FARM AND STATION

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XVII, 1 October 1927, Page 10

FARM AND STATION

More About Parasites

Prevention Better Than Cure

'.V

"Sundowner”

(Written tui the Tribune, AU Rights Reserved.)

jpOLLOWIN',. a recent article deal *- ing with internal parasites in sheep. 1 have been asked by several readers whether lungworm is not responsible for many more deaths amongst sheep and iambs than are stomach and intestinal worms, also whether 1 could suggest any effective and safe home-made remedy for stomach and intestinal worms. STOMACH WORMS MOST DANGEROUS. In my experience lungworms are far less dangerous than stomach worms, and m fact seldom attack sheep or lambs until the vitality of the animals is seriously lowered t>v the infection with stomach worms combined with grazing on fouled or unsuitable pasturesSIMILAR SYMPTOMS. The symptoms in both infection of lungs or stomach is somewhat similar in that the sheep are affected with a cough, and usually with run ning nose. Where these symptoms are accompanied by scour, however, it is a certain indication that the primary -trouble is stomach and intestinal and not lungworms. In advanced cases this scour becomes black in colour, and. when this stage is reached it is frequently difficult to save the animal with any treatment. The bluestone-carbonate of sodamorphia drench is the onlv one 1 have found effective in advanced “black scour” cases. TREATMENT. Assuming that a flock is suspected of infection with stomach worm, the iirst thing tp do is change them on to the best and cleanest feed procurable. giving them about a week in these quarters before medicinal treatment. At the end of the week yard the sheep for twelve hours with out feed, but with plenty of water available. Then dose with a mixture of 1 teaspoonful of lysol to 12 tablespoons full of skim milk. This amount is sufficient to dose three hoggets or two adult sheep. Proper drenching measures contracted of tinned metal can be purchased with which the work can be done easilv and quickly, but two sires should he procured, one to hold 4 ounces for Jambs aud the other six ounces for the older sheep. The mivture should be kepi; thoroughly mixed by spring at frequent intervals while the drenching is being carried on. The sheep or lambs should be kept in file yards away from feed. for : at least four to five hours after the drench has been administered, and should then be turned back on to good pasture. If this procedure is carefully carried out one dosing is sufficient to entirely rid the sheep of stomach worms, but if the dose is administered when the stock are directly off the glass, and consequently are full, and after treatment are at once allowed back to grazing, two or more drenchings may be necessary. Great care must be taken that the lysol is sufficiently diluted with milk, as if given insufficiently diluted it is dangerous. HOW TO DRENCH. In drenching sheep it is a mistake to hold the animal’s, head too high. The right position is just a little above tire line of the body. If held higher the gullet is contracted, and there is a tendency for the drench to go down the windpine and cause choking, with a possibility of setting up pneumonia if the drench reaches the lungs. SORREL CHECKS SCOUR. Lambs that have been weakened bv scouring may. after drenching, be put with advantage on any pasture which contains a large amount of sorrel. This weed has a powerful

sedative effect, and in mv experience lias frequently cured scour without medicinal drenching. Parasites ale always most prevalent during the autumn and winter following a wet sprint- and summer, and on the grounds that prevention is better than cure, it is safe prac uoe to dose the hoggqjs. at any rate, for stomach worms, early in the autumn. If the sheep are thereafter kept in good store condition and frequently changed to clean, spelled pasture, the risk of re-infection or loss from internal parasites is not great. INDICATIONS OF WEAK CONSTITUTION. Sheer with weak constitutions are much more susceptible to parasitic infection than are those with hardy constitutions, and where scoruina is noticed to accompany almost every change of feed or change of weather conditions, and medicinal treatment as recommended above does not effect a permanent cure, the eheepfarmer should seriously study the constitu tion of his breeding flock. Weakly constitutioned sheep waste half the feed they eat, are most liable to infection by very prevalent disease, and transmit their weakness to their offspring. . The only cure tor such a state of affairs is to cull as heavily from the breeding ewes as finances will nermit, leaving only the most vigorous ewes whose conformation denotes constitution. Thereafter rams to mate with these must be selected primarily for soundness of constitution. and indeed this characteristic should always be inseparable from any sheep purchased. The propensity to fatten rapidly, to grow sound wool and to produce healthy and .yearly maturing lambs is based solely on soundness of constitution, hence its indications in a sheep hould be the first study of every sheepfarmer. INDIGESTION IN HOGGETS. Occasionally lack of variety in food such as a long continued spell on turnips in winter causes, indigestion in hoggetsf and is indicated bv a cought not unlike that resulting from infection by stomach or lung worms. This, however, is never accompanied by running nose or scour, and for its prevention or cure all that is neces sary is a regular change from turnips to good pasture or to artificial green feed. It is good practice, however, to drench all hoggets prior to putting them on turnips if they are purchased and their history is unknown. In these days, when the majority- of surplus lambs are fattened off the mother or on rape and l sent to the works, those that have escap ed and are offered later as stores should be looked on with a certain amount of suspicion. Usually the trouble is lack of constitution or stomach worms. If the former is suspected, avoid them, however cheap they may appear to be; if the latter, drenching may make them most profitable sheep. However thin and dejected looking a sheep or lamb may be, his inherent constitution can be accurately gauged bv an experienced judge of stock, and the man who has acquired this judgment is always in the position to do a profitable deal by purchasing badly-treated sheep in unattractive condition, which require only good food and proper handling to make them valuable. LIVER-FLUKE. Sheep pastured on damp and sawampy areas often show a tendency to fatten extremely rapidly for a time, thereafter losing condition just as rapidly and ultimately dying in the midst of plenty. The trouble in such cases is infection bv liverfluke, and for this trouble no time should be lost in drenching with carbon tetrachloride Ic.c. doses given in liquid petroleum or bv dosing with the capsules containing the drug.