PULPY KIDNEY

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 255, 25 July 1935, Page 14

PULPY KIDNEY

Faulty Feeding a Cause

RESULTS OF RESEARCH

(By

Cultivator.)

Young lambs are very often susceptible to pulpy kidney disease when unhealthy and the losses from this cause each year are greater than they should be. A disease which annually causes farmers considerable concern, pulpy kidney has been the subject of exhaustive research work during the past four years, and the results so far obtained have proved most satisfactory. By means of grants from the New Zealand Meat Producers Board, various fanning organisations and coni’ mercial interests, Lincoln Agricultural College has been enabled to investigate the question of ewe and lamb mortality, an<T since 1931 most valuable informa* tion has been made available concerning the relation between the feeding of the ewe and the susceptibility of the progeny io pulpv kidney. This has revealed that faulty feeding is the main factor aiding the complaint. . In an interesting and informative abstract of papers by Mr. Allan Leslie, veterinary surgeon, at Lincoln College, prepared for the Royal Agricultural Society of New Zealand, it is stated that research work in Australia, New Zealand and Great Britain has proved beyond doubt that the immediate cause of death of lambs from pulpy kidney is the absorption from the digestive system of a powerful poison elaborated by an organism. The responsible organism is widespread in nature and may be obtained from soil, grass, dust and practically anything exposed to the air. Experiments have shown that the organism can lie recovered from the digestive system of apparently normal lambs and that massive doses ot the organism are not capable of setting up the disease in the healthy lamb. Research has so far not established why only a small percentage of lambs develop the disease when the organism is so widespread in nature, and possibly present in the bowels of hundreds of normal lambs. It is with this aspect of the problem that work at Lincoln College has been concerned. The view now held is that a digestive disturbance favours the development of the toxin, which is the poison referred to, and that many factors lead to this. Effects of Poor Dieting.

Records collected at the college over a period of three years concerning individual ewes whose lambs subsequently developed pulpy kidney, together with details of their diet, have brought forward results that point to the conclusion that, if there are more factors than one that predispose the lamb to this complaint, faulty feeding of the ewe during pregnancy is one of them. It is believed that the effects of the poor dieting operate in two ways. One is by lowering the birth weight of the offspring and therefore, reducing its nutritional condition and reserves and interfering with its development and fitness, while the second is by influencing the quality, amount, and distribution of the yield of milk during the most susceptable pulpy kidney period.. It was revealed by numerous birtn weight records that lambs of well-fed ewes were significantly heavier at birth, grew more rapidly, and remained -healthier than lambs of poorly fed ewes, which were the type susceptible to pulpy kidney. Other interesting data collected showed that as the body weight of the ewe increased before lambing there was a corresponding decrease in the incidence of pulpy kidney in these lambs later. Birth weight records of pulpy kidney lambs showed that the majority of them were under weight. Poor feeding of the ewe before lambing had been shown to affect the distrbiution of the yield in _a similar manner to that found to occur in poorlyfed cows. It was also considered that the inadequately fed or unbalanced fed ewe gave less milk during the pulpy-kidney period, but that if the feed supply was improved a sudden stimulation of the milk flow would occur. This was believed to be detrimental to the health of the lamb previously affected by the doof feeding before lambing. Individual cases upon which post-mor-tem records were obtained indicated that the stomach and bowels may contain much curdled milk, and harmful foreign matter such as earth, sand, and indigestible fibrous herbage. On the other hand there may be no harmful matter. Solid food at toe early an age may be apparent as well as varying degrees of inflammation. The onset of the disease is more often associated with low than with normal growth gains, and the growth rate of the lamb may be slowed up before the onset of the disease. The growth gains of the majority of lambs dying of pulpy kidney disease are only average for lambs of poorly nourished ewes. The presence of noxious matter in the alimentary canal it is considered follows a milk shortage or from indigestion in under-weight young lambs growing very rapidly. Results of Investigations,

Results of investigations carried out by the college last, year confirmed those of the previous three years that faulty dieting of the ewe before lambing tended to produce the trouble in the lamb. There was also evidence that the feeding of the ewe after lambing may bn a factor in either of two ways. First, by a Midden change to green spring growth in lambs with low birth weights, and, therefore, incapable constitutionally of responding to a suddenly enriched food supply; secondly, by violent variations and interruptions in the fowl supply of lambs previously affected by insufficient nutrition before birth. From observations it was made clear that {lie effects of faulty nutrition before birth ou the vigour, constitution and development of new-born lambs may be a matter of degree. Many of the casualties among new-born lambs of ill-nourished ewes illustrate the worst effects. As the nutrition of the ewes before lambing is on a higher level the lamb mortality decreases, and in eases where the flock has been well nourished there are very few puny lambs at birth. It is important to note that a level of nutrition-not low enough to cause death may adversely affect subsequent growth of the lamb and its power to respond to good feeding when adequate milk is available. Poor lamb growth in early life may therefore not be due to shortage of milk, but to inadequate nutirition before birth. In this way also many lambs that would probably become pulpy kidney eases may die at birth. The management of a Hock of ewes and lambs during the pulpy kidney period is thus a fickle problem. What may work well in one flock may prove disastrous in another. In flocks in which slow growth rates and low birth weights were factory, fasting would make matters worse. A gradual improvement in the milk supply of ewee whoee lambs were backward at birth would be preferable to sudden stimulation of the milk flow.

Advantages of Good Feeding.

The experiments showed that where the in-lamb ewe had had an adequate diet of a mixed nature, including sufficient protein and vitamins, there existed little need for regulating subsequent milk production, as lambs born of well-nourished ewes were proved to be stronger, more vigorous, and therefore better equipped I o adjust themselves to varying conditions after birth. Better feeding before birth has another advantage, in that the wellnourished ewe yields more milk during the period when the lamb lives on nothing else, which is desirable. For the ill-nourished lamb high milk consumption may lead to disturbances of digestion through overtaxing the stomach and bowels. The ability of poorly-nourished ewes at Lambing to produce a good milk yield .for a short time when suddenly given a

stimulating diet is thus an important consideration in management. There arises, therefore, a need for reconsideration of a practice commonly used in Canterbury of reserving green feed for newlylambed ewes, irrespective of their pre-' vious feeding and condition. A sudden change in the diet of the ewe soon after she lambs places, the lamb under new’ conditions of nutrition. For lambs starting life with an unfavourable handicap of low birth weight and development and all its associations, a train of digestive disturbances leading to premature consumption of solid food and even to objectionable foreign matter may lead to digestive disorders favourable to bacterial growth ending in death. In a season in which green growth was scarce in the winter and before lambing for flushing purposes, ewes in indifferent, condition and the lambs were affected at birth. The flush of spring feed stimulates milk production and forces on underdeveloped lambs, leading to digestive disturbance. This is high production in lambs incapable of such. On the other hand, with similar hortnge of green herbage for flushing before lambing and inadequate green spring growth after milking for milk production, the results may be quite different.