STOCK STARVE ON GOOD FEED.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 817, 14 May 1910, Page 8

STOCK STARVE ON GOOD FEED.

THE MYSTERIOUS "BUSH" SICKNESS. Ono of the most difficult problems the Government veterinarians have had to deal with is tho strange "bush" sickness affecting a section of pastoral country in the vicinity of Tauranga, in-tho Bay of Plenty. The country is good to look upon, and carries splendid feed, yot sheep and cattle kept upon it for more than a few months continuously begin to pine away, languish, and finally drop down to die. In the midst of plenty, with good grass all about them, they become emaciated, dropsical, and anaemic, and when death occurs all their organs are found to be in a perfectly healthy state, except in some cases for a fatty infiltration of the liver. The trouble has existed ever since the country was first settled. Investigation after investigation has failed to reveal any causo for these strange symptoms. Cattle, and sheep, or any other ruminants, cannot live in.the affected country for more than from five to eight months. The older the animals are the longer they can endure before the wasting sets in. The stock do splendidly for a while, and stores can be brought in from outside districts and finished off in prime condition. Let their owner incautiously.leave them'too long on the diseased country, however, and lie will find the bulk of them either dead or,dying. If the dying are taken out on an ambulance wagon to clean country', most of them will make a speedy recovery.. The stock are said, to know the affected area by instinct, and when they break through a fence they will make straight out to clean country'without stopping. There are wild cattle in the bush in parts of the sick country, and it is reported that they also go out for a portion of every year beyond limits of the disease. The visit of the Minister for "Agri-

culture to the district this week, and

,"-' the appeal to him for further investiga- ' x tion, make it interesting to recall what the Department has already done. In his annual report in 1899 Mr. Gilruth stated:— 1 "This peoular disease, which is confined to the tract of land lying in the vicinity of Tauranga, and extending '. from there to Rotorua and Lichfield, was made the subject ■ of an investigation by-Mr. Park three years ago. Quite recently I had the opportunity of visiting the district and examining some affected sheep, but did not succeed in getting'typical cases. It appears that both sheep and cattle will do well and put on condition for the first few- months after being placed on 'this diseased country, but as time goes 'on a gradual wasting sets in, which ends in death, if they bo not removed 'to another district. Removal to another district, although to all appear- .-.-. ances worse food, results in rapid re- '■'■. covery. The post-mortem examinations I have been, able to conduct on- two ■ sheep and one cow (forwarded to Wellington for more careful examination) revealed absolutely nothing which could be.'determined as causative of the progressive anaemia characteristic of the complaint." • The sickness' is stated to he most ' severe at Mamaku, and, though the area of the affected country is difficult to define, Mr. A. F. Tunks, writing • in the Auckland "Weekly News," says that.it is safe"*tq r say oneMs more ; ;or -less in the danger zone when within, a 'radius 1 "of twenty'miles of Tauranga township. Most of the stockowners have to keep pastures beyond these limits and shift their stock out for a .spell every year. This is a serious matter involving considerable expense. Experiments made under the direction of Mr. Gilruth in 1899 and 1900 demonstrated that sick sheep recovered - when taken : out. of the district, even though they were fed exclusively on grass out .from the affected pastures. • Thirteen sheep in very low condition were taken out from Rotorua bush pasture and put on an absolutely bare pieced of ground.at the Waerenga ExEeriment Farm. Three times a week 2ed ■ cut- from their old pasture was sent out for them: They improved in •condition-steadily, with-the exception ■ of'three which were practically dying ' when brought out. These even improved slightly, and lingered on for a fortnight. Of thirty-six sheep put on a 50- : acre clearing in the bush where feed / was plentiful only twelve remained -, alive at the end ,of three months. Nowhere else either in New Zealand or any other country, so far as is known, has any exactly similar trouble ' been found. The supposition is that some chemical constituent is lacking in the soil. This so far is only surmise, as analysis has failed to reveal any deficiency. Mr. B. C. Aston, chemist to the Department, in 1899 and 1900, analysed five samples of soil, water, and.grass from affected country, but found in them no clue to the mystery. Now it appears-the Department is again to strive to get to grips with the problem.