EWE MORTALITY

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 451, 5 September 1928, Page 14

EWE MORTALITY

FARMERS ALARMED AT INCREASE PLEA FOR INVESTIGATION {THE SUN’S Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, Tuesday. Excessive mbrtality among breeding ewes, which he declared made this season the worst in the history of the country, led Mr. W. S. Glenn (Rangitikei) to appeal to the Minister of Agriculture to-day for a searching investigation of the causes, which at present were a mystery. “The job of the department,” said Mr. Glenn, “is to tackle this problem right away. It is no good making excuses and passing the matter off. Ewes are dying on top-dressed country, and off it, in good condition and in bad. There is no explanation, but we must find one. The loss is very serious, but the whole thing is shrouded in mystery. “It is worse this year than it’s ever been. The average loss in North Island flocks would be 4 or 5 per cent.” Sir John Luke: Is it in the North Island only? Mr. Glenn:l don’t know whether the loss down there is quite as bad. Mr. T. D. Burnett: It is at times. Mr. Glenn said hogget mortality was also bad, particularly in Otago and Southland, while the fact that the cattle tick had now spread as far south as Waitara, which placed it next door to £2,000,000 worth of dairy cattle, was a highly alarming development. Sir George Hunter (Waipawa) said the spread of cattle tick made immediate action necessary. Mr. H. S. S. Kyle (Riccarton) said it was a matter for congratulation that New Zealand had hitherto escaped serious stock diseases, but precautions should be in no way relaxed. In connection with mortality among ewes, he thought much depended on care and treatment of ewes, not just prior to lambing, but throughout the jvhole year.