BRONCHIAL WORMS IN SHEEP.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3161, 16 August 1881, Page 4

BRONCHIAL WORMS IN SHEEP.

Mi- Jdii.c. Frown, of Wakanui, writes as follows in the Canterbury Times : —

I have read with considerable interest Mr Yi.Qtpi-'* V-ftpv in y- ur la-<t wwk's issue. }' r U 1;.!.'.';-,.'■•-. -j in rli-u-ving In'- attention of f'"iMiifr-> to tho (li.voiuo, and pointing ou-'- a !•■ -1 i»:lv, is his/My r-orumendable. i am in-(•liru-d tn think that the diseaso (worms in the bronchial tubes) is much more common than is generally supposed, for farmers as a rule are backward at taking up tho pen. I acknowledge that I am one of them, and should have addressed you on this subject a month ago—such was my intention. In the month of April I had about 220 hoggets of three-quarter and seven-eighth breed. One of my rams dying in service last year, I allowed the others to run longer than usual ■with tho ewes. I had in consequence a good many late lambs. The rams were taken from the ewes on June 30th. As you know, last summer -was a very dry one, and especially about, harvest time everything like green pasture was burned up ; then came tho rain, followed by a quick growth of grass, which set three-fourths of them scouring severely. They had free access to water, which 1 think is a bad thing, for I observed that those that were bad were every now and again drinking, and, in my opinion, drank far too mu«h. I may say that the water was supplied by a windmill ; it was dammed in the ditches, on a clese bottom, and if not supplied with fresh water, is liable to get a green scum on its surface. From tbe Ist of May to the 30th of June I lost exactly 15 cent. I opened nearly every one of tnem, and in every case I found worms, more or less. The worms in general were about three inches long, about the thickness of a common cotton thread. They were white, and sharp at fche ends in those of the sheep that were killed. The seagulls would sometimes take their eyes out before they were dead. I found some of the worms alive, but they would

die almost on the instant; they were exposed. : In some cases I have found a few of them ; mi the windpipe, but they were chiefly in •-he bronchial tubes, and in fche lower ends of some they were literally choked full of ; them. A fortnight ago I' put the hoggosts ; into a fresh paddock, where there was no ••vater, but a good straw sh.ek and plenty of r'ced. I have had no deaths since, ■, because ill tho sickly ones are, I think, dead ; and I think the want of water has had a good deal to do with their getting over the scour. They now seem lively, but many of them, if disturbed, will be attacked with violent ; fits of coughing, almost a certain sign of i worms in the bronchial tubes —amongsfc ;' my hoggets, at least. m _______,_______ I