Sheep and Wool.

Otago Witness, Issue 1342, 18 August 1877, Page 18

Sheep and Wool.

AGRICULTURAL SHOWS TO COME.

AUGUST. 21. Intercolonial Exhibition, Brisbane.

RANK PASTURES.

, It is true that in certain years sheep in England and on the' continent of .Europe Have been subject to diseases closely resembling those' which are prevalent in various', par|s"of Australia— : viz., J fluke, worms, .liyer rot, &c. ', but the facfcis'not more creditable.to.the old countries than to the new-one*. • 7 It kraly. serves to show how cupidity causes even, stern business men to disregard'the teachings of experience in their haste to accumulate fortune's, for. that is really at the bottom of the injudicious -treatment our sheep have received, and the real- cause of the mischief. The long- wbolled sheep, of the Western district have not been starved for .want ro£ a sufficient; quantity of. food, but,, on; the contrary; have been gorged-Tirith, food too rank:and succulent even to^lay flesh on a bullockl If the owners of BUch valuable countrylwere -to .manage .it, aright, they" w ould employ- cattle, ■ as, Engliah farmera do, to prevent so rank a growth, and at all times use them ,to clear off the rough patches which have been left by the sheep. They would adopt the „ plan .commonly! pursued in .the rich valleys, in England, of,; keeping -the sheep off' the' rank 'pastures in those parts after the midsummer. The Cots wold "system of grazing .'sheep in the* water j meadows up to .June, and. then removing them to the. upland, has been r,e<ferred to on many previous occasions, but we again mention it as an illustration of the judicious management of the pastures very similar in character to those in whioh disease' has been so rife in the Western districts of Victoria^ but which are not allowed by. their intelligent occupiers to neutralise' in' the latter that which, they have conferred in the; former. 'iW pastures in question are in June resigned to the mower or to cattle, experience 'hating shown f that sheep fed on them after that date ' 'are invariably attacked * by fluke:' And yet in the district where .this danger is so imminent, fluke rarely attains such a development as to impair the health of. the stock; The flock-owners not only know of the 'danger, but, unlike those nearer home,, they take care to avoid it.'—-.4as-trcHasian. i. : ... • •>','..