SHEEP DISEASES IN HAWKE'S BAY.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1222, 2 August 1895, Page 21

SHEEP DISEASES IN HAWKE'S BAY.

EXAMINATIONS AND EXPERIMENTS BY SYDNEY EXPERTS.

The Hawke's Bay Herald of Tuesday last contains the following interesting account of investigations into sheep diseases by representatives of the firm of Pottie and Sons, Sydney :

Yesterday Mr H. Pottie, of Messrs Pottie and Sons, Sydney, Mr Booking, their newly-arrived resident expert in Hawke's Bay, Mr Craig, of the Loan and Mercantile Agency Company, and a representative of the Haidce's Bay Herald, were driven out to Mr H. S. Clark's property, Seafield, Petane. Some skeep, which certainly did not look thriving, had already been yarded, and Messrs Pottie and Bocking lost no time in getting to work, being watched with close interest by a number of neighbouring runholders who had assembled. First an undersized hogget in very poor condition was killed. Mr Bocking ripped up the intestines and stomach, and showed a lot of long, threadlike worms attached to the internal lining. These, it was explained, were not a serious pest, but, like,- all worms, acted as an irritant and aided in keeping sheep in poor condition. Then the liver was taken. Some white patches embedded in its substance were pointed out as the Tasnia Marginata, a cystic worm much more serious than those found in the intestines. Still they would not account for the condition of the sheep. But that was sufficiently explained when the lungs were dissected. There numbers of long, threadlike worms were exposed. These were the Strongylus Filaria and the Strongylus ovis Pulmonalis. In short, the real seat of the trouble was pulmonalis, which bore out Professor Limon's diagnosis of the disease which is troubling our flocks. Next - a better-conditioned hogget was slaughtered. There, in addition to the parasites found in the first, were a large number of tapeworms in cysts in the stomach and intestines. But here again the main trouble was pulmonalis. It was, said Mr Pottie, simply impossible that sheep in such a condition could thrive, no matter how they were fed, After lunch at the hdrnestead the party drove over to Mr \V, H. Smith's Hedgely station. There a mob of fine, strong-looking ewes, a cross between the Bomney Marsh and Lincoln, were rounded up. Several were examined but allowed to go on an inspection of their wool. At last Mr Pottie got one and called attention to the fact that the wool at the roots was harsh, dry, and weak, though as the animal stood up there was no apparent difference between it and the others. There, he said, the lungworms would be found. On being killed this proved to be the case. The liver was also infested with the same cystic worm as was found in the sheep killed at Seafield. Some culls were next visited, but it needed no post-mortem examination to enable the experts, or for that matter any sheeprfarmer, to diagnose the presence of lungworm. In another paddock were 1100 sheep on mangolds and hay. They were also of the Bomney-Lincoln cros3, and in fine condition apparently, but on being driven about a little they soon gave evidence of lung trouble in a minor degree. Mr Pottie expressed his pleasure at finding no more than Professor Limon had done, though now investigations had been made in every part of the province. There was no sign of the dreaded liver fluke, which is the scourge of the flocks over a great part of Australia. New Zealand has, we believe, been spared that one pest. No cure has yet been found for that, said Mr Pottie. The only thing that could be done was to strengthen the constitution of the sheep by ridding it of other parasites more amenable to treatment, so that it would not be so likely to be attacked by the fluke. Nor was there any sign whatever of anthrax, or any organic disease. The lung and liver worms were solely accountable for the condition of the sheep. That, said Mr Pottie, simplified matters very much, and expressed his full confidence in being able to cope with the trouble successfully. " Even in that respect," he said, " the worst sheep I've seen was nothing like so bad as whole flocks in Australia. I've seen thousands of crossbred hoggets in one flock which clipped only a pound and a-half of wool owing to pulmonalis. But your Hawke's / Bay flocks are quite bad enough, and if neglected will become worse every year until they are as bad as in Australia. The treatment is simple, easy and inexpensive. But you must not expect a cure in a day. The disease has taken years to arrive at its present stage, and it will take a course of systematic treatment to restore your flocks to health. But it can be done. Your runholders may thank their lucky stars that they have not the far more serious troubles —serious troubles because so much more difficult to deal with—that our. Australian squatters have to face."