FARM AND GARDEN.

King Country Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 345, 15 March 1911, Page 2

FARM AND GARDEN.

NASAL EOT IN SHEEP. Much totally uncalled-for alarm appears co exist among sheepowners in New Zealand regarding this parasitic trouble Last year serious mortality occurred among sheep in some parts of the jSiorth Island, especially on the East Coast, as a result of a diseased condition primarily set up by dietie. causes, and outwardly manifested by an acute inflammatory condition of the skin of the head. In a large proportion of fatal cases of this trouble which came under notice the sheep were found to be suffering from extensive fatty degeneration of the liver, which no doubt was an important factor in causing the mortality. In the beginning this mortality was wrongly ascribed by stockowners to the nasal hot, and it has been a matter of considerable trouble to disabuse them of this idea. I myself investigated one outbreak which was reported to me as being due to nasal bot. It was nothing of the kind ; but was the condition described in our reports as facial eczema or facial dermatitis.

The bot-fly of the sheep deposits its eggs on the margin of the nostrils cf the animal; from these the young larvae hatch out, and find their way up the nostrils into the sinuses (open spaces) which are present in the skull, and which have a communication with the nostrils. Here the larvae remain until they attain their full growth, when they let go their hold, and are usually sneezed out by the sheep. By far the great majority of the sheep harbouring these parasites show no indication of ■ any discomfort whatever, though no doubt they experience a varying degree of temporary irritation, occasionally of a severe nature, at the time the newly hatched grubs are making their way up the nostrils, and also when the fully grown larvae are coming away in the spring. Up to the present time there has been no outbreak of mortality in New Zealand as a result of the nasal bot, though for many years past a large number of sheep have harboured the parasite. I have no knowledge, either, of any serious mortality having occurred from this cause in any other country, the only authentic information available being to the effect that only very occasional deaths occur; and lam of opinion that even in these there may have been other contributing causes. It is an every-day experience to find sound, healthy sheep slaughtered in the freezing works harbouring these parasites, which obviously have done no harm to the sheep themselves, and certainly have not in any way affected the fitness of the flesh for human consumption.

THE SHORTHORN REVIVAL. It is many years since quality in the Shorthorn has been so practically recognised in Britain as during the past year. For several years the number of breeders has been steadily increasing, but never more rapidly than during 1910. The sales of young bulls not only surpassed in result anything that had been anticipated, but at nearly every sale fresh buyers cropped up, and a larger number of "studs" were bought by cattle-raising farmers than probably in any year previous. It is said, regarding these transactions in Shorthorns, that pedigree has taken a firmer hold than ever, and that this became more apparent as the year went on, and culminated at the winter sales at the close of the year, when there was a great run on paper pedigrees. Many a young bull made a fancy price because it was descended from certain fashionable strains of blood. Prices such as the following speak for themselvesA yearling bull of Bates' descent, 780gs; young roan bull of the old Booth Medora tribe, SaOgs.; and a two-year-old bull, 900gs. For a bull that was only highly commended in its class at the Birmingham show IOOOgs. was given, and the animal shipped to Buenos Ayres and sold there for <£l3GO. A fifteen-months-old bull made 700g5., being bought for Canada; a red Barrington 800gs., and a beautiful roan calf 710gs. for the Argentine. A two-year-old Waterloo bull was sold at Ijiverpool for 1050g5., and yearlings of the Bates-Waterloo tribe brought 450gs. and 370gs. A group of three roan yearlings brought 450, 400, and 305gs respectively. At the Messrs Duthie's sale in Scotland a white bull calf brought 1050 gs., nu fewer than eight realised 500gs. and upwards, and the wonderful average of A 1378 was obtained for eighteen calves. A ninc-inonths-old roan bull of the Cruickshank - Countess tribe made 1 IJOOgs.. and IOOOgs. was paid for a red Sittyton Crocus calf.