The Sheep-Fluke. 



17 



so placed as to receive the objectionable drainage and lead it away to places 

 where it can do no harm. If the drainage be conducted outside the stock- 

 paddock so much fertilizer is, of course, lost ; but it is better to suffer this 

 loss than a greater one. 



This matter of the drainage from sheep-camps is mentioned more particu- 

 larly because it is not uncommon to see these camps located so as to drain 



Fig. 15.— Sheep camp a a, and salt trough h b, showing how races c c could be located to catch the 

 dangerous drainage and conduct it away to a safe place, when otherwise it would contaminate 

 the pasturage of the paddock. 



into swampy land, and this combination forms a very perfect incubator for 

 fluke ; in fact, it is doubtful if a very much better arrangement could be 

 devised for the propagation of fluke on a large scale. If the stock-owner 

 objects to the loss of manure that would result from conducting the drainage 

 outside his grazing area, he might at least so divert the drainage as to bring 

 it on to the drier parts of his land, instead of allowing it to find a natural 

 lodgment in some swamp, or dam, or water-hole. 



I have designed Fig. 15 so as to present these ideas in a more graphic way. 



Fence off Swampy Places. 



In many parts of the country there are few ways in which more sheep 

 could be prevented from becoming flukey for a given sum of money than by 

 fencing in the swampy areas that serve as natural breeding-places for the 

 fluke. Along the margins of rivers and creeks are found numerous areas 

 of land that are either perennially or periodically " dangerous." By con- 

 centrating his attention on these areas the pastoralist may often save 

 himself from very serious losses. 



Perennial swamps, if they cannot be drained, can at least be fenced m. 

 Land that is only periodically wet or submerged, if also fenced off so as to 

 be under control so far as grazing is concerned, will very often in the long 

 run be more profitable, for whenever on account of continued rain it becomes 

 "dangerous," i.e., flukey, it can be given a rest, or pastured with the stock 



