Mortality Among Sheep.

Feilding Star, Volume XV, Issue 209, 9 January 1894, Page 2

Mortality Among Sheep.

_ * FBy Sheep Farmer.!

The excessive mortality which decimates many of the flocks in this colony, more especially on the West Coast of the North Island, isa very serious question. What causes it, and how can we prevent it ? Some writers have referred to "the strange and insidious disease that has made its appearance during late years." In my opinion there is nothing strange about it, and there is nothing new about it. • We will take a sheep in the autumn, or early winter, afflicted with this so-called disease, and we will find the animal suffering from a complication of disorders. First we notice scouring, (diarrhoea) ; next on examination we find the sheep in a low anaemic condition; farther we will find that the unfortunate animal is infested with myriads of worms of various kinds. Now, we want to know the cause of these disorders, and sheep owners want to know why the percentage of loss is greater year by year. In the first place the young sheep — the lamb — naturally goes off in condition to some extent after weaning, and really the two or three months following weaning time is the most critical in the life of the sheep. The lamb having suffered some shock to its system through weaning, has hardly got used to the summer grass before it is placed upon the bush autumn pasture — rich and rank. The natural food of the sheep is somewhat dry, herbs of various kinds and grasses mostly tufty and hard. Anyone can imagine the disastrous effects of this new growth of grass." The lamb scours, the blood becomes weak and thin, worms of several kinds, the germs of which are swallowed by the sheep, multiply with amazing rapidity, the unfortuuate animal becomes extremely emaciated and probably never recovers. I am not instancing exceptional cases. Every year tens of thousands of the young sheep on this coast suffer in the same way, and the loss from thesa causes is simply enormous. I fancy lam asked how is it that such heavy losses were practically unknown a few years ago. It is simply this — that many farmers in their haste to become rich are ruining themselves by overstocking with sheep. I do not mean that the sheep are starved, although that not infrequently happens. The sheep are unable to get the \ariety of grasses and herbs that are necessary for their bodily health. We all know that with two-thirds stock of cattle and one-third of sheep that the latter will do really well, and the reason is that the cattle, keeping the coarse grasses cropped down, allow the finer grasses to grow, and the pasture is shorter, sweeter, and more nourishing, in every way. And this accounts for the fact that when people started their flocks of sheep they were, for a number of years, more successful, and had far less loss than in after years, when everything had to give way to the wool-grower and mutton-producer. But all farmers cannot place the required number of cattle on the land ; the outlay is too large, and the returns not quick enough. And further, there are not sufficient cattle in the colony to keep all the grass lands in perfect order for sheep. We have, notwithstanding the unsuitable nature of some of our pastures, to make the best of them ; and how ? By careful treatment and attention we can tide the young sheep over the critical months. Scouring, in the autumn, must be stopped or prevented, and the sheep must have a tonic. It will thus be enabled to throw off the worms which infest nearly every lamb. In the case of iambs or hoggets, a drench which would have this effect, besides acting as a mild vermifuge, should be administered as soon after weaning as possible; and a lick with the same properties should be placed where the sheep can have ready access to it. We can, by this treatment, carry the hog* gets through until June or July, when practically all danger is over. Sheep must be treated in a rational manner ; they require change of pasture— the more the better. If some artificial food can be grown for the youug sheep it will be found a great help. It has been found in many cases, and it is quite reasonable, that the hoggets should be run with older sheep. They travel better in search of food, and thus get all the change that the limits of the enclosure will allow of. As far as the different preparations for the cure of lung-worm, <kc., are concerned, I do not think there is one in general use at present that combines all the properties required, and further it is ridiculous to suppose that lung-worm can be reached directly by any drench or dose. The sheep must be kept strong and healthy, and it will throw off the worms. These parasites cannot exist if the bowels of the sheep are in a hard and healthy condition, and the lung-worm cannot increase to any great extent if the blood of the sheep be healthy and strong. In concluding this article, I am glad to bring under the notice of sheep farmers a specific for treating the diseases mentioned above. The preparation is in liquid and solid form (a drench and a lick), and it has had, after extensive trials, most beneficial effects — curing scour immediately, and strengthening the sheep, as well as enabling them to animilate their food. Messrs Sharland and Co., the well-known chemists and druggists, are the manufacturers and wholesale agents. There is no doubt a remedy' is urgently required, and anyone solving this difficulty should receive the thanks of the sheep farmers of the colony.