DISEASES OF LAMBS

Ellesmere Guardian, Volume LVI, Issue 40, 21 May 1935, Page 6

DISEASES OF LAMBS

ADDRESS BY MR A. LESLIE.

FEEDING AND SUSCEPTIBILITY.

A lecturer at the annual meeting of the Ellesmere A. and P. Association on Friday evening was Mr A. Leslie, F.R.C.V.S., of Canterbury Agricultural College, Lincoln, who spoke concerning some of the research work carried out at the college into the diseases of sheep and lambs. He said that the investigations were being carried on along the same lines as previous years and some advance had been made in practical work. Research work was being continued into mortality of lambs. With regard to pulpy kidney, he said that the disease was caused bjp a toxin produced by an organism which was widespread in nature. An interesting point about this organism was that if it were produced as a culture and healthy lambs dosed with it, nothing happened. It,was not the organism which killed, but the toxin produced by it under certain conditions. He mentioned that it might be possible to successfuly treat the disease by vaccination. There were other factors, however, which had to be considered—those which predisposed the lamb to this disease, and whether they were preventable. Research work into this trouble was now in its fourth year, and it had been established that a large percentage of the lambs which died of pulpy kidney were the offspring of ewes which had been on a low plane of feeding during the winter. It was found that ewes which were well fed during the winter were able to put on weight before lambing, but others which were allowed to take their chances for feed, as on the plains land, made little or no increase in weight, and their offspring were lighter than those of the better fed ewes. In a large proportion of cases it was also found that in the case of twins born to ewes not well fed, one was lighter than the other at birth. Lambs born at the beginning of the season were, roughly a pound lighter than those born near the end and records kept at Lincoln College indicated that there was a steady increase in the birth weight as the lambing season advanced, this being due to the improved food supply. There was also a notable decrease in the disease. In the majority of cases lambs which died of pulpy kidney at Lincoln College were mostly underweight at birth, as compared with those from ewes which were fed under better conditions. In lambs affected with pulpy kidney, a condition similar to indigestion was found. Post-mortem examinations of lambs which had died of the disease showed that at the onset there was a good deal of harmful indigestible material in the stomach. Could this be the sequal to indigestion or to the lamb picking up something not good for it? Cases had occurred where foreign matter had been found in the fourth stomach and intestines of lambs which had ingested it at too early an age. Inflammation was also present, but what it arose .from he was not in a position to say. A lamb which was not getting sufficient milk was prone to too early ingestion of

foreign material. A lamb could get pulpy kidney, under adverse conditions, as early as nine days old. A lamb at that age was dependent upon its mother for its food. If the ewe before lambing was on a poor supply of food and she was afterwards placed on plentiful supply of green feed, the result would be a supply of milk more than sufficient for the needs of the lamb. So far as the college researches had gone, it would seem that indigestion of some sort predisposed the lamb to the disease, but there need not be the same factor in each case.

The next matter touched upon was arthritis. The common suggestion of the cause of the disease was a lack of cleanliness at tailing but he had known cases where this work was done under ideal conditions but yet a high incidence resulted. It was noticeable that where a twin lamb developed the disease it was usually the faster-grown one. Blood tests showed a low percentage of phosphate, but whether this was due to the operations or to the feed, he could not say. From observations which had been made of lambs before and after tailing, there appeared to be a connexion between the disease and the condition of the lamb at the time of tailing. Research workers at Wallaceville had isolated an organism

but Mr Leslie said that he did not believe an organism was responsible for the disease. There was a mystery about the disease, but he could not get away from the opinion that it was associated somewhere with feeding. Mr Leslie also spoke of his investigations in South Canterbury, where v there had been mortality of ewes and lambs due to excessive scouring, the milk supply of the ewes drying up and the lambs grazing on their own at too early an age. Similar troubles had been experienced in Mid-Canterbury. There was usually plenty of feed, and the trouble might be due to humid climatic conditions and not too much sunshine, and the flush of feed. The ewes had not been too well fed earlier, and when first put on the extra feed did well, but soon after that the trouble hadU«developed. The same condition&^effcdbe brought about by sheep fro^^ffill country being put on the* richer pastures of the plains. He had advised the ewes and lambs being put back on to harder feed, with ample- supplies of minerals and salt and no water, and the trouble gradually righted itself. --

One or two questions were asked of Mr Leslie, and he was accorded a hearty vote of thanks for his address.