Reinforcing May Be Vital

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30763, 29 May 1965, Page 8

Reinforcing May Be Vital

(Written by

E.C. ORR,

a livestock instructor of the Department of Agriculture.)

Today, when a farmer says, “I plunge dipped all my sheep,” he speaks with a tone of confidence that his sheep have beep thoroughly dipped. This may be so, but during visits to some properties where plunge j or swim dips have been used, important and even drastic breakdowns in dipping procedures have been noted.

Breakdowns have been caused by some farmers misinterpreting the words “reinforce” and “replenish,” and in most cases by not reinforcing the dip at any time during dipping. To “reinforce” means to strengthen the dip so that it will be strong enough to kill all lice and keds. Not all dipping materials need to be reinforced as some are soluble in water. This means that no matter how much of this dip is taken out on the sheep’s wool the strength remains unaltered and therefore no reinforcing is required. Dipping materials which are insoluble in water, and can be stripped out with the sheep’s wool during' dipping, must be reinforced. When these materials are mixed thoroughly they still remain suspended in the dip. Sheep going through this dip take out the active ingredient for destroying lice and keds because the wool is acting as

a strainer. The fluid that drains off the sheep in the draining pens and flows back into the dip would now be lower than normal in dip concentration and at a specified stage the active ingredient that has been taken out must be put back into the dip. When the manufacturers of dipping materials state that reinforcing has to be done after a drop of a specified number of gallons in the dip, it is imperative that this be done. The amount required to reinforce the dip varies, but this point is made clear on the label of every dipping material. For example, one commonly used dipping material label states:— Reinforcement.— Each time the dip level falls by 10U gallons add one I pint of dip (no water). Always “reinforce” before “replenishing.” At this stage the meaning of the word “reinforce,” must be fully understood. We now come to the word “replenish,” and this simply means “to fill again.” Replenishing of a dip is straight forward. Farmers should realise that after water has been added to the dip more active dipping ingredient is required to offset the dilution and again the amount is clearly stated on all manufacturers’ labels. ;

Recently a property was visited by livestock instructors during a normal check after the owner had offered lice-infested lambs at a public saleyard. This property runs about 2000 sheep. The owner

was naturally very disappointed, when informed that his sheep had lice, especially as all the sheep on the property had been swim dipped a few weeks earlier. The farmer had mustered his sheep onto a well fenced block near his dip about 10 days before dipping. This gave him sufficient time to straggle muster the rest of the property three times to make sure that no sheep would be missed during dipping.

During inspections the first sheep to be dipped were found clean, and the last lot, which included the lambs offered for sale at the yards, were lice infested. At this point it could be clearly seen

that a breakdown had ocurred during the later stages of dipping. When the “reinforcing” and “replenishing” of the dip were discussed, it was found that the dip had never been “reinforced.” The label quite clearly stated that the material used must be reinforced. This meant that the last sheep to be dipped were only being washed with a material that was not much stronger than water, and definitely not strong enough to kill lice and keds,

If you ever say, “I plunge dipped all my sheep,” please make sure you have studied the diping manufacturer’s label carefully and please understand the words “reinforce" and “replenish.”