Sleepy Sickness Problem

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32050, 26 July 1969, Page 9

Sleepy Sickness Problem

Reports from veterinary surgeons in Mid-Canterbury and the southern part of North Canterbury indicate that, as was to be expected in the present season, there is quite a lot of sleepy sickness showing up in ewes, particularly in the early lambing areas where feed supplies are very short.

The indications are that there will be more cases in the near future but the incidence might tail off later after the early lambing Is completed and lambing draws closer in the districts nearer the foothills, which have been in a much better position for feed than areas further down country.

A spokesman for the Ashburton Veterinary Club said this week that in their district there had been sleepy sickness for three or four weeks —“we have had quite a bit”— and he expected it would be a talking , point for the next two or three weeks.

Similarly, a spokesman for the Malvern Veterinary Club said that sleepy sickness was coming on now and he expected there would be more unless farmers could do something about getting more feed into their sheep. The crux of the matter is, of course, the lack of greenfeed and in particular autumn saved pasture. Even turnips were not as good as usual and there was less grass among them, the Malvern spokesman said. Veterinarians in both areas noted that cases had appeared in ewes carrying only one lamb—it is a trouble that is sometimes called twin lamb disease. The Ashburton spokesman said that this tended to underline the lack of nutrition particularly in the latter part of pregnancy, as well as in pregnancy as a whole.

The Ashburton veterinarian said that farmers, however,, appeared to be aware of the problem this season. It had been encouraging to see file attempts being made to cope with the situation and the results that had'been obtained.

In particular, he was referring to the efforts of farmers to sort out file bottom five to 10 per cent of their mobs and give them a little better treatment than the rest He noted that even if the feed that they were put on was not very good it allowed the weaker animals to feed quietly without being overridden by the stronger element in the flock.

The Malvern spokesman said that where pastures had been bared down hard and stocking was intensive the conditions could be favourable for development of heavy worm infestations and he therefore suggested that ewes should be drenched against worms three to four weeks before lambing, and to get the maximum effect from this treatment should be returned to a clean feed break and a clean run-off.

Noting also the desirability of sorting out the weaker part of the mob for special treatment, he said that these Sheep could be identified when the mob was driven in the early morning and apart from being drenched for worms these could be given a dose of a commercially available preparation, Ketol, based mainly on propylene glycol and also including some other additives, and put onto autumn saved pasture if it was available and left, there. If any of the ewes at this stage were also showing a tendency t< stagger he suggested that they might also be given calcium borogluconate.

The Ashburton spokesman also noted that the commercial preparation mentioned appeared to be giving better results than with glycerine. Where flock and commercial ewes were caught in time he added that there appeared to be an encouraging recovery rate. He said he could not be too dogmatic about just what he meant by “in time," but ewes still had to be able to move about and should not be so dull that they were unable to -recognise grass. The pet ewe dosage cost, he said, was well within the accepted range.

The leyelof nutrition of any particular ewe in the last two weeks before lambing should be about 50 per cent higher than the amount that was being used to maintain the same sheep under ordinary circumstances earlier in the winter, Professor I. E. Coop, professor of animal science at Lincoln College, said this week. This meant that the total contribution' of all feeds should be about 50 per cent higher than, say, in May or June, and farmers should try to build up to that

However, as fanners had already in many cases spent a fair amount of money on feed, they might be reluctant to raise the level of nutrition to this extent, and in that ease their losses might be rather higher, but it was not possible to say that they were wrong in this as it would be

necessary to balance these losses against the cost of extra feed.

If at all possible, he said, an endeavour should be made to give ewes within two or three weeks of lambing a bite of greenfeed—even if they were only on it for a short time and even if it only comprised turnip tops.