Ups And Downs Of The Lambing Season

Press, Volume C, Issue 29638, 7 October 1961, Page 6

Ups And Downs Of The Lambing Season

TT has not been an easy * lambing season in Canterbury this year. In general many more lambs have been dropped than is normal, but on many farms the early promise of very high lambing percentages has not been realised as a result of losses during three wintry storms experienced during the period. In these cases percentages have been reduced to little better than a normal figure but other farmers, who have been more fortunate, are still able to report much higher percentages than normal.

Thus in North Canterbury percentages of about 150 are quite common. On a farm in the central part of the province it is reported (unconfirmed) that there was still a 130 per cent, tailing after 280 lambs had been lost from 900 ewes. This would make the initial percentage almost 160. Thpre seem to have been many instances of initial drops at least being in the 130 to 140 per cent, category. With anything like a reasohably favourable lambing season it seems' certain that the lamb crop would have been of record propor-

tions. It is still likely to be a good one.

White-muscle disease seems to have appeared again. In North and some central Canterbury areas it has cropped up on many farms where it has not previously been known. In North Canterbury it has been seen frequently after the cold snaps that have been all too frequent this season. In the district surrounding Darfield the disease has also shown up on many nev properties and has retarded lamb growth. In Mid-Canterbury there have been sporadic outbreaks. It is fortunate that in selenium there is now an effective counter, and with early diagnosis the effects of the disease have been mitigated. The weather has also been trying. Cold conditions, lack of sunshine and above all lack of spring growth have been more than some ewes have been able to cope with. In Ashburton county lack a! feed is thought to have been at the back of ewes fading away three to six weeks after lambing, scouring and sometimes dying. Odd mobs have been affected in this

way right throughout the county. Early lambing mobs are the ones that seem to have suffered the most and for this reason the area east of the railway line, which lambs particularly early, has suffered perhaps more than other areas.

Ewes affected have usually had twin lambs and have been either two-tooths or at the other end of the scale in their last season. Whereas a few years ago when a simi-

lar condition was experienced in the county, ewes were mostly pre-lamb shorn; on this occasion they have often been in the wool. A feature of t’‘ trouble has been that the ewes have had heavy burdens of both Ostertagia and Trichostrongylus parasites. In fact there have been some fantastically high worm counts, in one sheep of the order of 200.000. Drenching with phenothiazine seems to have been effective in halting deaths. In some mobs up to 50 per cent, of the ewes have been affected and deaths have sometimes been of the order of about 5 per cent. ’ The effect of this stress on the ewes has been to affect milk supply markedly and the ultimate result could be quite a few backward lambs about.