RAGWORT AND WINTON DISEASE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XL, Issue 12282, 28 May 1903, Page 6

RAGWORT AND WINTON DISEASE.

INTERVIEW WITH MR. GILRUTH. [BY TELEGRAPH. —OWN CORRESPONDENT.] Wellington, Wednesday. A statement has been recently made and widely circulated to the effect that recent experiments made by the veterinary division of the Department of Agriculture go to prove that the consumption of ragwort has no injurious effect upon stock. Hearing on good authority that this statement is likely to do considerable harm, I called upon the chief veterinarian to ascertain the facts. To begin with, Mr. Gilruth drew attention to the fact that in the last annual report of the division a record of a feeding experiment was given. In this experiment two healthy calves were fed on ragwort which had been cut when in flower and dried. The ragwort was given daily, along with other food, for three weeks. When the feeding was discontinued a week later, both animals died. The post-mortem showed the animals to be in good condition, the only organ affected being apparently the liver. A microscopical examination of this organ showed the same changes, only in a more acute degree, as those found in the liver in Winton disease as affecting horses and cattle. Photo, micrographs were published showing the condition of the liver under the microscope. These animals were fed on an experimental farm, where there was no ragwort growing within a radius of many miles. Since then, through the kindness of Mr. Foster, general manager of the Thames Valley Land Company, a few acres of grass covered thickly with ragwort were fenced in this summer, and some cattle placed thereon. Two of them died comparatively recently. Both showed post-mortem the characteristic appearances of Winton disease, and when tne livers were examined microscopically the characteristic changes were discovered. The only experiment that has failed was one carried out last winter, when one or two animals were fed on ragwort which had been collected in a dead state, and no ill-effects were found to occur, but as neither the seed nor the leaves were available, this result was not unexpected. So far as sheep are concerned, it has been found impossible to make satisfactory experiments, but these are to be undertaken shortly. The indications, however, are that sheep may eat ragwort in the early stages without" very serious results, although in one instance where a large mob were feeding down ragwort there is reason to believe " that some of them were detrimentally affected," but the Department has no definite information as yet on this point. That, however, the ingestion of ragwort by cattle is attended with serious results has been completely proved and it is well for stock-owners to (to all they can to eradicate the weed before it gets too good a hold on their property Furthermore, the disease cirrhosis of the /eXul f,?rv has c'" ly aear ed in New Zealand and Nova Scotia within the areas affected by ragwort,