LAMZIEKTE IN CATTLE 19^ 



cases of lamziekte arc rare. The reason is that during: 

 the winter carcasses do not decompose so readily and are 

 not so toxic as they are in siinnner. Small animals lyin^' 

 on the veld j>enerally nuimmify ; therefore it is quite 

 sufficient to see tliat all carcasses are removed, buried or 

 destroyed. The most dangeious period of the year is in 

 spring when the grass wilts; at this time not only is the 

 craving for bones at its maximum, but the bones and 

 carcasses are most poisonous. Heat and moisture help 

 the growth of the bacteria and the production of the 

 toxin. If bone meal feeding is delayed until pica is acute 

 it is necessary to give a large quantity (1 lb. per day) ; 

 it is consequently more profitable to begin earlier, prefer- 

 ably immediately after the first rains when pica }iaK 

 almost disappeared. If feeding with bone meal be com- 

 menced at this time it will be found possible to ward ofl^ 

 pica with a small quantity (^ lb. per day). It is not 

 necessary to feed all animals on the farm with bone meal, 

 the bone cr avers should be picked out for this purpose : in 

 this way the treatment can be carried out economically. 

 If bone meal is to be fed to a lot of cattle, care should 

 be taken to provide as many troughs as there are animals, 

 otherwise the strong animals will chase the weaker ones 

 away. 



The total expense incurred in keeping the farm 

 Armoedsvlakte free of rotten bones and carcass^e?-^ 

 amounted to £40 per year: there were over 600 head of 

 cattle on the farm so that the cost works out at about 

 Is. 4d. per animal per year. The cost of feeding bone meal 

 is about 5s. 3d. per animal which works out at about £158 

 per year for the lot of GOO. The cleaning of the farm is 

 therefore the cheaper method, but even the double method 

 works out at less than 7s. per head per year, and the im- 

 proved condition of the animals is worth at least so much. 

 At present bone meal is the cheapest phosphate that can 

 be obtained, but possibly later on there will be a cheaper 

 article on the market which can be recommended. The 



