GAS LICK FOR SHEEP

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 75, 30 March 1932, Page 14

GAS LICK FOR SHEEP

• QXIDE WINS ON POINTS

•t -IRON-HUNGRY STOCK

-. ;T'he direct.: feeding of iron to ironstarved, stock has made progress in the laat: half-year.- It is' claimed that "ample evidence" is available proving that sheep afid-lambs can thus be kept "in a healthy condition on pumice country, hitherto found impossible." The latest article in tfie/."New Zealand Journal of Agriculture," by Mr. B. C. Aston, the earliest dezapnstrator; of the . efficacy o: iron treatintent in ■> "bush sick" districts, marshals tfte evidence, including farmers' experiences .with sheep and cattle, aud a special stieep-experiment at Atiamuri. '.There are various iron compounds—the Kpaonite .(hydrated oxide of iron) group, the iron ammonium citrate group, spathic iron'; (carbonate of iron), etc. The Atiam'uri'tesperiment seems to indicate marked superiority of.limohite, or- oxide, as a lick fprrsheep. AS GRASS-DRESSING AND AS LICK. 'Mr;-Aston, who is Chief Chemist of the .Department of Agriculture, points out that-the Department experimented with Hmonite as long ago as 1914. This oxide was. then used not as a lick for the direct feeding of sheep, but as a dressing for pasture at the Department's Maniaku demonstration ' As the Department •wis "restricted to ■ iron-sources that were accessible as well as suitable," the following.were the forms of iron experimented with in chronological, order: (1) Limonite from Whangarei, 1914; (2) gasworks spent oxide* of: iron made from the Whangarei material, ■'.1915; (3) limonite from One-iaka,-Nelson, December, 1924; .-(4) spathic iron ore, Huntly, 1926. "Of these, when applied as a dressing for pasture, the only one which gave any success was the spent oxide from the Auckland or Hamilton gas•wbrks; which waa applied at the rate of lOcwtr per acrel This experiment was notable as showing-the-efficacy-of spent oxide in• keepiiig-grown sheep healthy for a iripch longer time on affected country than otherwise would be possible (as shown in i&e Department's annual report for the year 19J.6-17, p. 13). Spent iron oxide front-gasworks is obtainable at a nominal cost. Apart from' its soluble iron content it!contains' nitrogenous compounds which are'useful as a pasture top-dressing. In •excess, it is used as a weed 3>oison for paths and roads, and owing to tlte.:cpntained poisonous properties it canaa'ot'be used as a stockrlick." ;'So.-much for the application of iron compounds to,pastures. -Later experiments "with iroiv compounds that might be suitable'as licks gave a variety of interesting results.' The* oxide (limonite), the carbonate (spathic), and the: ammonium citrate-were .all tried as licks. • GRINDING DIFFICULTIES. The.carbonite.was a failure in the Atiaanuri'^experiment. It is impure carbonate of J iron- (coming mostly from a Huntly cliiy-pit), and its variable quality may be one of the causes of failure. The boulideis ■have to be ground, and failure may arisefeither in the grinding or in the selection ."'of;.the boulders. As regards the car--foojiate used at Atiamuri, it has been suggested that "insufficient care was used in selecting the boulders- for grinding, so that, the •;■ material may have contained veryvlittle .iron carbonate—a contention that analyses support"; at' any rate,.,this part of the treatment, in the Atiamuri experiment, wa? discontinued. -'Qn'fbrmei' occasions, Mr. Aston re-coi-d^,'; carbotiate of iron has been fed-to cattle ■.:o-,k lick; to calves as a lick, and also miSed -in their feed-milk; and to sfieep.;£H pallets. In all these ways carbonate .« has' given "satisfactory results." But that was done after the selected material.- had beenr "finely ground (a costly matterO ;in a phosplkte mill." But it is hard to-get even quality in the ground initetial. "In • some ground samples ■it lias ;been found by chemical analysis to vary ;S& much as 10 per cent, in: the siliceous matter. -The -Whangarei oxide (limonite) -is "now proving superior in- treating sheep."'. ■ ■ :