IMPORTANT TO SHEEPFARMERS.

Marlborough Express, Volume XXXI, Issue 162, 3 July 1895, Page 4

IMPORTANT TO SHEEPFARMERS.

& Considerable interest attaches to an address delivered last week be fora the members of the Hawke's Bay Agricultural and Pastoral Society by Professor L'mon, a representative of a Sydney firm, who has recently conducted a series of experiments as to the nature of various diseases from which our New Zealand sheep have for some time been suffering. The Hawke's Bay Herald, m its issue of the 28th ult. r gives a very full report of the lecture referred to, some of the principal points of which we now condense for the benefit of our country readers : — THE IMPOHTANCE OF A. GOOD CONSTITUTION. The Professor began by a few generalisations, and then proceeded to insist upon the importance of prevention as opposed to Uhe cute, of cheep diseases, arguing that it was absurd to allow diseases to grow m all their strength, and then expect to eradicate the 6ame by a single drenching. He then approached the subject of how to restore constitutional soundness, and here the report may be quoted m full : — MINOE POINTS. He advised the burying or burning of all dead sheep on. tho runs, and said attention to this matter would well repay owners for all trouble. Old camps were a fertile source of disease. In New South Wales when Jiey took over a place they insisted that if these could not be burned or otherwise destroyed, they should be fenced m and wire netted. Drenches should not be given too fast, but should be administered gradually. Then again the sheep should not be handled He was glad to notice that the sheep were not so roughJy treated by . shepherds here as m. New South Wales, rfalt was necessary on runs. If sheep did not tako to it readily they shouid be educated into a taßte for it. In some instances the livers of sheep were making too much saccharine aud not enough bile, but there were cases iv which, it was absolutely necessary that sugar should be supplied. They always applied their drenches with warm water. In answer to questions Professor - Limon said there was a duty of 25 per cent on his firm's drenches. He could not give an opinon as to what caused yellow carcases m sheep without making personal examinations of sheep affected. Dogs ' were the principal hosts for the tape worm. Ereka nut killed tape-worms before being ejected froj^ , fob, g ,'feffif T a 4f t WnTTIn m flrrmrh "ttyph -^"-^fjT'to within six weeks of lambing. J8.6 would arrauge to come back and temaiD three or four weeks m Bawke's Bay if sufficient inducement offqred. That sheep did not take salt was not a proof that they did not want it ; it was an acquired taste -^like tomatoes with human •beings, It was too late to drench the ewes m this province this season, but the lambs could be drenched immediately; the ewes could be drenched at the same time for worms. All sheep should show a few wonua ; it" 1 was .generally a healthy sign. Sheep should be kept-^our or five hours m the yards after drenching, and should be brought m for drenching the night botore. It was — — *nuugJlL F ll1 1 TUi |llll 'n7encfiinV m the yards for two nights and a day. This referred to intestinal or tape drenchiDg, otner drenches being given mj a full stomach. It was a good thing to convey the yard dienchings into a creek provided it was not running through swampy ground. # Say, for instance, that she-ap were suffering from lung worm, tape worm, stomach worm, and liver disease. Would one drench cure them? It was obvious it would not. Could they bu : ld up constitution by administering a purgative? No; rather the reverse, 'ihey must have something which would, by repairing digestion and raising the pulse, summarily eject the disease. The lungs oi many of the sheep which he had examined were absolutely rotten. ' Why ? Not because of lung worm — which "was merely the effect of a cause — but because of the wretched state of the constitution. To restore this >they must proceed to work judiciously and with common sense. Neglect meant further sapping of the strength of the sheep, and it meant leaving them open to the possibility of fresh invasions of other diseases yet unknown. The speaker here went on to describe a number of instances where treatment of the description he advocated had been successsful m Few South Wales, un<?er the superintendence of bis firm, flocks of many thousands of sheep being restored by two or three years' treatment. TAPE WOEMS. Professor Limon then proceeded to exhibit a 1 ape cyst which he had obtained locally, and explained its development ; also its dissemination by dogs which were allowed accesa . to the entrails of sheep. He showed a diagram descriptive of a tape worm, explaining that each was capable of producing about a million eggs a year, and m\d that; though the destructive creatures might lie dormant for a considerable period under unfavorable meteorological circumstances, they would eventually m a iavorable season become restored to vitality. The Professor also exhibited the spleen taken from an animal on one of the local runs weighing 4-£ ounces which normally should have weighed 1£ to 2 ounces. He said he had also found some thing else m the heart of a sheep he was not prepared to say what; just at present. Kef oj ring again to Hie tape worm, he said that if they wanted to eradicate this parasite it wnuld be necessnry to strike at the head. -Unless this was done they " might as well leave it alone. HIS SYSTEM OP DRENCHING. He strongly deprecated the use of arsenical drenches, which flew straight to the blood, accumulated m indissoluble deposits m the stomach, and undermined the constitution. The system which his firm employed was to drench, the " I enow an old soldier who had chronic diarrfccei of long standing to Inve been permanently cured by taking Chamberlain's Colic, Cholera and Diarrhea i Remedy," says Edward Shampik, a prominent druggist of Minneapolis, Minn. " I have sold tho reni» edy m this city for over eeveo years and consider it superior to any other medicine now on the market for bowel complaints." For sole by F. fciuw, Medioal Hall, Blenheim.

ewes as soon as the lambs were talcen away with a mixture to raise the constitution. Tb en they drenched the ewes a fortnight after the ram had been taken away, repeating the dose twice afterwards at intervals of three weefcs. They did this not for the sake of the ewes, but to secure the health of the lambs which were to follow. Then it was necessary to drench the lambs at two months old. dp to two months of age the lambs were not supposed to have any disease, being sustained by their mother's milk ; lambs under two months (drenched at decking time) should be allotted not more than half a dose. Five to nine weeks afterwards the lambs should be dosed again. It was desirable, first of all, to give the lambs lung drench, then a tape drench i£ necessary, and then a lung and liver drench. It was highly improper to give a lung and purgative drench at the same time, or to give a purgative drench m any case on an empty stomach. When the lambs became twotooihs, then they must be drenched again. It would thus be seen that his firm's process embraced seven drenches, three for the ewe and four for the lambs, the whole treatment to cost 3£d for the seven drenches.