POOR LAMBING

Wairarapa Times-Age, 5 September 1938, Page 3

POOR LAMBING

AFTERMATH OF FACIAL ECZEMA. POSITION IN THE WAIKATO. It is stated that serious lambing losses are being suffered by Waikato sheep owners as a result of the facial eczema outbreak in the autumn. According to a visitor the percentage of lambs would be abnormally small throughout the Waikato district, and the losses would not be fully realised until docking time. Many of the lambs born were deformed, a large percentage of these having no mouths, and there had been no alternative but to slaughter them. Large numbers of lambs had died, while many of the ewes had produced no lambs at all. A few of the farmers were more fortunate. In one locality one farmer had no trouble at all, while his neighbours on either side had suffered serious losses. The fortunate man during the facial eczema epidemic had retained a paddock of rank growth containing plenty of dry matter during the past season, and when the autumn rains brought the green grass away on the well-grazed pastures he turned his sheep, on to the rank and dry paddock. His losses from facial eczema were practically nil, while his neighbours suffered badly and were still experiencing a serious aftermath.'