Farm and Station

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXXII, Issue 12538, 27 April 1935, Page 12

Farm and Station

(By “RUSTIOUS”.)

HOGGET MORTALITY

H.B. FLOCKS SUFFER, STOMACH WORMS THE CAUSE. DOSING AND FEEDING NEEDED. Tlie present season is one of the worst that has been experienced in Hawke’s Bay for hoggets and young sheep, anVl farmers in all parts otf the province are finding the taisk of car* tying their lambs and hoggets along a. very difficult one. One farmer in Central Hawke’s Bay informed the Hawke’s Bay “Herald” that he had lost some hundreds of lambs through stomach, and lung worms, and there are other farmers who have been just as hard hit, The seasonal conditions, which have been unfavourable for fattening, have been practically ideal for the spread of those parasites, and unless far mere take measures to combat these worms the loss promises to. be exceptionally heavy, and he illafforded . Every season of course trouble is experienced to a greater or lesser degree with these stomach and lung parasites but this reason has been an exceptional one, with warm humid weather making for a very rapid infestation of the younger sheep in particular who find it very hand to make any headway against these pests which arc robbing thorn of vitality and irreparably impairing their constitutions. Tn all circles of farming thought the position is rightly regarded as .serious, and much concern is felf, as to flic possible extent of the losses that must undoubtedly continue unless individual farmers take up the task that confronts them. Sound feeding and regular drenching are the two main avenues olf attack open to the grazier, and by adopting the practices outlined by Mr E. E. Elphiok, MVR.C.V.S., Government Veterinarian. in these columns it should be possible for good progress to be made. SERIOUS POSITION. As an instance of how .serious the position has become, Mr Elphiek mentioned to the “Herald” that he had received a visit from a group of Piitorino farmers who. came expressly to Hastings to discuss this problem with him. “Prevention is, of course, the initial step to take in dealing with this trouble,” said Mr Elphiek, in commenting on the occurrence of stomach and king worms in flocks. “Farmers should dose their lambs directly they are weaned, and this dosing ishou.l4 he followed up by regular closings at intervals of three weeks to a month throughout the autumn and the winter. By so doing the lambs would never get a heavy infection and would make progress. “During the drought of the past summer no trouble was experienced from internal parasites hut, once the weather broke, all of a sudden the lambs became heavily infested/ the humid warm conditions being ideal for the eggs of the parasites to hatch.. The result was that there was. a wholesale infection instead of a gradual one as is the"case in normal years. FEEDING AND FODDERS. “Once these parasites become established the farmer has to taka steps to combat them. Feeding now plays a most important part in the cure. Fodders such as chaff, crushed cats, good hay and cut lucerne should he fed as they builcl up the strength of the animals and assist, them in fighting the parasites which are making a, heavy drain on their constitutions. “The older sheep in the flock do not suffer and feel the ravages of these worms to the same extent and are able to battle on, hut the farmer must assist his young sheep by feeding and dosing if ho is to save them and build them up. “The hoggets should be put on suitable country—dry sunny hill slopes—and should follow the cattle on to clean country. The man with a large holding, who can drift his hoggets about has a better chance of reducing the possibilities off trouble than .the .farmer who is stocking heavily and carrying three or four sheep to the acre, as the infestation, is not so heavy and the pastures are cleaner.” Time was the essence of the contract, and Mr Elphiek warned farmers of the dangers of delay in treating lung and stomach worms. “Waiting and waiting until heavy losses occur is fatal,” he said. “The longer treatment is put off, the more remote are the possibilities of a cure being obtained. If a farmer suspects trouble he should, kill and open up one of the ailing lambs and find out what is the matter. “The lung parasite is this year largely accompanying the -stomach worm,” continued Mr Elphiek, "but ilie latter is more .harmful, as the lung worm does not affect the bowels. The combined effect however, is ravaging. If you have signs btf lung worm in your sheep it is a nine-to-one chance that. you have the stomach worm present, although the converse nedd not necessarily apply. If the lung worm is present the stomach worm is usually in very heavy infestation. HEAVY LOSSES BEFORE. There have been heavy losses in past years in similar seasons to the present in the autumn an/d winter

months which could have been prevented or much reduced by proper treatment. Farmers should make a feature of drenching regularly every year at weaning, irrespective of seasonal conditions. If the worms had been tackled right at the start we should never have had the trouble of an dt'he infection would have been con si dor ably less. “Every parasite is a potential danger,” continual Mr Elphick, who quoted an American report of several years ago which stated that “permanent pastures perpetuate parasites,” There was more trouble from parasites in grassland farming that where arable farming was carried out, and this necessitated action in Hawke’s Bay. METHODS TO ADOPT. Briefly outlining the metlfCSs to adopt, Mr .Elphick .summed the position up under the following heads : 1. Drenching should be carried out at weaning and continued at regular intervals. 2. Lambs an.,! hoggets should he run on suitable, country—good dry open sunny faces, with a certain amount o)f shelter. 3. TToggets should not follow older sheep. They should have precedence and he grazed on the cleanest pastures. 4. Segregate the worst affected sheep and put them in a separate padlock where they, as well m the other hoggets, could be supplied with extra- feed to. keep their strength up anff enable them to fight the parasites. o. Drain unsuitable swampy areas. f>. Provide water troughs or good deep pools in preference to stagnant water. Regarding drenching Mr Elphick emphasised the importance of drench ing the sheep on a .full stomach,- ns this gave them every chance, whereas when they were starved prior to dosing they were given a further setback and lost much-needed strength. By proper drenching and feeding farmers could undoubtedly come through the winter with considerably fewer losses. 1 ‘SYNTHETIC” SHEEP. A correspondent of Ihc ‘‘Farmer's’ Weekly” states that two sheep belonging to the animal nutrition laboratory of Cornell University in the United States of America were slaughtered at the age of eighteen months. There is nothing remarkable in that, but these sheep from the time they were weaned from their mothers until the time of their death, never tasted a blade of grass, a kernel of grain, or any ordinary compound food. They were reared bv Dr L. L. Madsen on a mixture of casein, cellulose, starch, vitamin concentrates and .salts, and they thrived on it. They grew very rapidly to maturity, and when, .placed among ordinary sheep of the same age, looked exactly the same—if anything a- trifle better. When killed these “synthetic'’ sheep proved to be in excellent condition and f r ec from the usual parasites that inhabit the digestive tracts of sheep. From the observations that have been made upon these animals it is hoped that new methods may be explored .for freeing sheep of intestinal parasites. I NOR FAST NO CON SIT M PTIO N ATM NOT TO RESTRICT OUTPUT. "The first- thing to do is to decide what we Want—and what we must nil want is to see not more milk going to a, protected manufacturing milk market, hut more milk going down the throats of the. women and children who need it and can burn it not into choose hut into health and happiness.” So said Lord De Lfl Warr when he spoke recently at the annual dinner of the .Surrey F.U. at Dorking, reports a Home paper. “Wo are all le'-s and less looking at our problems from the point o! view elf restricting supplies, and more and more from the more hopeful angle of increasing consumption. It is true that if the bottom falls out of the market for agricultural produce, -as it has done lately, every «nc man is prepared to back up the Government in taking steps to protect the home producer. “But equally we see that it would be the sheerest folly to hase the prosperity of agriculture on the exclusion of cheap food from our markets, when public health "figures, recruiting figures and even a walk through the back streets of any town, can show ns the immensity of the great undeveloped market for food, if only we can get it to the people who need it at prices which they can afford to pay. “In the milk market, for example, our aim should bo not merely to keep out ’Supplies of cheap tinned milk, but to replace them by supplies of cheap fresh milk. And not only to replace tinned milk by fresh milk, but to put fresh milk within the reach of those who at present consume no milk at all."