Pine disease in sheep on the Cheviots

The following conclusions are drawn from the main work of the investigation.1. Pine disease in the Cheviot region is a, nutritional anaemia caused by nineral deficiency in the soil or herbage of affected areas resulting in defective iron metabolism.2. The disease occurs in an endemic form on the Andesite formation in the East Borders. Both hill land and arable land are involved. The affected district covers an area of approximately 80 square miles and carries 40,000 head of sheep..3. There is evidence that the disease first attained serious proportions in the Cheviot region about the beginning of the nineteenth century. This was due to far-reaching changes in the system of sheep husbandry, and in sheep- breeding in particular. It is probable that the local races of sheep were formerly resistant to the malady. This view is supported by the fact that native sheep are maintained on pining land in Scotland at the present day without a change of pasture. the problem therefore has a genetic aspect which appears to offer scope for enquiry. enquiry.4. The disease is not due to iron deficiency.5. The administration of minute quantities of cobalt prevents the occurrence of the disease on. pining land and also acts as a cure. The beneficial results obtained from the feeling of iron compounds are attributable to traces of cobalt in the materials used.6. Small quantities of phosphorus, free from cobalt, are of curative and preventive value. The feeding of phosphorus compounds only, gives successful results in practice. A deficiency in this element is regarded as a predisposing cause of the malady.Both phosphorus and cobalt are presumably lacking in sufficient quantity from the produce of pining soil The precise significance of cobalt in animal nutrition, apart from its potency in assisting the utilisation. of iron, is unknown,7. Experimental evidence shows that no effect is produced by the administration of traces of copper to pining sheep.8. The condition is primarily one of mineral deficiency. The influence of parasitic infestation of the digestive tract is entirely secondary. The treatment of pining sheep for mineral deficiency alone, with materials that possess no known anthelminthic properties, is successful in well over 95 per cent of cases. This applies equally to animals which are mildly affected, and those which are in an alvanced stage of the malady.9. The disease has a close similarity with bush sickness in New Zealand, enzootic marasmus in Western Australia, coast disease in South Australia, and certain pining diseases in other countries. It appears to be different in origin from salt sickness in Florida and lecksucht in Holland.10. In the Border Counties, the nutritional anaemia represented by pine disease is not confined to the Andesite formation. it is manifested in various forms under diverse conditions of soil and of sheep-husbandry. These various types are as follows: -(1) An endemic for of the :disease is found on the Andesite and also in localised areas on many other geological formations in the Border Area. This form occurs both in hill an:i in arable districts. (2) A sporadic type is liable ' <o occur in a proportion of the flock on any hill farm, following a severe winter luring which the stock have become debilitated.(3) A type of anaemia associated with pregnancy, and also prevalent among small lambs after weaning, is found in flocks in all districts, both hill and arable, and on all types of soil.All of these types respond to the same treatment as nine disease on the Andesite.11. It is probable that the low content of available phosphorus in many soils in the area has some connection with the occurrence of these anaemias.12. It is suggested that these various forms of anaemia ray be widely distributed in other parts of Scotland.13. The system of mineral feeding worked out Luring the course of this investigation has been used upon thousands of sheep with markedly beneficial results. apart from its effect upon pine disease or anaemia, it has other advantages. There is a decrease in the proportion of tup-eild ewes, and an appreciable increase in the number of twin lambs.There is a reduction in the rate of abortion, and, in lowland flocks, the incidence of pregnancy toxaemia is lessened. 'Deaths among ewes are reduced. Lambs make bettor progress while nursing.14. In practice, pine disease and allied conditions can be prevented, and some of the above advantages secured, by an annual outlay of one penny per sheep