FLOCK SAFEGUARDS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19808, 9 December 1938, Page 14

FLOCK SAFEGUARDS

SHEEPFARMERS WARNED PREVENTION OP ECZEMA POSSIBLE K ECIIRRENCE (Tor Press Association.) WELLINGTON, this day. Although the weather will determine whether facial eczema occurs in the autumn of 1939, the facial eczema management committee considers that sheepfarmers, in particular, should now take definite steps to safeguard their flocks against the possibility of an outbreak. The committee summarises the general plan of prevention as follows: (1) As facial eczema is apparently caused by a quick flush of grass in warm and humid weather following a period of drought, stock should be Kept off rapidly-growing grass in the autumn for several weeks. (2) To ensure that this practice can be followed, farmers should build up reserves of hay and silage and maintain a portion of the farm in mature grass, which can be grazed when the itusn growth is taking place on hard grazed paddocks.

The committee's seasonal advice to sheepfarmers may be briefly summarised as follows: —

(1) Close up from a quarter to one third of tire farm in December.

(2) The area shut up should consist of at least four fields to facilitate utilisation.

(3) The first field should be closed in early December and the remainder at 10-day intervals during the month.

14) The areas chosen for shutting up should consist of pastures least likely to flush quickly in tne autumn, i.e., pastures containing a good proportion of cocksfoot and situated on moist land, or land lying away from the sun.

(5) The shutting up of paspalum fields should be delayed until the middle of January.

(G) If good growing weather is experienced and a mature field gets too rank, it should be grazed with cattle and the field closed again or another field closed to take its place.

(7) Holding padaocks should be selected for supplementary feeding of sheep when a dangerous flush of grass occurs and mature grass is being rationed out. These fields should consist ot pasture land not likely to rapidly flush. Paspalum pastures or pastures on moist land or peal fields should contain ample shade. The Department of Agriculture has issued a bulletin on farm management methods designed to prevent facial eczema and farmers may obtain a copy from the department.