, absentee owners had been brought into line, and all hermit sheep had been killed..lt was also required that all sheep being brought into the area should be dipped immediately. The scheme had been carried on for three years and Mr Gibson said he could now say without fear of contradiction that the area was absolutely clean.