ANIMAL HUSBANDRY

Hawera Star, Volume LI, 20 June 1931, Page 14

ANIMAL HUSBANDRY

Last week Dr. Albiston, Director of the Veterinary School .in Melbourne, spoke to an interviewer on the subject and stressed the value of animal husbandry. He said that “animal husbandry must go hand in hand mith pasture improvement and closer settlement, and the more stockowners become acquainted with the troubles that heavy-carrying land may have in store the better they will be equipped to. cope with them. I would say that parasites are the worst menace that sheepowners have to face. These pests are capable of causing serious economic loss. When you herd largenumbers of animals within limited spaces you must expect complications. It is the same with plant life . and with human beings. The more highly specialised and concentrated the more susceptible all are to disease. Take an irrigated allotment, for example, where dozens of sheep to the acre arc sometimes carried, the conditions are unnatural, and it would be surprising if trouble did not arise. If instead of obtaining a fair amount of roughage, which they need to keep them healthy, sheep are kept on green luscious feed for any length of time it is only to be expected that disorders will be prevalent, and the risk of contaminating additional pastures will he intensified.” “Tlie healthiest sheep country,” he continued, “is to be found among the larger areas, where pastornlists have been careful to avoid overstocking, and in the drier parts, where animals have plenty of scope—where, in short, the conditions are natural. But even some of these areas are in danger of contamination if the spread of disease is not arrested.”

Dr. Albiston stated that parasitic troubles could he checked and, lie hoped, greatly minimised, ■ hut not without considerable cost. There must ho a campaign of regular drenching by landowners whose stock are known to bo infested, and suitable licks should he used. Where possible, lie said, infested areas should he cleansed by burning or spelling, and alternate sheep and cattle grazing is also advised as a. means of minimising the evil,, hut it- is recognised that burning, spelling or alternate grazing is seldom possible in the practical working of properties, and in that case the host means of coping with the trouble is the use of regular drenches and licks.