EXCESSIVE USE OF HIGHPRICED STUD RAMS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3239, 12 April 1916, Page 10

EXCESSIVE USE OF HIGHPRICED STUD RAMS.

The most experienced stud-master may "fall in" when purchasing a ram, and repeatedly some high-priced, not necessarily a pampered animal, may fail to get lambs, or his get are a disappointment in regard to style, character, etc. The influence of climate is as noticeable in its effects on the breeding of stock as in the raising of plants. Breeds whose characteristics have been shaped by the influence of soil, food, and climate are liable to lose their character when taken to other districts differing in main essentials. The serious results which may occur in the excessive use of high-priced stud rams is a matter which is interestingly treated in the Pastoral Review by Dr A. Norman M'Arthur, M. 8., 8.5., M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P., who writes:—"l was osked to operate on a very high-priced ram. He had in 1914 produced 130 lambs, and in 1915 had failed to produce any. He had a swelling in the testicle, which I thought may have been a rupture. On examination, however, it was readily seen that the swelling was not a rupture. It was solid, occupying the greater part of the puree, and just below it was the shrunken atrophied stone. There was exactly the same condition on the other side, though not so far advanced, not so large, and not so much shrinkage of the stone. Dr F. C. Lewis, D.V.Sc, B.Sc, Lecturer on Surgery at the Melbourne University Veterinary College, was with me, and we decided to opcrato and see what was the trouble. We found a huge tumour, which proved to be a solid clotting of varicosed veins which carry the blood from the stone up along the cord. The artery ran right through the mass, and the tube which carries the semen from the stone was also blocked in this inass. The stone, therefore, had long ago been rendered useless, so the mass with the testicle was removed. The other side was not touched, as we hope to get permission to try and enucleate the mass and leave the artery and semen tube and stone intact, to see if the ram would afterwards be able to produce lambs. That permission has not yet been granted us. We asked to see the other stud rams. The first of the 10 or 12 we examined was a blood relation to the one wo had operated on, and there was a little swelling about the size of a walnut above the left stone, which undoubtedly is the same condition just commencing,' and if operated on at once we are certain this ram's utility can be preserved. Dr Lewis and I therefore think it wise to give a word of warning to stud sheep-breeders. In the first place, we recommend that himh-pricrd stud rams should be" examined every third month with intelligence, and care. The stone should be thoroughly examined and the cord on each side should bo carefully felt along its whole length, from stone to belly. Anv little lump could then bo discovered. It is hard to say if this con-

dition is hereditary, but wc are inclined to think that the peculiar formation of the vein which permits of the clotting is readily handed down from father to son. The vein is probably longer and very much more tortuous than is normal. Any injury, excessive use, or very hot weather wili help to produce the clotting just as it does in the leg of a man who suffers from varicose veins. We are disposed to think that sheep-breeders often are liable to use a thousand-guinea ram excessively in his first season, and it would probably bo a wiser policy in the long run to give him fewer ewes. We think also that the judges at sheep shows should pay as much attention to the conformity of the generative organs as to the quality of the wool and frame of the sheep. We feel certain that there is much more trouble of this nature amongst rams than sheep-breeders will admit. Naturally a stud sheep-breeder does not like it to be known that his high-priced ram is affected with such a malady. If this ram had been operated on more than a year ago, his utility could have been saved. The operation would have been nothing more than that for a varicocele in man. We have endeavoured to delete from these notes all technical phrases to be better understood. We conclude by inviting stud sheepbreeders to inform us of any similar trouble in their rams, and the information thus obtained will be treated with the strictest confidence."