LAMBING TROUBLES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 15 April 1940, Page 9

LAMBING TROUBLES

PREVENTION THE WISE PLAN EARLY START NECESSARY. SOME POINTS TO REMEMBER. The condition of pregnancy toxaemia. known also as twin lamb disease, paralysis, or sleeping sickness, is responsible for a loss to New Zealand production of over £1.600.000 annually.. It can be classed among the deficiencydiseases'and is due to a deficiency in the diet. Attention to animal husbandry and feeding can do much towards preventing the condition, stated; Mr C. Aberdeen, veterinary to the Riverton and District Veterinary Club, in an address at the Clubs annual meeting. So far, curative methods are of litile value, and even if the ewe and lambs are saved after the condition has developed they, are both weakly, so prevention is the wise plan. Prevention, to be successful, must be started immediately the lamb is taken from the ewe in December. January or February. The aim should be to keep the ewes in good physical condition, so they must, be prevented from getting too fat between weaning of the lamb and tupping. During March and early autumn pre?, parations for a supply of green feed in August and September must be made. The two main ways of securing this green feed are autumn top-diessing with a frost-resistant manure of a special paddock which is closed till required. and/or the autumn sowing of a special green crop such as oats and grass. This paddock of green feed is an absolute necessity, and without it prevention cannot be carried out. The next steps in prevention are the giving of a worm drench to the ewe just prior to tupping, and the keeping of the diet just above a maintenance ration for the first two months of pregnancy. At mid-pregnancy the. ewe should be in good physical condition and just above her weight at tupping. From then on every effort must bo made to increase the weight of the ewe, as a fall in weight or a standstill in weight presages trouble. The food problem is now of paramount importance, and the following foods are of practically no value in prevention. Hay that, has weathered longer than three days, bleached oats and chaff from oats that have not been cut when ready or have been weather-

ed too long before stacking, and turnips (not swedes), all contain practi cally no vitamin A content, and foot without a fair vitamin A content wil aid the condition in developing. Good hay, oats and chaff supplemented with molasses and a ration of roots as a digestive, are the best supplementary feeds, and the quantity must be increased during spells of bad weather. From the starting of the extra feed al mid-pregnancy, exercise becomes oi great importance in maintaining a good physical condition a/id in the pt evention of other lambing troubles. About six weeks to a month before lambing a wise procedure is to sort out the twin-bearing ewes and give them an added ration of food. It is over the last six weeks of pregnancy that the lambs gain nearly three-quarters of their birth weight, and to meet the extra drain.on the ewe additional feed must, be given. The better the condition of the lamb at birth the easier it is to fatten, so an extra supply of feed to the ewe during this period pays well. From then on, during the daily exercise of the ewe, watch for laggards, or sheep not quite lively enough. These ewes should be separated, drenched with half a cup of molasses and placed on the special green feed. This watch must be kept from then on. The sheep in these special paddocks must also be exercised and given a supplementary ration as well. The early recognition of ewes which, if not treated, will develop the disease is the all-important point at this time, and the intelligent shepherd will be always on the watch. Whilst this condition, is primarily one of aged sheep, it can, and does, occur in younger sheep; they, too, must be watched for laggards. The main points in prevention are there: Good physical condition and not too fat before tupping; a worm drench before tupping; preparation of spring green feed; extra ration from midpregnancy with an additional ration in

bad v/eather; sorting out of twin-bear-ers; laggards drenched and placed on green feed; and exercise for these laggards.