Diseases in Sheep and Cattle.

Manawatu Herald, 27 March 1894, Page 3

Diseases in Sheep and Cattle.

Last week's Hawera Star contains an interesting report of a meeting between farmers and Mr J. R. Charlton, Government veterinarian, from which we obtain the following : - Mr Charlton thought the farmers expected that he had in the first leaflet issued by him dealt with all ' the ilia that sheep were heir to, but ; he had simply dealt with a special disease which he said had been " described by my predecessor as yellow atrophy of the liver." He did not himself say it was that disease, because in his opinion it was not yellow atrophy of the liver at all. He examined specific cases and the cause he found was that sheep were in clover up to the abdomen ; aud they had absolutely nothing but this clover to eat. It was when he had investigated the matter carefully and with free use of the microscope, etc., that he reasoned out fully the cause of death, and tnat cause was that the excess of rich food had produced degenerative changes in the liver. He recommended a change of pasture, but were the owner could not do .so the next best thing he suggested ■. *•'■ they should shut up the animals in .■"yards at night. The sheep would during the shutting up move about a good deal, have a good deal of exercise, and also time for rumination. w And he was happy to say that on farms where this treatment was carried out the death rate had ceased. This was not advisable in other cases of gross teed such as a pasture had ■ consisted of fog and cocksfoot. In j referring to the fuct that his report had been misunderstood Mr Charlton stated that no douhl in a hirgu number of cases death might be ! attributed to parasites, lungworin, and intestinal worm, <i the latter, of which Stronglus Contortus was pro> j bably the most difficult to get at. \ The internal parasites of sheep wer.e a great evil, and the worst of it was that here everything seemed iayorable for the development and spread of the parasites. He had found as many as five different species in one sheep. He thought, however, that the most difficult one to. deal with would be the Strongylus Contortus, which was found in the fourth stomach. When this wa3 opened they were frequently found in a seething mass. There wus also the Strongylus Filaria in the lung tubes. a cause of much trouble. With regard to the worn) in the fourth Stomach it will probably be found that careful attention to pastures, purity of water, breeding only from j sound healthy sheep, and aiming at keeping up the strength, vigor and constitution of the lambs and supplementary food will do more towards reducing the mortality than other measures. He had no great faith in the drenches, but some might do good by virtue of their tonic properties. If you kill the parasite, what is 'to prevent the lamb becoming re-infected ? It was more a matter of looking after your pastures, seeing to the purity of the water, and ■• keeping a sprinkling of cattle to eat off the rough stuff. With regard to lung- worm, he believed .^it was responsible for a large number of deaths. * In conversation it was elicited that Mr Charlton believed in ihe uecessiu of keeping cocksfoot down, and that cattle and sheep must be tnixt d up. He believed it better in cases of tuberculosis in cattle to destroy the suspected beast. He was happy 10 say that he had not seen v case of cancer proper in the colony and he y very much doubted its existence among the animals on this coast.