LIVESTOCK LOSSES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23017, 20 April 1938, Page 10

LIVESTOCK LOSSES

Climatic conditions this autumn — a dry spell followed by warm rains and a flush of green feed—are believed to have caused the much wider incidence of facial eczema in sheep. Losses are reported to be serious and the affection is now spreading to cattle. Farmers' anxiety can be readily appreciated, especially as the onset of the disease is rapid and severe, and as the suggested remedies may be difficult to apply and of doubtful efficacy. The occurrence of the disease is of old standing, but the first serious outbreaks occurred three or four seasons ago in the southern provinces of the North Island and particularly in Poverty Bay. Since then the departmental reports have devoted considerable space to the trouble, its symptoms and effects, and the probable cause. This last is being sought by experiment at the Wallaceville laboratory. Nevertheless there is a feeling among farmers that investigations are not being pursued with sufficient force and also that not enough is seen of the officers of the Agriculture Department in the field. Whether this criticism be well-founded or not, the farmers' feeling is natural. They want practical help to avert losses proceeding under their eyes. No doubt in this matter New Zealand is paying part of the penalty for her comparative neglect of animal research and veterinary science, a neglect repeatedly deplored in this column. The Director-General of Agriculture, Dr. A. H. Cockayne, in his last annual report, said that "on the one hand stock losses each year are costing us some millions of pounds, while on the other hand research aimed at their avoidance runs into a thousand or so annually." True economy demands the payment of a higher insurance premium to cover the enormous investment in livestock.