MANY COWS LOST

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 1, Issue 78, 23 October 1939, Page 5

MANY COWS LOST

BLOATING BECOMES SERIOUS FLUSH OF NEW GRASS With stock Weakened owing the hard season last year, and the flush of new grass and clover this spring, many farmers in the district are experiencing -■quite severe losses in their herds through bloating, and though Vr the position is stated to have cased slightly on the Plains in the last day or two, it is still -•serious and farmers are forced to keep a close watch on their •cows. Out of a herd of about 40 one farmer lost four cows last week, and two or three in earlier weeks, and the average is often about ten ; per cent. What this could mean to season's production, if replacements are not available can be •guessed. It is stated there is not zmuch good stock to* be bought. Farmers who have paddocks occupied by stubble maize in which -cows can be held after a short per'iod of grazing in the lush pastures »count themselves fortunate. How-

< ever it is necessary to keep a constant watch over the animals and ]be around them continually in order to treat the first stages of the ■ complaint for it is essentially a prob •lem for the farmer and one which the veterinary comes too late to ideal, with.

Vet's. Advice. As Mr A. Thomson, veterinary sur geon to the Rangitaiki Plains Dairy Co. Ltd., pointed out in his annual report which was read at the company's annual meeting, the idea of many farmers that they were sale 'from bloat if there was no clover in their pastures was erroneous, as •cows were liable to blow on any young and succulent pasture. Mr Thomson said that sodium bicarbonate and vegetable turpentine were :still the most reliable remedies. Kerosene was used by some, but although it was fairly reliable he did not recommend its use as stock took a considerable time to recover from jts effects.

So far production is keeping up well, the Rangitaiki's present daily average being 17 tons lOcwt. These "figures are about 2 tons lOcwt below those for 1937, which" was a good year. However, the factory manager, Mr Rutherford, hopes at the end of the month to be within about 200 tons of 1937, and he thinks that production will hang on better ■at the end of the season than it -did in the earlier year.

Exactly what effect the loss of stock will have is difficult to say.

Many of the cows which have been "lost may be the weaker ones and their production might not have "been up to the average, so that in the opinion of one stock agent a "loss of say ten per cent of the cows would not necessarily imply a ten per cent reduction in butterfat.

In Other Districts.

■"Other districts are apparently "feeling the position even more acutely. It is stated from Opotiki that production at the beginning oC the : season was even lower than last : year, and that it was only a short ' time ago the butterfat commenced tto show any substantial increase. ;Any big increase over last year's production was now hardly likely in view of the heavy losses. The prevalence of bloat in the .dairy herds is reported by farmers aof the Mangonui County, and it is : stated, to be causing much loss. The -disease has assumed more serious proportions than has been the case in the past and is causing great

■4% concern in the community,

The condition is due to cattle feeding on clover when there is moisture about and settled on the grass. Mist, it has been noted, is as bad as a downfall of rain in bringing on the complaint to cattle eating in clover pastures. Various treatments have been tried. One of the most success f:iJ, states a dairyman, is to give each victim a dose of four teaspoonfuls of essence of peppermint.