FARM AND DAIRY

Waihi Daily Telegraph, Volume XXXVII, Issue 9207, 9 April 1938, Page 4

FARM AND DAIRY

COMMON DISEASES TROUBLE WITH PIGS MINIMISING THE DANGER In the current issue ol the quarterly journal issued by the Yorkshire Council for Agricultural Education and Department of Agriculture of the University of Leeds (Britain), some

of the common diseases of pigs are discussed, and advice is given on

their treatment and prevention

Dealing with rickets in young

pigs, it is pointed out that the disease is essentially a deficiency disease due to a shortage of calcium and/or vitamin D in the food of young pigs. The symptoms are a general unthriftiness, stiffness, swollen joints, dirty discoloured skin, a general backwardness in condition and eventually deformed or bent bones, particularly of the limbs. Where rickets occurs in sucking pigs, it is probable that the sow’s milk is deficient either in calcium or in vitamin D or both. Vitamin D exercises an influence on the assimilation of the minerals, so that even if sufficient minerals are present, a shortage of vitamin D will result in an insufficiency of minerals being assimilated. A shortage of calcium may be corrected by adding a small quantity of a mineral mixture to the ration of breeding sows and young pigs. A deficiency of vitamin D may be corrected by giving a little cod liver oil in the ration. Sunlight also influences the amount of vitamin D present in the animai body, and consequently rickets is not so likely to occur in pigs which are one of doors during the daytime. Incidentally, cod liver oil also contains vitamin A which is intimately concerned with the health and development of young animals.

ANAEMIA This is also a deficiency disease occurring usually in sucking pigs over three weeks old. It lias been established that it is due to a deficiency of iron. The reason it occurs usually at about three weeks old is that the pig when born has a small reserve of iron stored in its liver, this reserve is sufficient to hist the piglet from two to three weeks, and if th.e sow’s milk is deficient in iron, after this reserve has been exhausted, symptoms of anaemia develop. These symptoms are a pale chalky colour of the skin, loss of condition and usually diarrhoea. If neglected many of the little pigs die, and those which survive are very backward and unthrifty.

To prevent this condition it is necessary to make sure the piglets are getting a little iron daily, unfortunately feeding from lh& sow is not effective as it is not immediately execreted in the milk. In (he summer time if the pigs are allowed out at grass every day there is little likelihood of anaemia developing as they get the small quantity of iron required from the grass or from the soil. It is, therefore, a disease which usually occurs in winter farrowed pigs. In this case the host means of prevention is to paint the sow’s teats once a day with the following mixture: Sulphate of iron ljoz, sulphate of copper .’oz, treacle 2 pint, water i pint. The little pigs then gel sufficient iron when sucking to prevent the development of anaemia.

THE ECONOMIC COW The economic cow is not always (he high yielding cow. She ma.v he High yields are apt to be deceptive. Under certain conditions it certainly Pays to have extremely high yielding cows; under others it may not be no important. Cows have to live in different types of climate, and have lc> withstand different types of management. Tn America it has been sliowir (bat, oilier filings being equal, the bigger the cow the more milk she will produce. It has also been shown that it does not always hold that because a cow is giving a big yield she is producing'that milk more economically than perhaps a smaller cow giving a lesser yield. There is a tremendous difference in the food consumption of different cows per gallon of milk produced, and there is every reason to believe that this is inherited. The economic cow lias other qualities besides that of the ability to make the greatest use of the food she eats. The economic cow must lie a hardy cow. She must also lie a prolific cow. That does not necessarily imply the production of twins, hut rather, it implies cows which calve regularly. There exist cows which since they have dropped their first calf have calved regularly eveiy year for more than 10 years. Such cows possess an important quality of the economic cow.