PARASITE WORMS AND SHEEP.

Otago Witness, Issue 3006, 25 October 1911, Page 16

PARASITE WORMS AND SHEEP.

The remedies and precautions found successful in dealing with parasitic worms in sheep' are related by a Buckinghamshire farmer. His experiences told-in the London. : Times will interest* . floekmasters: — "Some 15 years sinco I. lost one. or two cows from wasting diarrhoea, probably Johne's disease or parasitic 'gastritis. In 1897—1 was then farming in Middlesex—an, article by Sir John M'Fadyean appeared in the R.A.S.E. Journal on 'Parasitic Enteritis in Lambs.' This set me thinking, and with tke aid of an able surgeon and a practical horticulturist experiments were made on Nematode worms, usine- all M'Fadyean's Mmedies. My scientific colleague being

of the opinion that if something solid could be given to ruminants instead of a solution it woulld through the saliva reach the fourth otomach, we tried balls of tobacco, and 'with very good results. About the same time we noticed that the ponds from which cattle and sheep, drank seemed to ? reduce a, large quantity of small' worms, dressed all the edges aaid the sifallow water with ground lime, which apparently killed them at once. Up to that time my sheep had not been affected, because they were mainJy kept on the - ploughed land, and my grass land had had dressing of-lime compost. On coming to live in Bucks, the pastures which I rent not having been mown, for yeans, I found my cattle ■ and sheep began to suffer the wasting diseases. I lost a few lambs during absence from home, but immediately on mv return I tried the tobacco treatment, with excellent results, and since that time I have not lost anv sheep from parasitica attacks. s The dose' I give is ioz of tobacco made into a ball with .oil or butter, and given fasting. About three doses will cure a sheep, but they must be given at an interval of three or four days. A dose of salts > given subsequently will help to get the nicotine out of the system. I have since dressed all those parts of the meadows which grow; coarse herbage with ground lime, and l have found that in every way the dressing has done good. My-be-lief is that all pastures Which have tor some time been grazed and.have not been treated with lime become full of diseases, of which worms and parasites, of various sorts are the cause. > Husk, foot-rot, and the parasites which cause this particular disease cannot nourish with lime, and alf.Ho''?V>i W*>. >■*<»■ he~c on oh-alk, yet the sour grasses which are not eaten are. not only living amid indications of 'sour' ground, but they afford, homes for a lot of the bacilli, which will not flourish when ex- . posed to the sun's rays, as is the case with the closely-grazed, pastures. Tobacco is an excellent remedy for husk, as are also turpentine and linseed oil. Since I have tried liming my land, running my sheep through dry lime for foot-rot, and also dosing with tobacco when necessary. I have not lost any lambs from wasting."