ANIMAL HUSBANDRY

Hokitika Guardian, 23 April 1929, Page 7

ANIMAL HUSBANDRY

SYMPTOMS OF INFECTION

CARE OK YOUXC STOCK

PARASITES IN CALVES

(M.v the Department of Agriculture.)

AN ill l tile object of furthering tlie i«iruler's knowledge of preventing pnr•istic morality among stock some notes vote written last week with special •elerence to lamlis and hoggets. In a country like New Zealand, favoured vitli open-air conditions for stock throughout the year, and where dis>ase in the true sense of the term is very slight compared with older settled ountrios perhaps animal parasites are responsible for more of young stock than any other affect ion. 'Hie total 'ysses annually form this cause are con siderahle, and as they are preventihle the host methods of animal husbandry should he adopted. In the care and management of young stock nothing is more essential than a plentiful and nourishing food supply. A maintenance ration can be given to an adult animal in a time of food scarcity without any detrimental effect, but not so in the case of young stock. A productive ration is necessary for young stock containing a liberal per rentage of protein (flesh-formers). As the adult stage is reached less protein and more carbo-hydrates (starches) can be given.

IMPORTANCE OF FEEDING

It is a well-recognised fact in feeding economy, and amply illustrated in the case of countries specialising in baby-beef production, that a young animal will give a better return per pound of food eaten than an older animal. all other factors being equal. Reasoning on those lines the store-

stage in ail animal’s life should if possible he eliminated, and the young animal kept in a vigorous growing state right throughout. During the storestage period the young animal is only given a maintenance ration, and it is during such a period that stock become infested with parisites. In our beefprodueing herds where the calves are mother reared, and where such calves after weaning are given a ration of cake or crushed oats, there is no trouble from parasites. It is even more important in the dairying centres where the heifer calves are reared that special attention should be paid to their feeding throughout the first growth. It often happens that where a paddock is sot aside as a calf paddock for several seasons, sooner or later the calves depastured thereon show symptons of parasitic trouble. Low-lying paddocks or those subject to flooding should never be used for calves and overstocking, especially in the lalte summer and autumn, should be avoided. Where paddocks are known to harbour parasitic larvae, radical measures should be adopted. The paddock requires to be vacated and ploughed for a liberal dressing of lime. The same applies in the case of sections used by pigs, the crops grown in either ease being fed-off to the stock. Drainage assists considerably in lowI.ving paddocks.

The symptoms shown by parasite infested ciilves are wasting, anaemia, roughing and diarrhoea. Persistent roughing with the tongue protruding slightly from the mouth is characteristic- of porosities in the bronchial tidies of the lungs. Cattle up to two vears of age may be a fleeted with the lung parasite. Jn many eases young heifers which have not been well fed and eared for arc suspected of tuberculosis, when, lung parasites are the cause of the coughing and other symptoms shown. Several lines of treatment are adopted for the eradication of lung parasites in calves, hut it must he emphasised that the host treatment is prevention, and this can he done by careful management and good feeding.

Without extra feeding even medicinal treatment will not yield very sat factory results; in fact, there is no time in the animal’s life when good wholesome food of a productive nature will yield a more satisfactory return than when animals are affected with parasites. The loss of one calf will pay for a considerable quantity of food. The food recommended is a mixture of equal parts of crushed oats and moose nuts, allowing two pounds per head per day until all symptoms of the disease have abated. Other feeding stuffs such as bran or crushed peas and I,oan may be utilised, but crushed oats have given in extensive trials better results than the majority of other foodstuffs.

FORMS OF TREATMENT. Several lines of treatment have been tried in the case of the lung parasite namely fumigation with volatile antiseptics and sulphur and the injection of medicinal agents direct into the trachea. In some of our dairying districts a rather common form of treatment is to pour a little chloroform oi ether into the nfleeted animal’s nos tril with the object of killing the wain in the bronchial tube’s. '1 lie worms are later expelled -by coughing. .I must he again emphasised that medicinal treatment can only lie considered as subsidiary to feeding. The latter must lake pride of place as the sheet anchor of treatment in parasites trouble; in fact, without it medicinal treatment is of little if any, assistance A change of pastures immediately aft or treatment and at frequent intervals is much desired.

Where parasites are present in the stomach and intestines of calves in an anaemia, scouring is a frequent symptom. The animals are usually in poor condition, sometimes pot-bellied and frequently careless about feeding. Sucli was the condition of a herd visited by the writer in the early winter of last year. A post-mortem examination was carried out on an animal which had recently died. The parasites may lie so small as not to he easily seen by the naked eye. A section of the bowel from the above calf was forwarded to the veterinary laboratory at Wallaceville, when the report showed that numerous parasites wore embeded in the bowel wall.

The treatment adopted in the above herd was weekly dosing with two table spoonfuls of turpentine in half a pint of milk. The animals were already receiving a ration of bay as green feed was scarce, and in addition a ration of equal parts of crushed oats and moose nuts was advised, allowing two pounds per head per day. ' No further losses occurred though the infesta-

tion was a severe one. Without the extra feeding the animals would not have survived. A mere allowance of hay in such cases does not in itself sup ply enough nutriment to the body, hay is purely a maintenance ration. In the economic rearing of calves the food supply should not be neglected. A well fed and well-reared dairy heifer calf will more than repay her owenr when she becomes a member of his herd. The early foundation of sound bodily health is the mainstay of the herd in after years.