LOCKJAW IN LAMBS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 784, 6 April 1910, Page 10

LOCKJAW IN LAMBS.

ITS CAUSES,

; Wrong ideas-- regarding, lockjaw arid its causes are still very prevalent among In dealing with thtf topic in ..the ' Australasian;" "Behdelby" says that probably this form of ignorance now finds more frequent; expression v'in relation to 'the searing of lambs' .'tails ..than in. any other direction. For generations it was j believed' that the severing of certain muscles on the human hand set up this terrible affliction. Scientists eventually exploded this conviction by pra&ically proving that no knife or implement'which had not been in contact with .the ground could lead to such. a. result, that lock-: jaw was caused by''a microbe in tho ground,, and that- unless that microbe were picked up therefrom no cuts or wounds' could of themselves promote lockjaw. Some very,interesting evidence relating to the subject was tendered at an inquiry in Melbourne some few years back, when it was sought to connect the death of ail electric, wire repairer with tho injury directly caused by a live wire. This man died from, lockjaw, but it was satisfactorily proved in evidence that. an open wound on. his hand had been brought into contact with germ-laden ground upon which ho fell at the time of getting the electric shock. The man who blames the sear-, ing-iron for directly promoting lockjaw in lambs is wrong-. No properly-treated iron can carry the germ; a dirty knife.can, and, equally so, a cold searing-iron. The floor of any old stockyard ( may contain, '.'and. constantly . does contain, scores of tkeso microbes. They may get into any wound, however occasioned, either by-; hot iron or cold steel; but neither the one nor the other, if lot or clean, will of itself .convey the disease A scratch from barb-wire on,tho coronet of a horse's leg has sometimes resulted in lockjaw. Tor this reason, men have been known to condemn the use of barbwire quite as: emphatically as somo uow condemn the searing-iron. Tho mischief lies, as above explained, in the ground, preferably ".in and about old yards and . stables, where manuro is' or has been lying about.' Where Men can report heavy mortality among lambs after the tailing process; "as some, undoubtedly can, the remedy lies, not in discarding tho. use of the searing-iron, but in changing the site of their yards. Whilst on tho subject, it is as well to make mention of tho dangerous habit of allowing children oh stations to run about barefooted.' A wound from a nail or a cut .from broken glass can easily pick up this microbe. Tho environment of almost any station homestead makes it, in this respect, a remarkably risky playground for barefooted children..

At the annual meeting of the Chatham branch of the Farmers' Union Mr. Harrison'' spoke at some length on tho need for a systematic testing of individual coivs. He thought it would pay the Eltham Dairy Company to engage a good man .to test suppliers' cows, and in a few years there would ho thousands of pounds saved to tho farmers of this district, who were now entirely in tho dark as to tho relative value of individual cows. After discussion, it was resolved that'a remit ho sent to the Provincial Conference, urging it to take steps to initiate the formation of a mill; testing association; that this is a matter of primary importance to'this district, and would do much to secure the sympathy , of. the farmers of • \iis district with the uuion.'.