MASSEY COLLEGE

Manawatu Standard, Volume LII, Issue 228, 26 August 1932, Page 12

MASSEY COLLEGE

LECTURES TO SHEEP BREEDERS. REARING HOGGETS. (By E. Averill, Hastings.) Tho annual loss ol hoggets in this country is appalling and to a great extent it could ho avoided. A large number, in a wet summer are lost after weaning by putting them on to short grass that has grown as. quickly as mushrooms. They start a bad scour, rapidly lose condition, becoming a lit host for worms. This infectation either ends in death or a serious undermining of the constitution. It is far bettor, in this sort of season to put thorn on to rougher feed. As regards wintering, where possible supplementary' feed should bo grown. Where not possible, a good plan is to topdress tho paddocks they are going to run on. By using other paddocks the following year, the chances of worm infection will be lessened. Topdressing, however, cannot take the place of .supplementary feed. The latter sweetens the land and to a largo extent frees it from parasites. Tupdrcsoed paddocks on the other hand, owing to increased carrying capacity, would more than likely become more infected. For wintering on turnips, swedes are better than tho soft varieties. Tho hoggets, to start with, should not bo more than about five days on tho first break and then they should have say two more quick shifts. These breaks should consequently bo small ones. Finish tho breaks off with older sheep —thousands of hoggets have been seriously put back by being too long on the first break. By this quick shifting at tho start your hoggets will be well broken in to eating the bulbs and should be improving. You can now enlarge the breaks, but until the hoggets are getting into pretty good buckle don’t ask them to eat below tho ground. The practice of putting tho weak hoggets ahead of the others is not a good one, without there are so few of them as to make no appreciable difference in the bulk of tho tops. It deprives the main lot of a very valuable chango of feed. If you intend to give a run off on to grass, don't do so until you havo got your hoggets broken in; if you do some of thorn will nover tako to the bulbs. Do not put weak hoggets on to turnips; if they have the strength to eat them, they probably will not ho able to digest thorn. Salt, when taken to, will be consumed in fairly large quantities. I mix bono flour with it. Watch the sheep closely, and if some appear not to be doing, draft thorn out. Towards tho end of July if you happen to see old hoggets going back and tucked up, look at their mouths —you will probably find loose or lost teeth. For a number of years I had tho wintering of 25,000 hoggets annually in the Waikato. They wero split into two mobs It was, of course, not feasible to giro them a run off. Wot and fine they were on tho turnips from start t.o finish. Tho mob on the flats were given hay, but the other lot on the hills had none. They did equally as well. Towards tho middle of July, they got into such condition that tho only anxiety was tho fear of a smother. Of lato years, owing to dry seasons, with tho ravages of tho diamond backed moth I havo gone in for chou moellier in place of turnips. It is an excellent feed for hoggets. By not leaving them on too long several feedings can be obtained, or it can. bo fed off in breaks, tho samo as turnips, letting them eat the stalks down to tho ground. They do wondorfully well on them. An advantage over turnips is that not so much soiled food Ls consumed. By fcoding off the stalks, ouo gots as much out of it as ail ordinary crop of turnips. It also leaves the ground clear for ploughing. You can grow several crops on the same ground if not infested with club root. At present I ain eating off the third erop in succession and it is the best of the lot. Barley, green oats, and western wolils or any young grass are great assets for weak sheep. On woll, drained land with soil of a free nature it is a good plan when sowing autumn glass to mix with it some soft turnip seed. Sow broadcast with nmnuro and chain harrow. When grass is well established hoggets will not only do well but wLI 1 vastly improve tho pasture. We practised this in the Waikato, hoggets going off the swedes on to it. If getting too lato in the autumn for soft turnips, mustard was substituted. I think I can claim to have reared as many hoggets with a minimum loss as most people. On a rough estimate they would amount to over 300,000. My heaviest loss has never exceeded 3. per cent, under tho most adverse conditions and I havo shorn up to 998 to the 1000 lambs weaned. I nover drench as I have long ago come to tho conclusion that no drench will destroy parasites in tho fourth stomach. The only way to combat the worm is by keeping tho animal’s strength up with nourishing food. Topdressing, for rearing hoggets can never take tho place of the plough. Thcro is a vast difference between pulling them through and what might be termed having them jumping out of their skin?. The very serious loss of hogget life can be greatly diminished by making tho fullest use of one’s power of observation —-use all your endeavours to bring along the tail end. lour slogan should be "draft,” don’t trust to the eye. Get them into the alleyway and use your hand. It is quickly done by feeling the shoulder—if it is devoid of flesh the animal is pretty bad. To conclude with I would say, keep a closo personal watch on your hoggets —don’t trust to reports from other people. Questions and Answers. Mr Marshall* Do drenches of milk

anti turpentine have any effect as far as lung worms are concerned? Frr Hunter: Y'es, but it is not effective enough in advanced stages. Tho ether, however, seems to get to tho worms in tho lungs. Fir Speedy: On hill country do you prefer to shear lambs? Do you prefeT to run older sheep with them? Do you profer to run all your lambs in ono mob and shift thorn, or would you rather divide them into several mobs and not shift?

Fir Hunter: Shearing depends on tho country. The season has a lot to do with tho effects of shearing. Undoubtedly in sonio seasons lambs do better with the wool oil them. As far as moving is concerned I prefor to be able to move the lambs regularly’. In sonio seasons you can put seme owes and wethers with them and then divide them up. I prefer moving but although it acts in some seasons it does not in all.

Flember of the Audionce: Do you think that a paddock should bo kept specially for hoggets or do you think that they can be grazed on a paddock used for ewes?

Fir Hunter: It depends on tho country. Some types require feeding off with sheep before putting in the lambs.. On most hill country you are compelled to because all paddocks aro not suitable. A paddock that has a considerable portion of it away from the sun is not the beat for lambs. Hoggets must have a reasonable amount of water, especially just after weaning. Fir Ilcwitt: Is it preferable to feed off with cattle instead of sheep before grazing tho lambs? Fir Hunter: Yes. Obviously, ground that is grazed by cattle is not so likely to infest tho lambs witli pa'rasites. Fir Brown: What was the dose of chloroform and ether for lung worms? Mr Hunter: About a teasp.oonful to each lamb. Equal proportion.*# of chloroform, or ether and turpentine, mix well and when using shako well. Spray, down each nostril for a fair depjtli. Fir Hewitt: Have you ever used super and salt as a lick for hoggets? Fir Hunter: No. For licks wc uso rock salt but I should think that super and salt would be quito good. It lias been found, however, that fattening lambs received a cheek by being put iji a paddock that had been topdressed. It had an immediate effect on them. Professor Boren: The value of a lick depends on the mineral deficiencies of tho country concerned. I may say, however, that they are tricky things to play about with. lodine is a very dangerous thing bocauso it can do a great deal of harm if given in exccss.l It should bo realised that certain minerals aro only required in very small amounts. One of the workers at the Waito Institute at Adelaide told me that in his opinion sheep in Australia wore in some cases getting too much, minerals as a result, of licks being made too palatable. So far as the many samples of soils which they had examined were concerned there was no iodine deficiency in Australian soils and the monoy spent by tho graziers on feeding iodine had therefore been wasted. |

Fir Perry: There is no doubt that thcro is a shortago of iodino in some; Now* Zealand soils. 1 once tried adding! iodine to the salt which I gave to show: shcop but unfortunately my shepherd fed more than was good for them. Ij noticed that tho skeop wore going very;; white in tho wool and on making en-ij quiries found that they wero getting more iodine than I had ordered. I at once stopped feeding the latter but it;, took the sheep some time to get over the ill effects. I am n great believer; in rock salt. It has been found that want of iodine has cost many losses in hoggets in tho Flackenzio country. Rock, salt from tho Rod Pea contains a sufficiency of iodine —we use this and so get over the difficulty. Fir Cotter: Tho great thing is to prevent worms. Don’t wait until you are, ready to wean before picking a pad-;, dock for your hoggets. Select your paddock a month beforehand and get it into good shape in plenty of time.| This is most important on hill countryv|; Fir Coombs: Do you consider a great deal of good Ls done by giving hoggets; pinus insignis? —They aro fond of iljjSjSj Fir Hunter: I have had no experience with this so cannot say. The turpentine in the pinus insignis might be of value in this ease. ;;j$ Fir Hewitt: When using drenches that contain carbon tetrachloride is thoro any danger if hoggets havo been running on green feed? Fir Hunter: No. I have not noticed, any difference in tho effect. All lambs we have tried have been on green grass® Mr FlcLinden: It is not a matter of:' tho kind of food on which tho stock have been or aro going on to. Thero is, a danger, with a certain percentage of. stock, in tho uso of cither carbon tetrachloride or carbon lone, which cannot bo avoided or mini": mised. I'-'iy

Fir Knight: Is it safo to drench lambs immediately aftor dipping? U Fir Hunter: It is usually unsafe^to.; eariy out any operation in connection, with lambs at dipping time. It is no®! safo to drench lambs straight after $j journey—it has too severe an effect om them. The stomach is empty and th# effect of tho drench is too severe. ;; Fir Brown: Do you dip your lambs twico? . SjiS Mr Hunter: When we run a breeding: flock on bush country wo dip tho lamb# off t.ho shears. Mr Hewitt: Do you uso poisonous, dips? Fir Hunter: Yes.

A Momher of the Audience: Is i, l dangerous to put lambs on basic slag 1 Fir Hunter: I have heard of it beinij

done on several occasions without baj results. A Flcniber of tho Audience: Fir. Bod: of Kopa.no lost ft number of owes bi putting them on pasture topdressej with basic slag. j Fir Florton: How long had tho bash sing been put on before the sheep wort turned into tho paddock? Fir Hunter: In the cases I mention©! it had been put on about a week he fore.

Professor Peren: Had there boon an; rain before the lambs were pul in?

Fir Hunter: I think so but I am no! sure. A Flember of the Audience: Mr Bodj left his paddock empty for two days before putting the ewes on. If you dip lambs off the shears witl ordinary dip you are liable to kil them.

p - lessor Perea: It is very easy in-(-[oe for arsenic to be absorbed thn 1 ruts, abrasions, etc. jl-. Hewitt: Do you find more feed Value in the stem than in the leaf of oho. loelliev? p Poren: Frankly, Ido not know. Du: the winter I find chou moellier too v.rtting—t.ho continual brushing a g;, st it wets right through the flee Also, I like to get more than one "'’d. I have found that oats and har mixed are not much good for wen dig hoggets in this climate. It is too - t and tho hoggets scour on it. A : i inber of tho audience: Have you had any experience of feeding field pco' • , ]d-. Perrry: Yes. I find that they war' io bo fairly ripe before you put you: .-lock on. Don’t keep tho sheep on ' m continuously —shift them off at nvrl < - e-hour intervals on to a good gra - run-off. If you have thousandhca ! kale in one paddock and change the:: backwards and forwards I know : bf ne better diet. Field peas arc an unbidimced ration and aro not sufficient ■•al,dt’. Chou moellier this year was par’ ilarlv good with us and the stock 'did exceptionally well on it. I have grov.i thousand-headed kale for the last jtwr tv years and have never had a Sfkilure. * I find it most valuable for ;Bhcr:'. but you must put your sheep off Wn to something else every third day. gvL same applies to chou moellier. •pjniss will do with chou moellier. With ipn f.-. Is such as chou moellier, swedes, Rio, etc., it is necessary to have somePJing else. jMA member of the audience: Do the slicip leave any peas on the ground! Perry: I find that they clean them lip. member of tho audience: Have you tried using threshed peas? I could not gel inv hoggets to eat them, loir.' Perry: Yes. Mine ate them right up. s|'ji M r . Cotter: Mr. Averill mentioned .that y .U could not tell by eyo if hogIgfets wero doing well, but only by feel. From my experience you need to watch hoggts very closely and not wait until you Lave them in tho yards and are able i.i feel them.

!$; Mr. Hunter: I think the remark rnfeis to taking tho culls out without '.ifiisiiug to eye alone —using feel as well as eve.'

... A member of the audience: In connection with chou moellier, I grow somo for the first time and left lambs on for five t.) six days, and several died.

g! Mr. Hewitt: That was because you .'did not ehnngo the feed. I consider chou moellier oiio of the most valuable •feeds we have for lambs. My lambs Bp m . .iff it every night nnd on to grass, and they do very well. ■ ' A member of tho audience: Do you wrnin iin to chou moellier?

tiil! Mr. Hewitt: I generally wean on to gra-. I wean about January 8 or 10, and we have a top-drossed paddock 'ready which has been spelled for ton to U lavs. At tho second foedimg off I find they prefer stalks to leaves. They fat:..: more on tho stalks and do not sciiv.r nn them. During tho second feed tiny is ip off the leaves, lot them fall .to the ground, and attack the stalk.

■!, Air. Tod (Wairoa): So far as hill con:.' ; -y that you cannot plough is con* ifeenm.r, I always make a practice of on sheep, followed by c-attle, ;bei'..:, "putting on tho lambs, or cattlo 'Solluwcd by sheep. I try to avoid putting hunbs'on to country showing much feign s of tho droppings of previous lisli I'.’p, Generally speaking, average sbii.-k country requires a very severe doing v. ith. sheep and then a spell of two Aviu-ks. If rain falls you will get as jijgnod a feed as rape, and hoggets will do v.>ry well indeed. p .Mr. Fannin: lioferring to the moving of 1; a;wots from one paddock to an?jptln*:'.lire you of the opinion that when >vo m. . t 0 ” a stage in tho winter where ■tiler ■ is not sufficient growth in a pad|0 | n:k after a spell of say ton days, it is jiiiit, i,,'tter to stop moving tho sheep ipon; paddock to paddock? Do you not iiM'ink that hoggets do better when out. nnd left for tho rest of tho ;xv-j tvhen growth is not sufficient ■I n.ysclf find it better to stop moving

( Hunter: It depends on the locality. There is yet another aspect of the ,Bn 1);...... -\yhen practising rotational $5 r R one sometimes finds that a pad:,a‘ may be carrying too strong a kr-’.vu, on account oi rains. Under : circumstances it may bo necessary to Ml on either cattle or older sheep flioi.,. t j le hoggets. In our district i'thci-.. is generally speaking, rain in the ; sn:i,:,„r'and a great growth of grass, i,nti,i ,| grazing is altogether unsuitable for iambs. 1? the growth is strong iP-y teed after cattle-their stomachs pt unset by mushy green grass it A member of the audience: Ihe great [thin, iu to koep them doing well a.i ‘tin; !;:ne. Season and locality huvo u « Mr. licPhail: I feel that this di'seuscalls for a great deal ot thought jAiis u there are so many different pu-is 0 f country with which we have ! tf > deal I think wo really have to use P»r own ideas based on observations [A i’nt will do for one season will not ™ another. We really find it harder HIU I harder to deal with this as fve ,„ t o i,ier and older. A great deal has i-, r . said on two different things—that i, m , artificial feeding and pasture feeding—and I should not like to 1:: . v down any hard and fast rule, as I am never sure what my results are goto bo.