CONTROL OF SHEEP-SCAB IN BRITAIN.

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume XXVII, Issue 4, 20 October 1923, Page 278

CONTROL OF SHEEP-SCAB IN BRITAIN.

At the 22nd International Conference of Sheep-breeders, held at- Newcastle-on-Tyne in July last under the auspices of the National Sheep-breeders’ Association, the matter of sheep-scab in Britain was brought forward by the New Zealand delegates. The following resolution was carried: “That this international conference of sheep-breeders, at which delegates are present from Great Britain, Australia, Canada, South Africa, France, South America, Norway, Mexico, and New Zealand, wishes to call the attention of the Minister of Agriculture to the presence of sheep-scab in this country, and asks the Ministry to formulate means to ensure its eradication.”

Subsequently the High Commissioner for New Zealand communicated with the (British). Minister of Agriculture asking his sympathetic, consideration for the resolution, and expressing the view that the absence of scab in the flocks of Great Britain would be of benefit by facilitating export and giving purchasers a wider choice of flocks from which to select their stud animals.

A reply received from the Minister of Agriculture by the High Commissioner states that the question of the measures to be adopted with a view to the eradication of sheep-scab have for many years past received the close attention of the Ministry. In 1920 the whole policy of the Ministry in this connection was carefully reviewed. Until that date the measures taken had been based upon the recommendations of a Departmental ■ Committee which reported in 1904. The principle of universal dipping of all sheep in the country in approved sheep-dips was at the time regarded as an aim the attainment of which would be relied upon in course of time to secure the complete eradication of sheep-scab. In pursuance of this aim the compulsory general dipping of all sheep throughout Great Britain, involving a, single dipping annually, or, in the case of Scotland and the north of England, two annual dippings at long intervals, was in force continuously from the year 1908 to 1919 inclusive. Sheep-scab was not, however, eradicated. In the" meantime, from 1908 to 1912, experimental investigations were carried out at the Ministry’s laboratory, which led to the conclusion that a single dipping cannot be relied upon to eradicate the disease from a flock, and that compulsory dipping should mean at least two dippings, separated by a maximum interval of fourteen days between the dippings. This latter principle was adopted by the Ministry in the new policy inaugurated in 1920, when two Orders, entitled the “ Sheep-scab Order of 1920” and the. “ Sheep (Double Dipping) Order of 1920,” were issued. The first of these Orders governs the procedure adopted in individual outbreaks of sheep-scab, and the second is applied to areas in which- sheep-scab is prevalent, or in which there is reason to believe that the disease may exist unreported. Double dipping, with an interval of not less than fourteen days between the dippings, imposed as a compulsory requirement, is the main principle upon which these two Orders are based. Recently the. matter has again been under the consideration of the Ministry, with the result that a new Order entitled the “ Sheep-scab Order of 1923 ” has been issued, directly throwing upon sheepowners the onus of curing and preventing scab in their sheep. A pamphlet has also been issued widely throughout the country by the Ministry advising owners as to the measures which they should adopt. The Minister expresses his hope that the new requirement may achieve some considerable measure of success in bringing about the ultimate eradication of scab.