SHEEP AILMENTS.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19145, 31 October 1927, Page 13

SHEEP AILMENTS.

SLEEPY SICKNESS AND WOOLBALL. THE PROBABLE CAUSES. Mr Homy Overton, a farmer of long experience, in an address given before the Committee of the Canterbury A. and P. Association, gave it as his opinion that the mortality among ewes and lambs, which is causing some concern at present, is due, in the case of ewes, to insufficient or unsuitable food, and in the case of lambs to too rich milk. [n the course of his remarks Mr Overton said: My jealousy is for the lamb trade, which was so wisely fathered by that good man, John Grigg, whom we all loved and admired, and has, since his death, been so ably carried out, on the lines he laid down, by another wiso and good man, Sir George Clifford, whom we all hope will yet be long spared to continue the work. What annoys me is that there is a tendency, not only to play into the hands of our Argentine friends, but to make many believe that our famous Canterbury iamb is subject to a kidney disease. During my years of presidency, 35 years ago, I was instrumental in getting Mr Gilrutk, then .it the head of our Agricultural and Stock Department, to come down hero and deliver a lecture in our rooms on the two troubles which worry the fanner, namely, the so-called sleepy sickness" in ewes, and tho woolball in lambs, but. I.regret to say the lecture gave us little to work upon. Still it should have been sufficient to show the Department that the troubles did exist, but during all' that time, and I regret to say, since, to the best of my knowledge, it has done nothing to solve the.reasons for the same. I Care of the Ewe. As wo have had to fight our own battles for the past 40 years, we have at least learned something from experience. First of all, I want especially to venture my opinion that no disease has ever existed in either of these troubles, for it is all a matter of food, in one case insufficient or unsuitable, at a very critical time, and in tbo other, too rich milk. As briefly as possible I will give you the benefit of my -long •experience fighting these troubles, and will start with the ewe. About a month or six weeks previous to lambing time odd ones begin to show what we, for want of a better name, usually call "sleepy sickness." If caught in the early stages and the ewe is given a good dose of raw linseed oil, it may, in odd cases, be saved, but almost invariably it dies. When opened it 'will always be found that it is tho ewe carrying two great healthy lambs that has succumbed to tho trouble.

The severe frosts, which have takeu all the nourishment out of tho pasture, and a lack of exercise are the cause. The only remedy is a more active use of tlio plough in the autumn, and thus provide a good supply of areen food for the breeding ewes during August and early September and thereby greatly lessen the loss. To those on larger properties who may not bo able to use the plough, and especially on old cocksfoot pastures, I cannot, from experience, offer advice, further than keeping the ewe strong, but after a winter o§ heavy frosts, I know that their percentage of loss will be heavy.

Need for Research. The trouble so called "sleepy sickness" is found from north, to south of this Island and causes great, loss, t know of one ;case, also many others, iii the Ellesmero district,, where - a farmer with .about 500 extra good e\ves lost at least 50, and a man from Southland tells mo ■he lost over 100 ewes ifroiri.- his 'lot of. about one thousand. What wo seem'to require now is a smart young fellow to travel the country and impress upon farmers the absolute need of better provision for tho ewes during the early months 'of spring. It is very pleasing to know that there is some investigation in the subject going on. They will find, as I have, there is no evidence of disease. Yet there is so much for us £o learn, especially as to the best grasses to combat the ravages of our severe frosts. During, my experience on fairly good land I have found Cape barley and Italian ryegrass the, safest and best mixture.

Woolball. With respect to the mortality among lambs, the trouble is exactly opposite, for it is caused by the too rich milk of the owe in the prime of her life, and only occurs in the case of single lambs. For a while they do unduly well, but the time soon comes -when a keen observer will notice that the lambs suck less vigorously, start to pick up pieces of wool or rubbish alorig the fence, and lie about. They may be saved by a dose of raw linseed' oil, but usually they die. When opened carefully the stomach will be found, to contain the so-called woolball, great junks of 'congealed milk exactly resembling lumps of primo mutton tallbw. There is .evidence of water stoppage, consequently the kidney is discoloured and ugly, and no doubt the last stage causes death.

In this case I can only suggest the passing of the ewes with their lambs through the race and the placing of lambs, which are too prime, and their mothers on poor pasture, for three or four days when the richness of the milk will disappear and the lambs will be keenly picking grass. If found necessary, this treatment can be -repeated with the mob, for those already done will be quite safe.