SPLENDID FRIESIAN SIRE

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20917, 23 September 1939, Page 22 (Supplement)

SPLENDID FRIESIAN SIRE

Contagious Abortion A new remedy, it is believed, has been found for the cattle disease known as contagious abortion, which is estimated to affect from 20 to -40 per cent of the eight million cattle in Britain, causing a loss of from £10,000,000 to £12,000,000 a year. A chemo-therapeulio treatment ha: now been developed commercially, am after fairly extensive tests with abou <>ooo infected cattle during the pas eighteen months the substance used is to be placed on the market by company which has Lord 'Moyne, win. as Mr Walter Guinness, was Ministei of Agricultural from 1924 to 1929, air Us chairman. Chemo-therapy is, broadly, the process of injecting into the blood stream a substance which will kill the bodie: responsible for any particular disease without harming the blood corpuscles or affecting the living tissue in a harmful manner. The field tests are distinctly promising and the records oi infected herds which have undergone the treatment are remarkable testimony to the chemo-therapeutic method. Mr W. F. Johnston, of Waisham-le-Willows, Suffolk, for instance, records only 22 full-time calves born in the period November, 1936, to July, 1934, and 17 dead or premature calves "slipped.” In July, 1937, the herd bad the intravenous injections of the new treatment, and in the eight months lo March 1 there were bl live fndtime births, one live premature- birth, and only seven dead and premature calves “slipped.” Sheep Fertility A number of problems connected with the fertility of breeding awes were referred to by Dr. R. B. Kelly, of the McMaster Field Station, New South Wales, in the course ef an address at a conference df the Australian Veterinary Association in Sydney recently. Dr. Kelly said that analysis of stud book records indicated that the incidence of twins could be greatly increased by retaining a larger percentage of relatively old ewes, and by matings under conditions which, naturally or artificially, Hushed the ewes immediately prior to and during the mating period. Among ewes uninfluenced by adverse hereditary or disease conditions, the principal cause of low lamb markings was high morlality among young lambs, a factor largely governed by management. Under intensive conditions this factor could be controlled, but not under extensive conditions, where climatic influences were of primary importance. Dr. R. Me Gunn, of the University Veterinary School, dealing with the male aspects of fertility, said that hot, dry weather induced degenerative changes in the rams and could bring about sterility. A survey had shown that in the hotter districts, seasonable changes were very marked and corresponded closely with seasonal heat. Rams were likely to he j normal during winter months, and abnormal, frequently sterile, during summer months. Even in cooler climates

hungry, and drinks to excess. Stomach Derangement The effect of excessive milk-feed-ing, i.e., gviing too much at an individual feed, is a derangement of the stomach, and the production therein jl‘ a hard clol of curd, which is digested with very great difficulty. The presence of the curd so irritates the • tomach that its inner lining becomes oilamed, and hemorrhage may actually ceur. As a result of the stomach ritation, the intestine is activated into .iolent contractions, so that the conents, which would otherwise be absorbed, are forced through at an excessive rapid rate, causing scour. Jutwardly the disorder is first indicated by sudden lack of appetite, dullness and diarrhoea. Diarrhoea produced in this way is of frequent oc•urrence in calves from the age of a ew days to three weeks and it has jeen given the name of nutritional >cour to distinguish it from consagious diarrhoea, which is caused by a specific organism. Effective Treatment Nutritional scour is responsible for very heavy losses in the way of fatalities, but more often its effect is evidenced by surviving sickly and unthrifty calves. Farmers wish to know how to prevent and to treat this disorder. The explanation of the cause of the- derangement gives the due. The best way to prevent the occurrence is to reduce the quantity of milk fed at any one feed, and, in order to permit of this, feeding should be done thrice daily for the first throe weeks. For the first week two pints of milk per feed —that is, six pints per day—is ample; the quantity should be increased to two and a half pints in the second, and to three pints per feed in the third week. The health and vivacity of the calf, as well as its “bloom,'* is improved by the addition of a little water—say, half a pint Lo each feed of milk. If the milk fed is from newly-calved cows, digestive disorders will not occur on the dieting prescribed, even in the absence of added water. If, however, the milk is from cows advanced in lactation, trouble is much more likely to resu.t, duo to the heavier clot formed by it in the calf’s stomach. To provide against the possible occurrence of nutritional scour in tint case, water must be added to the milk at each feed. In that case, also, it is recommended that the prescribed quantity of milk be somewhat reduced and the water in each feed increased to one pint. Should, due to injudicious feeding, scour develop, it should be treated at once. Instead of the usual feed of milk, a dose of castor oil should be given—one ounce for calves up to one week old, one and a half ounces up to the end of tho second week, and thereafter two ounces given in some warm water. 'For the next feed after the oil dose give water only—boiled and cooled t? body temperature, and thereafter give milk and water in equal proportions for a day or two till the disorder disappears.