SHEEP SCAB EXPERIMENTS

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1716, 18 January 1905, Page 60

SHEEP SCAB EXPERIMENTS

Probably at the present moment there is no question of more general interest to those connected with the sheep industry than the report of the Sheep Scab Committee, tO' give it a short and descriptive name. Several authorities we have consulted regard the report as premature. Possibly it is, in some respects, but there was a good reason for the report being given as soon as possible, because until this report was made there was wo hope for any further improvement in the method of dealing with this disease. A careful perusal of the report shows that this desire for an immediate report has resulted in no definite or fully-con-firmed result being secured by the experiments carried out for the Committee by Professor Winter. This is a matter to he deplored, and one cannot too strongly express a hope i~-at every effort will be made to induce the Government to initiate a further series of experiments, with a view to test dips, and also to, if possible, discover which, if any, of those now in general use are really reliable and efficacious in their action.

It would materially add to the value of the results obtained if the ex^ielaments could be held in different parts of the country, with different breeds of sheep, because it is quite conceivable that what might be a proper and sufficient length of time to immerse one breed would not be so for another, or that a sheep in full fleece might require a different length of time in the dip and a dip of greater strength, etc. Then again, a careful reading of the report, particularly that part from the pen of Professor Winter, would appear tO' indicate that cold, wet, exposure, and poor keep render the sheep more bable to attacks of sheep scab. If this can be substantiated it is probable we shall be very much nearer getting at the real reason why in the autumn and winter months the disease increases and spreads.