STOCK DISEASES

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 371, 4 November 1932, Page 2

STOCK DISEASES

INDIGESTION, ITS CAUSES, PREVENTION AND CURE. - i SOME USEFUL ADVICE. Discussing indigestion in dairy cattle in the course of a lecture at Massey College, Mr. J. M. McLinden, M.R.C.V.S., N.D.A., pointed out that so far as is known there is not only one definite cause of -indigestion. It has many causes which may all be responsible individually ■ or in combination. Of first rate importance is the quality of the food. Foodstuffs far the dairy cow, matty seem to think, are perfectly suitable if the sow will eat it. It must be/ remembered that

a bungry animal has not a delicate appetite. A heavy producer has not a delicate appetite. Nor has she necessarily a delicate constitution, because she falls martyr to more trouble than a low producer. The heavier the producer a cow is the more care should be taken of 'the quality -of-her food, because she eats much more. If this is poor in quality trouble will arise, mayhe not at once, but time will tell its tale. Of course, the food riee'd hot necessarily1 be' mouldy or exeessively over-heated to constitute p'oor quality. Hqy which has been cut when over-ripe, no matter how well harvested, is a poor type of food; that is, if animal- health conres ; into the picture of farming at all.

Care Necessary. With regard to salting, a few words of warning will not be out of p'lace. Salting, judiciously done,- is a very good thing to practise. But, it must not be done with the ihtenti'ori, as many do, of getting the stock to eat hay which they would otherwise almost refuse to eat. Because a cow eats such stuff is not to say that it is going to do her good. - A cow -was observed chewing a piece of metal which' she swallowed before it- could be removed from her mouth. Something in the- taste made her chew it, but it did her no good— she died. Mouldy, wet, salted hay will make her die, too. Mouldy hay alone, such as one finds in stack bottoms, and fed out in wet weather, is dhngerous to the life of cattle. ' ' . ■ Pasture Conditions. One cannot afford to neglect passing' a few remarks on the conditions of - pastures. When these are -allowed to grow tufted and run to seed to excess, there is bound to follow an aftermath of trouble. This 'is particularly so if the season is a .dry one, like la'st summer and autumn, But afty autumn" is a potential "source ; of danger- to the farmer. It is-:during this season that most of his subsequent -losses are established. An' endeavour should he made to eliminate this danger. The spring is usually welcomed. . Grass comes away afresh. Unfortunately, it is too fresh. Young .'spring grass can be-eaten -in too'great qua'n-. titie and the stock usually do- consiime it with' avidity so'Iong'a's' it Tas'ts. '"We all kn'ow' th'e consequences.

Prevention. The endeavour of -the farmer should be to try to pr-event trouble.- So far; as digestive trouhl'e is concerned he will do so quite easily if h'e keeps his stock on as even a type of food as lie can all the year round. This he' cannot do with out growing some supplementary food and • changing • his • -stock from- the grass to the suppiementary food by easy stages. : ; , . As to the economies of growing crops, no discussion is going to 'be ,entered into. As to wheth'er it is more profftable to grow1 crops or lose stock, the farmer himself can he the "Only judge so far as th'e -veterinary surgeOn is> concerned. • "