FARM MOTES

Putaruru Press, Volume IV, Issue 142, 22 July 1926, Page 6

FARM MOTES

TOKOROA CATTLE SICKMESS. DESCRIBED AS TRUE BUSH SICKNESS ITS CAUSE, AND REMEDIES FOR CURE. Address and Post Mortem by Mr. Collins, M.R.C.V.S.

“ Don’t be frightened to worry us,” stated Mr. Collins, head of the Stock Department for the Auckland Province, to Tokoroa farmers. “ Let us know when you are in trouble and we will do ail we can to help you.” In a striking address' Mr. Collins confirmed the conclusions arrived at in a series of articles in the Putaruru Press, advocating essentials in combatting cattle sickness as (1) supplying iron to stock, (2) provision of abundant winter food, (3) growth of shelter belts. On Wednesday Mr. Collins, M.R.C.V.S., accompanied by Mr. H. Cleland, Stock Inspector of Matamata, paid a visit to Tokoroa and addressed an attendance of 30 farmers 'in the hall paddock on matters pertaining to the cattle sickness which infests the district. Mr. J. Ingle, chairman of the Tokoroa Progress League, presided, and the weather was all that could be desired for such an occasion in the open air. At the conclusion of Mr. Collins’ address, a beast in the last stages of cattle Sickness was shot, and a post mortem examination was made to the keen: interest of all present.

In opening his remarks, Mr. Collins stated that the Government Investigation Farm in the heart of the bushsick country was started about 1912. Although called bush-sickness the ; malady was not a disease in the ordinary sense of the term. Bush-sickness was not contagious, and animals suffering from it could be put with healthy animals without fear of them , contracting the sickness. ! Bush-siekriess was a misnomer, as it occurred on country which had been j cleared of bush for 25 to 30 .years. ■■ Further, if an animal suffering from j it was sent further down the line, ' and lived a day or two after being shifted, it was almost certain to recover. CAUSE OF THE SICKNESS. In regard to the cause they had | found it was not due to poison. An- j alysis and innoculation had proved i this. Also it was not due to bacteria j such as caused tuberculosis and other | diseases'. By a process of elimination j they bad discovered that it was due to j animals not getting enough minerals ’ in their food. Without certain essen- j tial salts, muscle and bone could not j be built up, and an analysis of the j blood of sick animals showed that the j deficient 1 salt was iron. i Having discovered this fact they | then set about-getting iron into the'j system of the sick animals, by means .of top-dressing the pastures, and add- 1 ing it to the drinking water. Also j drenches were tried. , The latter me- | “thod'proved 'a' certain'‘ cure ;When kept j up for two or three months. An ani- i mal which was so weak it could not j stand was given a drench containing j iron for two or three months and af- ! terwards it was fattened off. This 1 -went to show that the cause of the : sickness was a deficiency of iron. To counteract this deficiency the pastures had been top-dressed with sulphate of iron, super, slag, super and iron, guano and an iron oxide obtained from the gasworks. Iron sulphate was riot a fertiliser in the same degree as superphosphate was, so to stimulate the .pastures the iron and super' were mixed. Sheep had proved more susceptible to the sickness than cattle, i but on the other hand they lasted j longer. In spite of all they had done I it had to be admitted that, they still I got odd eases of sickness, but on the other hand on land where it was im- j possible to milk for more than three ' or four months a few years ago, they were now milking w-11 throughout the season and rearing the calves. / ■CURE FOR BUSH SICKNESS. I The iron drench given was made by J forming a six per cent solution of J citrate of iron and water, and giving j the animal a 21 to 3oz drench night j and day for three or four weeks. The reason for the long period was that ; iron was a very hard salt to get into | the system. If given in strong quan- j titles the bulk was passed away by the animal, as the system was only i capable of assimilating very small J quantities at a time. Therefore every ! ' possible means was taken to get iron ; assimilated by putting it in the water, i ' in the pastures by top-dressing, by j ' drenching, and by sprinkling an iron j solution amongst the hay when it was | being stacked. i WATCHFUL EYE NECESSARY. ’ Tn this connection one big factor i had to be kept in mind. This was that 1 animals should not be allowed to get i too far down in condition before re- i s medies were made use of. Every £

farmer saw his herd twice a. day, and should be constantly on the watch for the first signs of a beast being offcolour. As soon as this was noticed the animal should be drenched straight away. It had to be remembered that the constitution of an animal played a big part, and as some hnimalS went down quicker than others every means should be taken to keep them in good heart. Referring to the animals experimented on at the Mamaku farm, Mr. Collins mentioned that they got animals from as far away as possible. A line from Waingaro, out from Ngaruawahia, had done well, and far better than animals brough from Matamata. It had been found that when these animals were put on the worst [ country so far as the sickness went, ■ they did well. After 12 months, how- | ever, they went sick. ! HOW TO REAR CALVES. The rearing of calves had been a most difficult problem. While it could be accomplished by importing a lot ! of concentrated .foodstuffs this method was costly. 1 Their aim had been to accomplish this chiefly by -means of improved pastures. .They had tried putting iron in the water, but- the animals would not take to,.the . trough, but drank from- puddles, and. pools. In any case medicated water was not sufficient. Last year they used molasses in water. Molasses was a food in itself, and contained a lot of iron—far more than any of. the grasses. Molasses had proved very effective, and calves dropped last August had never looked sick or sorry. The young calves were given new milk for two weeks, and then half and half mixture for two' weeks. ' After that skim milk to which 3oz of molasses had been added was given. The calves had to be watched, however, for molasses was inclined to make them scour. If a calf scoured then the amount should be decreased for a time. This applied to the feeding of molasses anywhere, whether at Mamaku or anywhere else. At six months the calves were weaned and put on to ordinary pasture top- | dressed with the super-iron mixture jor guano. The calves turned out wellj grown and in splendid condition. TO COMBAT SICKNESS.

Summing up the work at Mamaku, the speaker stated that experiments had led them to rely chiefly on (1) improved pastures; (2) plenty of winter feed, including mangels; (3) small paddocks; (4) ample shelter from cold" winds and driving rain. Only 20 cows were being milked at Mamaku, but a lot of grazing was done. Seventy bullocks were grazed last summer, and all but one truck load were sent away fat, being sold at Hamilton and Westfield. They had tried sheep and lambs, but the latter did no good. The lambing had averaged up to 95 per cent when dropped, and thrived till the beginning of December. Then they started to run at the eyes, and the wool became ragged. By Christmas time some were dead. The ewes did well and got fat, some of them becoming too fat. SYMPTOMS OF SICKNESS.

In regard to symptoms, there was nothing characteristic about bushsickness. That was, there was no definite thing which they could point to as with other diseases. However, there were one or two features such as the hair standing on end, and sometimes the eyes ran. The best then gradually got thinner, became tucked

up and weaker, and lay about the paddock. The animal became bloodless and pale, but there was nothing diseased; it had simply shrunk away because the blood was not able to nourish the system. After a change to fresh pastures such an animal would get well and thrive when brought back, but nevertheless had to be watched. A DIFFICULT PROBLEM. To put the necessary iron in the pastures was a problem, for iron was cue of the most difficult salts to deal with. Slag was used, and the whole aim should be to make the roots stool out. A healthy plant with a mass of roots had chance of picking up iron than poor struggling grasses had. Therefore the pastures should be stimulated as much as possible, and kept fed down. A good pasture should not be ploughed up readily. SHELTER ESSENTIAL. Protection from cold was essential, and stock must be given shelter. It should be the aim of every farmer to make his stock comfortable. It was not frosts that did thh damage, but cold winds and driving rains. To secure this, small paddocks and live hedges were essential. Bleak country such as Tokoroa must have shelter belts. QUESTIONS. Mr. Butcher: Is not bush-sickness the result of chronic indigestion ? Mr. Collins: It has nothing to do with indigestion. The whole thing is that the animals must .have iron. When a man gets run down he goes to the ehemist and gets an iron tonic. If there is anything wrong with the blood the system cannot be built up, and muscle and bone formed. Mr. Campbell; How do.you account for a fat cow,calving and.then going off? Mr. Collins: That might happen anywhere. It may be caused by womb trouble, liver trouble, or anything like that. It happens on the best country in the world;' in tile Waikato and in the Manawatu. On beiiig informed that there was a good deal 1 of calf-slipping in the Tokoroa district, Mr. Collins advised farmers to be careful and make sure It was not contagious abortion. Calfslippfng 1 might result from almost anything—indigestion, ; injuries, etc.— but these were isolated cases. It was best, however, to treat all such Cases as if they were cases of contagious abortion. To find out, all a farmer had to do was to thoroughly cleanse and boil a small bottle. Then clear away the hair from 1 the end of the tail and prick, half-filling the bottle j

[ with blood. The sample should then be sent to the Government laboratory ■ where they would welcome as many samples as they cared to send. A report on the sample would then be for-j warded to the farmer. Every cowslipping its calf should be treated as if it was suffering from contagious —. abortion to be on the safe side. danger arose from the discharge, etc., and other cows grazing over the spot were liable to infection. The fifth to the seventh month was the most dangerous period with cows when carrying a calf. Replying to further questions, Mr.. Collins advocated the use of from IS to 2cwt per acre of manure when topdressing. Superphosphate and basicslag was a good mixture, and if it could be afforded farmers should use Bewt to the acre—lScwt of each. Sulphate of iron was the hardest all salts to get into the system. It was a cure for bush-sickness, and also good for curing worm infestation. Bush-sickness was not confined to bush country, and was found on the rolling hills at Oropi, near Tauranga, as well as Tokoroa.. It was the same sickness in all that area, but was most at Mamaku. Towards the otherdistricts mentioned it tapered off, and was generally found in a milder form. On the motion of Mr. Ingle, a hearty vote of thanks was accorded Mr. Collins for his instructive address, and it was in replying to the vote of appreciation that Mr. Collins used the words quoted at the head of this report. ■