CARE OF STOCK.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19928, 23 April 1928, Page 5

CARE OF STOCK.

THE CAUSES OF DISEASE. METHOD OF TREATMENT. PREVENTION VERSUS CURE. BY H.B.T. Disease among live stock is generally traceable to one or more of three causes—hereditary weakness, wrong feeding, or wrong environment. Climatic conditions, as a rule, have little influence on the prevalence or absence'of <Jisiease, except in so far as humid conditions and sometimes excessive heat, prove favourable to the breeding of insects or parasites, which use our domesticated animals as hosts during the whole or part of their life cycle. So long as abundant nourishing food is available, cold has little effect on any animal's health, and through fat, fur, hair, or hide, nature quietly provides any animal exposed to continuous cqld with sufficient extra protection to reduce the expenditure of bodily heat to a minimum. Of the three main sources of disease, man, by intelligent breeding, should be able to eliminate the hereditary weaknesses which, if not checked by culling and selective mating, would soon produce disease, and malformation in the progeny. Thi:; leaves wrong feeding and wrong environment as the main causes of diseases among live stock to-day. Question of Nutrition. The trend of modern scientific thought is undoubtedly in the direction of prevention as opposed tc the curse ofjdisease, hence we should study the nutrition which, in a state of nature, is provided for the animals in our charge, and the environment under which they thrive in order that, as nearly as possible, we may reproduce these for our domesticated stock. For instance, it. is not sufficient to provide an animal with food. Thought .must be given to the make-up of the feed, and due allowance must be made for the fact that man demands more rapid growth, and sometimes abnormal production from his stock, than nature calls i'or. Other things being equal, the best nourished animal is undoubtedly the most free from disease, and for an animal to be well nourished it must not only have sufficient protein, carbohydrates and minerals to supply all the requirements of growth and production. A good mixed pasture containing plenty of clover usually supplies these, provided the soil is kept supplied with lime, phosphorous, potash and iodine, but, while one manure, such as superphosphate, may supply both bulk and phosphorous, it must nc>t bo lost sight of that other ingredients are also necessary to the animal's perfect development. An analysis of animal manure —-ordinary farmyard manure properly proves that it contains the'necessary ingredients in the right proportions to produce abundant nouishing growth, but with the intensive farming practised nowadays, the supply of this is inSufficent' for the soil's requirements. nnd.it. must be supplemented by scientifically-compounded artificial manures. No one chemical manure is in itself sufficient; all the animals requirements must be supplied through the plant. . Influence of Environment. Environment plays a much bigger part in the health of our domestic animals than most of us suppose. Opportunity to take, or necessity of, exercise is probably the most important factor which, environment influences. Animals which become sluggish through overfeeding or cranjped quarters are particularly liable to disease, and every effort should be made by the owner of live stock to compel them to take regular exercise to counteract the tendency to laziness induced by small paddocks and abundant feed. By no means nhiSt it be inferred that bv the " best nourished" is meant the fattest A breeding flock or herd should never be in more than fresh store condition. Indeed, rapid fattening » frequently an indication of a diseased "v®ras in the early stages of liver-fluke. An over-f p d, under-exercised animal is actually much move liable to disease than one which finds it hard to .get sufficient nourishment, but has abundant exercise. f'hade, water supply, shelter, and drainage are all aspects of environment which have a big influence on the prevention of disease in domestic animals, and each phase of the subject is deserving of close study, for only by providing natural conditions can we secure disease-free stock. Profit for the farmer depends on prevention of disease —not on its cure.