ANIMAL HUSBANDRY

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17144, 28 December 1929, Page 11

ANIMAL HUSBANDRY

HOGGET MORTALITY PREVENTION AND CURE (By the Department of Agriculture). (Continued from Tuesday). A practice which has been followed with considerable success, in some districts is that of grazing the paddocks first with the older sheep and afterwards with the lambs and younger sheep. This practice has had to be adopted where no clean pastures were available upon which to wean’the lambs. It may be here argued that the older sheep have every opportunity of contaminating the pastures with the eggs and embryos of parasites, but the counteracting factor is that the feed is rendered more suitable for the young stock. This advantage appears to outweigh any disadvantage. The intensive system of keeping sheep on rich flats with a high carrying capacity renders such pastures more liable to parasitic contamination. In numerous instances last season difficulty and losses were, experienced on the flats while much less trouble, if any, was met with on the higher country. The higher country, .therefore, has inapy advantages over the flats in a rainy mild autumn. The drier soil with its less luxuriant growth and also with a lesser tendency to the spread of parasites is therefore more suitable for the younger sheep when clean pastures cannot be obtained on the flat. If such high country is available and if the lambs have been taught to feed, losses should be reduced in cases where such a procedure is practicable. On the flats, where the carrying capacity is high, the possibilities ol' greater subdivision with rotational grazing are considerable. Not only under this system would a frequent change of pasture be provided, but the pasture could be better kept in control and any luxuriant growth could be shut up and utilised in the production of ensilage and hay for w'inter feeding. Moreover, such areas would provide a fairly clean pasture upon which to wean lambs. The conserved food would be put to better advantage in providing winter food than by being trampled down. TREATMENT, of parasites. With regard ho the treatment which may be adopted once evidence of parasites is obtained: In the first place it must be again mentioned that a sick sheep is difficult to treat cither medicinally or by. increased dieting. Lambs should be taught to feed early and extra feeding is one of the main factors in the treatment of parasites. Medicinal agents can only be relied upon as subsidiary to the feeding and management precautions already cutlined. Adult sheep harbor parasites and the ova or eggs reach the pasture, where under suitable conditious of temperature and moisture the larvae hatch out and are swallowed by all animals grazing such pastures. The symptoms set up and the losses met with, especially in young animals, are fairly well known. Several agents have been used for dosing infested sheep. , Probably that most commonly used and proved to be effective against the stomach worm is a 1 per cent, solution of copper sulphate (bluestone). The dose varies with the age of the sheep to be dosed, from six drachms for a young lamb to three ounces for an adult sheep. Early dosing as soon as possible after weaning is absolutely essential in a rainy autumn. Dosing can be repeated every three weeks. Other agents used include turpentine, which mav be given in milk or in raw lin seed oil. If given in oil a little soda may be added and the whole made into an emulsion. From a teaspoonful to a dessertspoonful may be given to each animal, depending on its age. Besides its vermicidai properties turpentine in medicinal doses appeals to have a stimulating effect in tho> case of weak' animals. There are ) numerous other preparations used for worms in sheep, but those mentioned above arc most commonly employed.

POSITION SUMMARISED. In conclusion, the factors concerned in the prevention of hogget mortality are as follows: (1) Wean lambs early on to clean pastures, if obtainable; (2) pastures which have been'grazed by cuttle are most suitable; (3) if clean pastures are not available, the lambs should be taught to feed from troughs before or after weaning, weaned on to the driest paddocks and supplementary feeding increased after weaning; (4) in wet seasons early dosing soon after weaning is advisable, to be repeated as nbcessary; (5) avoid overstocking with the young animals; (6) the possibilities of greater sub-division oi paddocks, rotational grazing by stock, the shutting up of in case of luxuriant growth, and the utilisation of the herbage thereon as en» silage or hay offer great possibilities for providing a clean area upon which to wean lambs; (7) Where arable farming is carried out in the production of supplementary green crops, a clean area should be obtainable upon which to wean lambs; (8) late lambs require more attention than early lambs, sick lambs being most difficult to treat. , , Finally, care and careful observation for the first indications of going off in health and condition are necessary, and one <f ll>e o: ■ nlials is ie train the young animals to take good, clrv feed while they are fit and well, S o' that, if a flush of unsuitable autumn feed comes about, tho unfavorable feeding conditions can be corrected by a ration of good dry feed which the hoggets will then take readily. If not trained to dry. feed and an attempt is made to get them on to it, after sickness Ims manifested itself, it is difficult to get them to take it, and usually they will not take it at all, with a resultant heavy mortality.