HUGE ANNUAL LOSSES

Southland Times, Issue 23793, 15 April 1939, Page 11

HUGE ANNUAL LOSSES

Stock Diseases In New Zealand RESEARCH TO BE EXTENDED Tremendous Cost Of Ailments The Dominion’s live-stock products are worth approximately £60,000,000 a year, and if disease losses represent a potential production loss of 10 per cent, the disease bill runs into £6,000,000—a figure certainly high enough to warrant every effort being made to lessen this serious leakage, remarks the Director-General of Agriculture, Mr A. H. Cockayne, in an article in The New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, in which he discusses the formation of a new division to investigate animal diseases. “The future prosperity and stability of our pastoral interests, overwhelming in importance in our economic structure, are intimately concerned with reducing the costs of production,” he says. “Losses through animal disease at once raise costs, and therefore a reduction of these losses is imperative. Our aim, therefore, should be to utilize fully our existing knowledge, and to embark on a programme of research with the intention of bringing forth fresh knowledge capable of being put into practical effect.

“In recent years great prominence has been given to the extensive livestock losses which occur in New Zealand through disease. There is naturally on the part of the farmer a great desire that these losses should be reduced. Two main ways are applicable to bring this about. First, by the adoption of methods of management, particularly those of feeding, breeding, and care of live-stock which tends towards the prevention rather than the encouragement of ill-health. Secondly, by actual direct treatment of the animal itself before or subsequent to contraction of the disease. “In many cases both these methods, where they are known to be effective and practicable, can be put into operation by the individual farmer without any reference to what his neighbours may or may not be doing. But there are other diseases which cannot be adequately controlled by the individual, and his efforts may be_ greatly nullified or rendered inoperative unless farmers in general adopt similar practices. The elimination of tuberculosis and hydatids are cases in point. KNOWLEDGE ESSENTIAL “Reduction in disease is essentially dependent on the farmer knowing what not to do depends upon available knowledge into effect. What to do or what not to do depend upon available knowledge. This knowledge must be isupplied to the farmer before he can adopt any effective measure calculated to bring about an improvement in the disease position in his stock or dominate his management in such a way that disease may be prevented. “The value of expert advice and its widespread influence on the prevention and control of animal disease is so great that it is imperative in any campaign for the reducing of disease losses to make full use of this avenue. Thus, the first step in the campaign should be the setting-up of a Dominionwide veterinary instructional service to farmers. Expert agricultural instruction and extension the world over is based on knowledge as it exists at the time. It has amply proved its worth in all countries, and the more intensive it is the more valuable it becomes. It guides and develops individual action. It guides and develops national action. It is still more valuable and important when linked to comprehensive research. An instructional service influences and develops research activities, and in turn uses the results of research in the form of practical conclusions which it incorporates in practical farm advice. In this way existing knowledge immediately becomes available and is reflected in farm practice. “Existing knowledge is, however, far from complete. Indeed, it never will be complete, and continuous research is therefore indispensable. Thus, extension and further research are both essential in reducing our losses through animal disease, but as extension is more immediately applicable full use should be made as rapidly as possible of available knowledge by full and complete veterinary instructional service to farmers. ECONOMIC FACTORS “Research into the control of animal disease in New Zealand offers difficulties quite apart from equipment and personnel, far greater than is generally realized. There are at the present time many methods whereby disease losses, particularly in the nutritional direction, could be reduced, but most of them would mean the employment of management methods which would so raise the cost of production as to nullify such action being taken. Mastitis could perhaps be reduced by the elimination of the milking machine, but this action, unfortunately, would eliminate dairying. Hogget mortality could be reduced—in fact, well-nigh eliminated—by hand-feeding with crushed oats and other bought-in feeds whenever necessary, but from the economic standpoint the cure would be worse than the disease. These two examples merely serve to show that, although much of our management is economically sound, and has made our grassland farming the envy of the world, it encourages rather than discourages animal disease. TOP-DRESSING NO PANACEA “It is theoretically sound from the production and disease-reduction standpoints that our live-stock throughout life should be nourished on even, rather than uneven, planes of nutrition, but in grassland farming this is not possible, and the higher the production a unit area, the more uneven does the plane of nutrition tend to become. Top-dressing is no panacea; in fact, it often widens the nutritional disparity between the seasons. Nevertheless, no one would dream of reducing permanent pasture or reducing top-dressing. Such a policy would raise our costs of production to a point higher than that brought about by animal disease. “Thus the difficulties ahead of animal research in New Zealand are greatly intensified by the management methods that we must in essence continue. It surely will not be economic to change them. Therefore animal research into many of our major disease problems has difficulties ahead of it essentially connected up with our management methods.” After pointing out that losses in New Zealand from disease in stock are no greater than those in other countries, the article concludes by stating that all the department’s facilities for animal research have been brought together under unified control for the prosecution of animal research work, the programme of work in this direction being of far wider scope than has been possible for the Department of Agriculture to undertake hitherto. Dr J. F. Filmer has been appointed acting Director of

the Division of Animal Research, and he will work in conjunction with Dr C. S. M. Hopkirk and Mr P. W. Smallfield, who are officers in charge of the Wallaceville Veterinary Laboratory and the Ruakura Animal Research Station respectively.