New Zeland agriculture. Dairy farming's biggest threat.

Clive Dalton

 

Question 1.  

 What’s the biggest national threat facing the New Zealand dairy industry in the next 5-10 years?  The low milksolids payout due to a world surplus of milk powder is the wrong answer. The correct answer is farm staff literacy and numeracy, as it’s now recognised that 50% of new recruits entering farming cannot effectively read or write to a level where they can keep records or follow a manual.  They also cannot do basic maths or measure accurately. They have never learned their times tables!

So calculating the volume of a silage pit (LxBxH), then knocking off 5% waste, and working out the length of a grazing area of 1.7ha if one side is 50m are complete mysteries, as is mixing a 7% teat spray solution.  And don’t ever mention fractions.

When at The Waikato Polytechnic I must have wasted hours trying to teach these basic maths. Thank goodness for metrics, calculators with a percentage and a square root button, if you could students to understand where they would be useful.

Question 2.  Who is going to fix this appalling situation?  Be very afraid, as the answer is ‘nobody knows’.

It’s an unbelievable situation, and instead of schools being able to solve the problem, they have to live with it, and look the other way at the end of the year when year 13 students leave for the last time, heading hopefully for further training.  

None of the teachers I talk to are happy about this situation, and are adamant that the latest education reforms will do nothing to solve it.  The Minister of Education keeps telling us that she wants every Kiwi child to have access to a good education.  Farmers wonder if they’ll live long enough to see it happen.

When I ask teachers for a solution, they point out that no school has the time, the resources or the money to fix things at their level.  You cannot hold back 15-17 year-olds, and put the hard word on them to do extra work till they become literate and numerate as happened in the old days.  This would now be classed as harassment!

Blame

So all I hear is blame!  High school teachers blame intermediate schools, which then blame primary schools, whose teachers tell me the problem starts in the home, with kids arriving at school with no vocabulary and never having seen books or have had stories read to them.  All agree that there just isn’t enough money spent in primary schools on support to fix the problem there.  These young folk are not dummies – the education system has let them down.

Old teachers bemoan the poor literacy and numeracy of new graduates finishing Universities with degrees in education.  How do they get accepted?

Something very odd going on  

With modern technology and social media, there have never been so many words written by young folk. So how can they be constantly ‘on line’ texting, tweeting, face booking and emailing and not be able to read and write English needed for the workforce? They are all keyboard wizards, so don’t need pens or handwriting, and they are not scared to learn new things by trial and error.

The problem is that the industry is full of labels and manuals written in technical English that even the literate can struggle with at times. This situation won’t change, due to legal requirements covering manufacturers, to protect them from mis-interpretation of directions and being sued.

The million-dollar question.   

How long can farming and other trades wait till all this education disaster is sorted?  The honest answer is that they cannot.

What are current dairy farmers doing to fix things, as they are the ones copping the result?  Not a lot I’d suggest at present, with the CTU estimating that only 50% of farmers spend any money on staff training, and few pay more for staff with training qualifications.

The solution is very clear to me, if the Minister of Primary Industry wants export earnings doubled by 2025, and needing 50,000 new recruits, the Prime Minister needs to give him a boost in the caucus pecking order so he has the clout with the Minister of Finance to pour some serious money into the Primary ITO as a major priority as we speak.

Then dairy farmers, Federated Farmers, Fonterra and other dairy companies, DairyNZ, LIC and everybody with an interest in the dairy industry has to push madly to pressure Treasury on behalf of the PrimaryITO – and pour more of their money into the pot.

 Primary ITO

The PrimaryITO are the only ones who have an overall view of what’s needed and who really understand how to fix things urgently, to stop all the duplication and waste by so many education providers, and to get modern technology into the teaching business pronto.

We don’t want any more inquiries, scoping groups, research and bureaucratic diversions.  The Minister of Primary Industry has to solve the problem by supercharging the Primary ITO, as the Minister of Education clearly can’t help the farming industry, and neither can the Minister of Innovation.

The fall-back solution in the very short term is more immigrant labour, but that’s not the answer as training them brings another set of cultural and religious challenges, which I suggest is not yet on the Minister’s priority job list. 

The other solution is more technology.   More robotics are on their way! 

Who will operate dairy farms in future?  Humans or robots?

Drench resistant worms in sheep - dealing to dags

Sheep, farming, husbandry, disease, animal health, worms, internal parasites, dagging, solutions

By Dr Clive Dalton


What everybody knows

• Dagging is the worst job on the farm- hated by everyone but accepted as part of the job.
• If dagging was clearly listed in a shepherd’s job description, applicants would be scared away. Imagine “bonus for dagging” being featured? Yeah Right!
• Dagging is a pain in the back, hips, knees and brain! These afflictions can only get worse with the average age of a sheep farmer being 55+ years. ACC statistics have always shown that 40% of sheep farmers have bad backs and have learned to live with the pain.
• Shearers won’t dag sheep, as it’s a health and safety issue. They can also refuse to shear daggy sheep, as they are about as popular as damp sheep.
• Dags are sheep dung, and salmonella and campylobacter love them.
• The wool industry doesn’t want dags. ‘Average quality’ dry dags (with some wool yield) make around 20c/kg but low-quality dags are worthless. Wool brokers don’t trade in dung.
• If you can get someone to dag sheep, the current cost is up to 70c/sheep. In the next few years – if there are any volunteers for the job left it could easily be $1/sheep.
• Sheep are getting heavier and these costs will apply even if sheep handling devices are used rather than dragging sheep across the board.
• The cost of dagging to the nation must be astronomical! I’d guess half a billion dollars if you added all things in like wasted time and medical costs for an aging farmer population. You could charge hip replacements at around $15,000 each and knees at $14,000 each. You may get a 15% discount for a pair!
• So to solve the sheep industry’s problems, it’s no good waiting for increased returns. Farmers will have to cut costs with a vengeance and getting rid of dagging must be top of the hit list to produce low-cost sheep.
  

The old solution

There's no shortage of drench in attractive containers with
bright colours, supported by sales
promotions from free jerkins to golf clubs and iPods

• Drench and more drench was the answer. Nothing was more simple! The farm staff felt they’d done a great job and killed all the worms – especially if the yards were full of tapeworms. The dogs got a good run and it was a good chance to school up young huntaways with frequent filling and emptying the crush pens.
• And at least after drenching (if the product worked) the sheep dried up for a while to give you some respite from growing more dags. If it didn’t and sheep slowly started to scour again, then you drenched them again in a few weeks.
• It was wonderful when the long-acting anthelmintics devices came along that stayed in the rumen and drip-fed anthelmintics. This was until worms started to develop drench resistance.
• Sadly these old solutions are still used today by farmers who need to do some fresh thinking while drenching.
  

What needs thinking about now?

• Dags are soft faeces that stick to wool and even to bare skin. So breeding bare-bummed and woolless sheep is not the solution. It will help, but there are far too many other issues with these sheep to complicate this approach.
• The standard approach has been: worms = scouring = dags. Drench was seen as the way to fix all three but this approach needs to change.
• Sheep don’t get up during the night to go to the loo - they lie where they are and let it flow! So if dung is soft, they’ll lie in it before morning and rise with soiled wool and more dung stuck to existing dags. So dags can multiply rapidly from the inside and the outside once they start.
• ‘Marbles’ and ‘hand grenades’ (with low moisture content) don’t stick to wool – even if a sheep lies on them. Check sheep night-camp areas in a morning and see the little mountains of marbles. They are works of art! Then notice the great squashed heaps of plops or slops with the impressions of wool in them from overlaying.
• Having a decent tail dock helps the muscles around the anus to eject faeces. Sheep (with tails) wag them when defaecating to help ejection and the two ligaments under the tail control this. So don’t dock tails off by the body and follow the Sheep Code of Welfare. Some stud ram photos in adverts currently show the very worst examples.
• Notice how people who promote and sell drench to prevent dags don’t dag sheep for their clients. The last dagging they probably did would have been when they were young and fit, and only for a short time such as on work experience. It would be nice if a drum of drench came with a voucher for a week’s free dagging by the supplier along with own food and drink.
• Key Point: If you mate rams and ewes this season that are genetically dag producers, then add 5 more years of dagging their progeny on to your current age! It would pay to buy the bigger drench pack that comes with an iPod to load with your favourite music to help relieve the pain when dagging on your own in the years to come. It’s worth a thought.
  

The solution – genetics

• It’s interesting that more farmers and veterinarians are remarking that some sheep in a flock, regardless of the feed (sloppy or dry), need regular dagging and others don’t.
  
• This is old news, but not much was ever done about it –other than drench the whole flock again, which was always the easy option.
• If they’d looked closer they’d have seen that the ‘non-daggers’ produced marbles or hand grenades and didn’t poo their pants like the sloppy ‘daggers’ did.
• There are enough farmers around now who can prove that culling persistently-daggy sheep will reduce the number of bales of dags in the shed and all the wasted time involved.
  
• Some say it took a long time, and others say it was surprisingly quick once they became driven to fix the problem by health or labour problems.
• Good research has shown that dags are inherited. The average of a few heritability estimates is around 25% which is not high like fleece weight, growth or FE resistance (around 35-40%), but it’s good enough to make some positive change if you crank up the selection pressure (Selection Differential) on both the male and female side. Note the word ‘both’.
• So try this for logic. If ‘dags’ on the outside of a sheep are inherited, then what produces them on the inside, (measured by FCS) must be inherited too.
• Remember the advantages of marbles. They are produced by healthy sheep, don’t stick to the wool and they kill larvae fast on the paddock.
• So the genetic solution is simple – mate ‘marbling’ rams to ‘marbling’ ewes and you’ll be on fast track to breeding dag-free and worm resistant sheep in the one go. It’s scary that the job could be that simple.
• It’s certainly worth thinking about and giving it a go. It’s not going to cost you any more and if it works, then life will be very much easier for both shepherd and sheep.
  

What to do

First step - drafting into clean and dirty mobs

• Keep the job simple and cheap - so avoid consultants!
• Check the faecal consistency score (FCS) of all rams to be used as well as their FEC. Remember that they should not have been drenched for at least two months (preferably more) before testing to get a decent estimate of their genetics.
• FEC on it’s own is not good enough any more as you could easily end up with low-FEC dag-producers from soft faeces (plops, slops and scour). FEC and FCS must go together.
• If you are worried about the accuracy of a single FEC/FCS, do a couple more a week or so apart to check repeatability.
• Make sure the samples have been done at a reliable lab that has checked their accuracy. You need to ask for a High Dilution method to make sure no eggs are missed to get an accurate value for selection purposes.
  
• You are not wanting to find out if the results justify giving the animals a drench, so it’s very important to explain what you are doing to your veterinarian.
• There’s evidence now coming through from stud flocks using FEC/FCS to check their two-tooth and older rams, that they maintain their ranking among their peers, and they don’t seem to show the big worm-egg spring rise seen in ewes. This is good news.
• So if you take repeated samples for FEC/FCS at different times on rams or ewes, and they differ by only a few hundred epg, then that’s quite acceptable. But if they vary by thousands of epg, then there‘s something funny going on and it would be wise not to select that animal.
• If you have already joined the rams with the ewes, then wait till the rams have finished mating, and check their FEC/FCS after a month’s rest.
  
• It’s the range in values that’s important, and it will either delight you (if it’s low), or make you very determined to get serious next season if it’s high.
  
• You could easily have spread ‘dag-producing’ genes through the flock for the next five years and beyond.
• Zero FEC with FCS 1 of marbles is the Holy Grail. If you have any of these rams, they are ‘non-dagging’ gold nuggets, and you cannot waste their genes by random mating them to any old ewes in the flock.
• Get the faecal probe out (contact me for details) or use your finger and find some ewes with marbles or if there are not enough accept hand grenades as a mating group.
• Then do a FEC on them to check they are zero or under 500epg. Your CFA old girls would be ideal to find these to form a nucleus of ‘no-dag’ sheep to increase their gene frequency in the flock. This trait must be given top priority in your selection.
• This will get you going to deal with dags, and give you time to think about the next stage. Go back and check out the breeding chapter again.

Disclaimer This material is provided in good faith for information purposes only, and the author does not accept any liability to any person for actions taken as a result of the information or advice (or the use of such information or advice) provided in these pages.

Drench resistant worms in sheep - breeding worm-resistant sheep

Sheep, farming, husbandry, disease, animal health, worms, internal parasites, breeding, breeding for resistance
By Dr Clive Dalton

Breeding - the only solution

Question: How come in the same flock, some sheep
are always clean and others always dirty?

Increasing numbers of farmers are starting to accept that breeding sheep, that are genetically resistant to internal parasites is the only way towards a sustainable future.

The precedent was set 30 years ago, when a pioneering group of breeders started to select sheep resistant to Facial Eczema (FE). It’s been enormously successful, and shows that if you have a clear aim, and you can keep the programme simple, it will bring results.

• Whatever are the rights or wrongs of past drenching practices, we have got to make an aggressive start to breed sheep resistant to worms. For some, this is now an urgent priority.
• It’s sobering to think that over the last 100 years in New Zealand when trouble arose, there was always a quick escape to grab what was needed through outcrossing to a new breed.
• For example we used Finnsheep to fix low fertility, different breeds provided scope to change wool types, and different meat breeds were used to meet market changes. New Zealand’s sheep history right up to the present shows how sheep importations and outcrosses were used as quick-fixes to change genetics.
• But when drench resistance really takes hold, where do we go? There is no readily-available outside genepool that is going to work this time. Countries like Australia, United Kingdom and South Africa have serious drench resistance too so it’s no good rushing there for solutions. They could be heading here for help.
  

Commercial sheep farmers have two clear options.

1. They can either buy in the genetics they need from the current industry’s stud breeders who have been selecting for host resistance, or
2. If these sheep are not available, they will have to breed their own. Those farmers with severe FE were forced to breed their own.
   

There’s no time to wait
Farmers in tough times cannot wait around for slow changes to take place in the stud industry. Predictions are that some farmers may only have 2-5 years left before most drenches will fail on their properties.

These implications are massive for the stud industry, and could cause as big a revolution in sheep breeding as Group Breeding Schemes did in the 1960s and 1970s. We could be heading for interesting times again with the ghosts of many old scientists rising from their graves to join in!

Genetic improvement works

• Enough work has been done already by AgResearch and a few top breeders to confirm that breeding host-resistant sheep works, while recognising that it takes a long time to get there - around 20 years to reduce FEC by 50%.
• Hopefully, genetic technology will speed this up in future (depending on cost which is never mentioned).
• If you delay making a decision and do nothing, expect problems, as remember resilience is weakly inherited (5-15%), whereas drench resistance in the worms has reasonably high heritability (23-25%).
• So if you do nothing the parasites will become drench resistant faster than you can improve resilience. But much more work needs to be done on the genetics of these traits as heritability estimates can jump around a lot and are not set in concrete.
• Clearly the aim is to improve host resistance to worms and not just resilience, but initially both of these will be happening at the same time and you won’t know how much of each.
• Don’t worry, as FEC/FCS will help identify animals that have developed host resistance in the long term.
  

Challenge to the stud industry

Stud breeders annual sale - how many can
offer you guaranteed dag-free and worm resistant genes?

• It would be nice if commercial farmers could simply ring up a SIL breeder and order all the rams they need to fix any approaching drench resistance crisis. (SIL stands for Sheep Improvement Ltd).
• Well they can’t, because at present not enough SIL breeders have rams available that have been tested. You can’t blame the SIL breeders as they have not been asked for them and demand creates supply.
• A big change is needed and fast but don’t hold your breath.
• So commercial farmers in trouble need to give serious consideration to starting a simple flock improvement programme including keeping their own rams.
  

A programme to think about

• I’ve set out below a breeding plan. You’ll have to decide if it’s an option for your farm and if you are prepared to accept the challenge!
• Don’t go into it half-heartedly as you’ll end up with a shambles and there will be plenty to say “I told you so”. It needs your full commitment.
• Key point: If you are a commercial farmer with a decent-sized flock and cannot buy the rams you want that are dag free and with proven host resistance to worms, then you cannot afford to wait around for stud breeders to respond to your needs. Get started!
  

Getting started

• It might be a good idea to take a few deep breaths before reading on –as there’s a fair chance you may get lost on the way through.
• Go through it slowly with your own flock in mind, and remember what the aims are in each part. Maybe don’t read all the parts in one go?
• Remember the overall aim – to breed sheep with a high natural (genetic) immunity to internal parasites. Keep remembering this if you get lost in the detail and lose track of what’s going on.
  

Two clear challenges

• The following breeding programme will bring results in commercial flocks of around 1000 – 1500 ewes.
• It probably would not be worth starting with fewer than 500 ewes because of the intense selection needed.
• But you may like to try it with a small flock and see how you get on. The challenge is twofold:

1. To keep the job simple and above all avoid getting bogged down in paper records.
2. To keep costs down to a bare minimum.
   

Genetic theory
The genetic theory behind the breeding plan is notnew. It was used by Thomas Bakewell in the 1700s to improve English Longhorn cattle and Leicester sheep, so it has been tested!
As students we were sick of hearing about him.

His painting showed a little fat man wearing a black hat, with a pigtail and fancy jacket sitting on a little fat pony.

I bet he never dreamed we’d still be using his simple principle of ‘breeding the best to the best’. The job is to sort out what is the best. So let’s start.

Four pathways
There are four ‘genetic pathways’ to flock improvement. Below is not the way these paths are usually listed, but this order is for a sheep flock starting at scanning in mid pregnancy. Here they are:

• PATHWAY 1: Selecting females to breed females
• PATHWAY 2: Selecting females to breed males
• PATHWAY 3: Selecting males to breed females
• PATHWAY 4: Selecting males to breed males
  

So start in mid pregnancy, but if this is not convenient, don’t worry – just dive in where you can. The key point is – make a start somewhere!

PATHWAY 1: Selecting females to breed females

Ewes in mid pregnancy

• Start by scanning the flock to identify (ID) the twin-bearers. Run them separately and feed them well.
• Do NOT drench any ewes in the flock from now on. Avoid any long-acting drenches like the plague!
• Lamb these twin-scanners separately and give them any extra care you can afford at lambing.
• Cull any that ‘pack up’ between scanning and lambing, that grow dags, or have any lambing or health problems. Be ruthless and if in doubt – throw it out!
• If you are ‘easy-care’ lambing – then don’t go near them.
• This is the start of the journey, as out of these twin-scanned ewes you’ll be continually selecting the very best for commercial traits that keep you in business.
  

At docking

• Do NOT drench any lambs on the farm at docking – and this means in the entire flock unless you have an animal welfare crisis.
• Do NOT drench any ewes on the farm at docking either.
• The twin-scanned ewes. Dock their lambs separately and mark all the ewe lambs (Use ear-markers to cut a bit out of the ear or punch a hole).
• Mark any twin-scanners for culling that are wet/dry or have any other problems that you don’t like. Be ruthless!
• If the twin-scanners go back with the main flock (or in case of escapes), identify them with a temporary mark that will last till weaning, or better still, give them a permanent ID with a small cheap plastic tag.
• This cost of this small tag (and not a big one) is justified at this stage and then your past work is protected.
  

At weaning

• Plan to keep many more ewe lamb replacements than normal, as you are going to put intense ‘selection pressure’ on them (i.e. cull heavily).
• As a target, plan to cull around 30% of these lambs – but this will depend on the final numbers you’ll need.
• Do not drench any ewe lambs wanted for replacements.
• The ewe lambs from the twin-scanners will have been earmarked at docking, and will be the core of your future replacements.
• Hopefully you’ll get all the replacements needed from the twin-scanners and will not need to go too deeply into the non-twin-scanners to make up numbers. But this will depend on twinning rate and the season.
• Any lambs for sale from the remainder of the flock can be drenched with a conventional combination drench if they look wormy, and if you think it will improve their sale prospects. If the bidding stalls at the sale tell the auctioneer that they’re ‘newly-drenched and they’ll shift well’!
• Before sale and after conventional drenching, run these sale lambs separately from the replacement ewe lambs. You don’t want any cross-contamination between worms.
• If you see tapeworms in any lambs, ignore them and do not drench unless you are sure they are doing harm. Use a drench specific to tapes.
  
• Be especially vigilant to mark for culling any ewes and lambs anywhere in the flock that have any physical defects.
• At this stage the lambs are starting to develop their natural immunity so there will be great variation in the number of daggy backsides you’ll see. Some may go through a daggy stage and then permanently dry up.
• So make your final decision in the autumn when they are hoggets (see below) and they have had more time to show early immune development.
• Pay special attention to the twin-scanned ewes at weaning and their replacement ewe lambs. Cull any that fail to meet your standards. Be ruthless, especially on dirty backsides.
• f you didn’t tag the twin-scanned ewes at docking, then make sure you give them a good permanent ID now. You cannot afford to lose them now as they are going to be the core of an ‘elite’ flock (see Pathway 2).
  

Ewe Hoggets

• When these weaned ewe lambs are hoggets, go through them every 2-3 weeks (a month is too long) and draft off the ‘tail-enders’ that have not measured up for culling.
• Pay special attention to those that have been frequently daggy and get rid of them.
• If you think they need it, give the tail-enders a conventional combination drench and finish them for sale. Again tell the auctioneer the good news about them having just been drenched!
• Before sale and after drenching, don’t mix them with the replacement ewe hoggets. The drench status will have to go on the ASD form if they are within the withholding period for the product.
  

Take a moment
Now take a moment and evaluate how far you have come from weaning, and guard against the urge to conventionally drench the hoggets. What the hoggets look like will be a early sign of any progress made towards resilience and/or host resistance.

• Satisfy your curiosity and boost your faith in the exercise so far, by doing a FEC from each of 10 different (fresh) heaps of dropping in the paddock. Remember to correct these for FCS.
• Discuss the results with your veterinarian provided that they are up with the play on recent developments, and that drench sales are not the main priority.
• Use a trigger level of 500 epg to see how things are going, and conclude that fewer than 500 is resistant and above 500 could be anything, resistant or resilient or a bit of both. You don’t want them.
• But remember to look at the animals in light of these trigger levels.
• Be strong and guard against the urge to drench these hoggets by the calendar or because the dogs need a run!
• Mid winter (May-June) is an ideal time to start putting even more selection pressure on these replacement hoggets. Cull heavily any that fail to meet your standards – and especially any with dirty backsides.
• Buy, borrow or share some scales and weigh the hoggets to decide a cut-off (cull) weight in the light of how many you need to go into the flock. Find the range by weighing a few of the smallest and a few of the biggest, and then decide a cut-off ‘target’ weight.
• Keep on being ruthless and cull any hoggets that are even slightly daggy, lame, or have any other physical defects you don’t want in the flock. Be ruthless.
• It would be a great idea to go through the hoggets with the faecal probe and identify those with FCS of 1 (marbles) and 2 (hand grenades) – or mark for culling any with clearly soft faeces (3,4 and 5) to get rid of any with genes for dags.
• Keep the drench gun locked away unless there is a worm blow-up (e.g. Barber’s pole) and animal welfare is compromised.
• After all the work you’ve put in so far, it’s time to put a reliable permanent tag in them showing individual number and year born. They are now your most valuable animals – and you had better believe it!
  

Hogget shearing

• In the past it would have been worthwhile weighing the wool and keeping those ewe hoggets with high fleece weights – but don’t bother unless you can do it easily and you think it will give an objective measure to reduce numbers further.
• Hoggets with high liveweight will also have the genes for high fleece weight (the genetic and phenotypic correlations between the two traits are highly positive).
• If wool was worth more in overall returns, then things may be different. However, if you breed fine wool then it would certainly be worth culling on hogget fleece weight.

Two-tooth ewes

• These ewe hoggets have now become two-tooths and should look a picture because remember their background and the intense selection pressure you have put on them so far.
• Also remember that so far, their individual FEC is not known. Apart from the odd sample to monitor progress, it’s not worth doing any more FEC. It doesn’t matter at this stage whether they are resilient or resistant or a bit of both.
• Keep on being ruthless and culling any that develop problems like footrot.
• If you want a confidence booster, do another FEC on 10 of them, just to see how their host resistance is building up.
• The next job is to plan their mating, so you’ll have to decide what kind of rams to buy and where are you going to get them from?
• These top two-tooths certainly deserve something special that can improve their genetics for host resistance to worms, and not just to get them pregnant. There are two things you can do:
  

Option 1.
You may already have a ram team on the farm purchased from SIL or other stud breeders in the past. Check their FEC/FCS making sure they have been drench-free for at least 2 months (preferably 3).

Option 2.
Check what rams are available for the current season from breeders using SIL.

1. Using your current ram team

• Your current ram team bought from SIL or other stud breeders in previous seasons will have been a considerable investment, and it would be well worthwhile to see what their worm resistance status is by doing a FEC on all of them. Make sure they have not been drenched for at least 2 months (preferably 3) before the FEC.
• Rank them on FEC/FCS and decide what trigger levels you can afford to accept. Whatever the FEC, don’t use any ram that has ever had a dirty backside or not thrived over winter.
• Aim for nil FEC or certainly not higher than 500 epg and with FCS of marbles or hand grenades.
• If you have high-Index rams that you paid a lot of money for, and they have higher-than-acceptable FEC, test them again before considering their future as culls.
• This exercise will be a very good investment as you could be either shocked to see what possible genetic worm resistance you had bought in, or you could be pleasantly surprised.
• It’s going to be vital information for when you talk to your ram breeder for next year, either to order more or cancel the lot! At least you have valuable factual information for your decision which may bring about some industry change. Pigs may fly before this!
• If you want to buy more rams from the stud breeder next season, then demand to see FEC/FCS from the rams on offer – making sure they were not drenched for at least 2 months before the test or never drenched at all. The response could be interesting!
  

2. Buying in rams from SIL breeders

• Contact your nearest consultant from Sheep Improvement Ltd (SIL) by phoning 0800-745-435, or Email .
• Find out which breeders are formally selecting for host resistance to worms and incorporating it with other productive traits into an overall Index.
• Make sure the breeders are doing this formally though SIL which will show in an official logo (WormFEC™) on their Ram Selection List.
• But be prepared for snags. Despite the SIL WormFEC protocol in the Breeders’ Manual (1994), some breeders have developed a few variations of their own, so for example, check how many of their total rams on the selection list are included in WormFEC data to go into their DPO index. Others may be using the SIL dag score too to add into the overall DPO index.
• The FCS is not accepted by SIL information. So for your own protection, it would be a good idea when you have your potential purchases sorted out to check them with the faecal probe for marbles or hand grenades, and avoid like the plague any with soft faeces (FCS or 3, 4 or 5).
• Note they should not have been drenched for at least two months before sampling – which may be an unrealistic request from a client.
• Because of the low numbers of ram suppliers doing this at present, expect to pay a premium for their rams.
• Make sure you use these rams to their maximum and certainly much more than accepted mating ratios.
  
• See blog on how to get the most from a Worm Resistant (WR) ram.
  

PATHWAY 2: Selecting females to breed males

• Your main task now is to search for dams of future rams (ram mothers), as these are going to be critical. They need a special status so call them your ‘elite’ ewes. They will be thrilled about this!
• You won’t have to look far to find them, as the ewes that started off as twin-scanners and have been ruthlessly culled right through to weaning their lambs, have got to be the core of the elite flock.
• Your ram supplier or agent won’t like this idea, especially when you say you have closed your flock and want to severely reduce or cancel your ram order for next season.
• You had better make sure you have some sound genetic and economic reasons to support your actions. Tell them what you are doing and especially why, and invite them to come and see your elite ewes. Use their reaction –positive or negative as motivation.
  

The elite flock

• Aim to end up with from 7-10% of your total ewe flock in an elite group. Be flexible though.
• Keep going back into these elite ewes and (depending on numbers needed) keep culling them hard for any physical defects and health problems (especially any that are daggy, had flystrike, are lame or have simply packed up). Keep searching for structurally sound robust ewes.
• Continue to be ruthless, and if you have any doubts about a sheep, cull it.
• YOU need to have great confidence in these sheep, as they’ll be great motivators for you and your staff as the programme proceeds.
• Expect to get cold feet from time to time over what you are doing – and you’ll doubtless have criticism from some quarters. Use any criticism as motivation to succeed.
• In your doubting moments, just go and walk through the elite ewes and see if you can fault them or if you have seen any better ones on the way home from town! This will restore your faith in the exercise.
• If you know of any skeptics, invite them out to the back of the farm to see the elite ewes as that’s where they’ll be. They won’t be grazing the hay paddocks by the road!
• If you need more ewes to boost elite flock numbers, select them from two-tooths that scanned twins, i.e. if you marked them and kept them separate. If not remember to do it next time.
• These elite twin-scanned two-tooths need to be screened for FEC. It will be worth spending money on taking individual samples and keeping the best sheep with low FEC corrected for FCS (below 500 epg).
• This would also ID any that had very high FEC for future culling.
• If you can’t afford the FECs, then at least use the faecal probe to cull any that don’t have a score of 1 (marbles) or 2 (hand grenades). If you have the numbers, only go for those with clearly-defined marbles.
  

Maintaining the elite flock
This is a vitally important part of the exercise. To maintain the elite flock, use the same simple rules that you used at the start of the programme.

To gain entry into the elite flock in the first place, or to regain entry at any subsequent lambing, then a sheep must have completed all of the following:

• Scanned twins.
• Not been wet/dry at docking.
• Survived all the culling on constitution, health and structural soundness – and not caused any extra work or cost you money!
• Have shown some clear evidence of being host-resistant to worms through good performance and low FEC.
• Never shown any sign of a dirty rear end and have consistently produced marbles or hand grenades.
  

Docking ram lambs from elite ewes

• Keep all the ram lambs entire from these elite ewes.
• Do NOT drench any of them.
• Permanently ID the ram lambs at docking by taking a bit out of the ear or punching a hole.
• Or put a small plastic tag in them if you have enough helpers.
  

Weaning ram lambs from elite ewes

• Do NOT drench any of these ram lambs at weaning.
• Treat them as for the ewe lambs (above).
  

Ram hoggets

• When these ram lambs are hoggets, manage them the same as for the ewe hoggets, except put a lot more selection pressure on them. A good starting target is to cull 80% and end up with 20% for the final selection.
• Every 2-3 weeks (a month is too long) after weaning, draft off any ‘tail-enders’ and if you think they need it, give them (the culls) a conventional combination drench and mark them for sale.
• They’ll make good money during the winter and remember the auctioneer will proudly tell buyers they’ve just been drenched and will shift well!
• OR before drenching - advertise them as ‘chemical-free’ lambs or see if your meat company is interested in them at a premium.
• Don’t mix the drenched culls with those kept as replacements.
• Be very strict on what you keep, and get rid of any that don’t meet your standards.
• In mid winter, do the same as for the ewe hoggets, weigh them and cull the tail-end on a target weight.
• Now give them a permanent ID (number and year born) with a reliable plastic tag if you didn’t do it at docking. They are very valuable stock.
• Keep culling any animals that fade and get daggy. Look for those animals consistently passing marbles and hand grenades. Be ruthless!
• Record their live weight twice. First in May (winter) and then in August (spring).
• As there will not be large numbers at this stage, it would be worthwhile recording fleece weight at hogget shearing (usually in October). Cull those with the lowest fleece weight and off-type wool.
• When they are weighed in May, do a FEC and correct it for FCS. Then repeat this at the August weighing.
• Use this information to start sorting out a top team. Make up a simple index by adding the two live weights to the fleece weight and put them in order from highest to lowest. Put the FEC corrected for FCS alongside each animal.
• Come down the list looking for individuals with the highest combined weights and Nil FEC. If you can’t achieve nil FEC then go for the next lowest figures.
• See what the numbers look like to meet your needs, aiming to end up with around 20% of the original group to proceed to the two-tooth stage.
  

Two-tooth rams

• When the ram hoggets are two-tooths, things are starting to get exciting and any doubts about the wisdom of starting this exercise should have long gone. They should look a picture!
  
• If they don’t then review what you have done and accept that the challenge may be bigger than you expected. Use this as motivation to do better next season.
• Keep studying the selection list developed above and if you still want to reduce numbers, you can always increase selection pressure by doing another FEC/FCS on the very top ones as a reassurance that they are host resistant.
• Or you could take another live weight.
• Keep culling on structural soundness as there is always a few last-minute cases of footrot or scald injuries. Or teeth going wonky!
• Select a first team to mate with your elite ewes to speed up generation turnover, and make sure they all had nil FEC and FCS of 1 (marbles).
• Keep a second team to mate to the flock ewes – again if possible with nil FEC corrected for FCS. Nil FEC or FCS of 1 has got to be the standard for all two-tooth rams eventually used.
• Graze them now and again in the hay paddock by the road so passers-by and your critics will see them! It will also help challenge the rams’ immunity and host resistance as these paddocks tend to be regularly overstocked and rich in larvae.
• Have an outrageous price ready for anyone brave enough to ask! This is no joke as what is the value of a ram that is very likely to be host resistant to internal parasites with a nil FEC will not grow dags and certainly has never had a drench?
• You may easily get some offers – perhaps from your critics or via your vet from clients who have stopped buying drench because they have ‘hit the wall’ over drench resistance.
  

PATHWAY 3: Selecting males to breed females

Using the two-tooth rams

• This genetic pathway is the ‘power stroke’ in flock improvement because a ram has greater genetic influence than any single female.
• These rams are worth big money and if in doubt, ask yourself where you could buy better ones with proven host resistance to worms and dag-free?
• They have been intensively selected on your farm, so there are no doubts about how their progeny will suit your farming system.
• Their mission is to sire as many future females as possible in the flock to spread their genetic potential for host resistance to worms and dags. They will be delighted to accept the challenge.
• If AI had been a commercial reality, then this would have been the way to use them. But a lot can be done using single-sire natural mating.
• Past experience has shown that in situations like this where genetic improvement is ‘urgent’, top rams can be joined for single–sire mating with 400 ewes for one cycle. You’ll be surprised how many lambs will result. But for more ‘normal’ use- join a ram with 100 ewes.
  

PATHWAY 4: Selecting males to breed males

• This is the final genetic pathway and comes as part of pathway 3.
• The male lambs produced by these top sires will go around the loop again described in Pathway 2.
• Inevitably the top sires of this generation will sire the top sires of the next generation, and breeders often get concerned about the build-up of inbreeding. With a large flock this is not a major problem in the early stages.
• When you become concerned, then one outcross to sheep from a breeder with similar objectives will restore enough genetic variation for you to continue making progress.
• Another method is to divide your main flock into small sub-flocks (on paper) and keep moving rams around these in a planned rotation each year.
  

Final points to ponder

• There is no need to panic! You cannot do any ‘genetic’ harm in your flock, because if you’ve been buying rams from progressive stud breeders in the past, you’ll have enough of their good genetics in your flock to stay where you are.
  
• You should in theory only be a couple of generations behind them.
• You certainly cannot go genetically backwards without some very serious negative selection which would be hard to do. Everything you have done so far is positive!
• With the basic selection programme as outlined, the chances are very high that you’ll go forward on to a new ‘genetic plateau’ – and keep going.
• You have used the four classical ‘genetic pathways’ for flock improvement – and you’ve shown that the dull theory (that has bored so many generations of students) does actually work in practice! Oh if they had only appreciated this when they slept through the lectures!
  

What to do if you hit a crisis?

• This could happen of course – an example would be an unexpected outbreak of Barber’s Pole (Haemonchus contortus) worms or some other species.
• Again don’t panic, as all you need do is use an appropriate conventional drench, and because your sheep have never been drenched and are either resilient and/or resistant, the drench will be highly effective.
• Such an outbreak should be a one-off event and will not compromise your breeding programme. But be vigilant as under the law you cannot compromise animal welfare.
  

Whew! Did you make it?

• Congratulations if you came through all that lot!
• You deserve a plasma-screened TV or an iPod!
• Remember what it was all about - to breed sheep with a high natural (genetic) immunity to internal parasites.
  

Disclaimer This material is provided in good faith for information purposes only, and the author does not accept any liability to any person for actions taken as a result of the information or advice (or the use of such information or advice) provided in these pages.

Animal behaviour and welfare: Cats Part 3

CAT BEHAVIOUR BASICS: PART 3

Cat-human relationships: Behaviour problems

By Dr Clive Dalton


Cat-human bond

• Strength of the bond depends on good early socialisation of the cat by a human.
• This is then transferable to a new human with time.
• A cat may be more bonded to the home and its smells rather than the person - hence the problem of cats going back to an old home. The cat needs time to readjust to new environmental smells so keep it shut in for at least a week.
• Cats will go for walks with owners and hunt. This is easier in rural areas.
• Owners soon learn to interpret certain calls and cat seems to know this.
• It is said that there is a stronger interaction between female humans than males with a cat.
• It is also said that there is stronger interaction between a cat and an adult than with children.
• These interactions are probably just based on food and who in the family feeds the cat regularly.
  

Cat's interaction with humans

• Head butting
• Rubbing cheeks on person
• Kneading or paddling with feet and claws
• Purring
• Snuggling under armpit
• Enjoying their noses and eyes covered by your cupped hand
• If there are a number of cats in the house they need vertical space for a good human/cat relationship and will time-share these areas to avoid conflict..
  

Cat Behaviour "Problems"
Like dogs- cats don't have problems, as they are behaving like cats.

It's the humans who have problems because they forget the domestic contract and the five freedoms, and expect their cats to adapt to what they want. This may not be possible or will take some time to achieve.

1. Poor human-cat bond

• A strong bond is very important to both human and cat partners.
• The bond is formed by good early socialisation and needs constant reinforcing.
• Death, divorce and moving house are the three greatest bond breakers.
• Surveys show that 50% of humans suffer stress on moving and 50% of cats must do also.
• Most upset is resolved in 1-2 weeks but some lasts for 3-4 months.
• Many people have unrealistic expectations of their cat and they have probably have the wrong species as a pet.
  

Possible cures/prevention

• Socialise all kittens before they are 2-6 weeks old.
• Keep reinforcing the bond by regular interaction with the cat.
• Rehome the cat with someone with skills to resocialise it, in a different environment.
  

2. Poor socialisation.

• "Nasty cats" (wild, unfriendly and unreliable) for whatever reason have probably not been properly socialised to humans.
• Always start here to work out a cat behaviour problem.
• What happens in the early weeks can have a lifelong effect.
• You can fix some problems later, but it will take you time and it will cost the client money.
• Some humans are better at taming wild cats than others showing a greater empathy and skill.

Possible cures/prevention

• Socialise all kittens before they are 2-6 weeks old.
• Keep reinforcing the bond by regular interaction with the cat.
• Rehome the cat with someone with skills to resocialise it, in a different environment.

3. Infanticide

• This is seen in lions when new males oust old ones and they kill all the cubs to bring females on heat quickly and remove all previous males' genetics at the same time.
• It is known to happen in domestic cats and feral cats where Toms will kill young kittens on their rounds if not protected by the mother or owner.
• Preventing this is a good reason for desexing non-breeding males, and trapping and euthanasing all stray Toms.
  

Possible cures/prevention

• Desex all males not needed for breeding.
• Try to trap and euthanase all stray and feral Toms.
  

4. Spraying

• Cats spray to mark their territory, their home range and any new area.
• Once they feel safe, they don't spray.
• They are very sensitive to a "general safe smell" of their environment.
• It's when their lair is under threat that they may start again.
• It happens in both sexed or desexed cats.
  

Possible reasons?

• New adult cat or kitten in the house.
• Change of status in group.
• Visiting Tom cats staking out territory (doormats and car wheels).
• New baby in the house.
• Neighbours have got new cats.
• Bereavement in the house - cat's neglected.
• Redecorate and new smells.
• Plastic bags from outside with alien smells brought indoors.
• Doormat with new footwear smells.
• Installation of cat door - outside becomes inside.
• Visitors car (with open windows).
• Protest spraying - to inform owner cat is unhappy.
• Genetics - oriental breeds.
  

Possible cures/prevention

• Find the cause of the anxiety - try to remove it.
• Something needs to change - and you need to find out.
  
• Don't punish the cat - or don't be caught doing it.(Try a water pistol).
• Confine cat to safe home area - and slowly expand it.
• Feed it near where it sprays.
• If "protest spray" - rebuild the bond with the cat.
• Drugs from vet
• Rehome the cat with someone in a different environment.

5. Defaecating

• Cats normally bury their faeces. When they don't it's generally deliberate and is called "maddening".
• It's another way for cats to mark territory.
• It happens when cats are in panic mode - e.g. if locked in the house or may do it on the bed when owners are on holiday.
• Kittens that have been poorly trained by the mother in the nest may develop the habit.
• Punishment is not very effective and it must be instantaneous and from afar, so the cat doesn't associate it with you.
  

Possible cures/prevention

• Find the cause of the problem and remove it.
• Never rub the cat's nose in the mess. It achieves nothing.
• Build up animal's self esteem.
• Go back to principles of toilet training.
• Feed the cat where it has defaecated
• Rehome the cat with someone in a different environment.

6. Toilet training

• Kittens are taught by their mothers not to soil their den, so use this principle.
• Take the kitten outside on to soil or litter after feeding to encourage elimination.
• Put newspaper down where you feed the kitten and gradually extend this "feeding territory" so it will not eliminate there.
• Shut off areas where it has started soiling and confine it to approved areas.
• Feed the cat where it has eliminated.
• Never rub its nose in the mess.
• Scratching furniture.
• This is partly claw care and has a trimming action.
• It's also scent marking from glands in paws.
• Used to mark territory.
• Done as a dominance gesture, often in presence of other cats.
• Cats get cunning and will do it on the beds to avoid reprimand.
  

Possible cures/prevention

• Always be on the watch - think like a cat.
• Keep cats out when you are out.
• Provide a scratching post in house.
• Put it in front of the damaged object.
• Use a reprimand. It must be instant and from a distance (eg water pistol).
• Hitting the cat won't work - don't try it.
  
• Some smell deterrents may work.
  

7. Attacking other cats

• Can vary from the occasional scrap between cats in a household, to serious attacks on all cats on sight - indoors or outdoors.
• This is a natural way to sort out hierarchy and territory.
• May be caused by poor social contact between cats when young
  

Possible cures/prevention

• Keep aggressive cats inside at night.(This will also benefit wildlife).
• Reintroduce new cats into group gradually in protected cage.
• Distraction - bring new cats together at feeding time.
• Neuter all Toms.
• Your vet may recommend hormone treatment for the aggressor.
• Euthanasia could be a final option in New Zealand, but take veterinary advice on this. You may be legally liable for any damage your cat causes.
• Rehome the cat with someone with cat skills, in a different environment.

9. Attacking people

• This is a nasty habit and can be scary and dangerous for the uwary (visitors and kids).
  
• This is usually "play aggression" that gets out of hand.
• "Defensive aggression" is caused by poor socialisation.
• It may be encouraged by some family members and then others suffer.
• It may be "fear aggression" so ignore the cat and allow it escape routes.
  

Possible cures/prevention

• Know the cat's likes and dislikes - and warn guests.
• Provide toys and encourage the cat to play with them.
• Provide another cat or kitten for it to play with.
• Ignore the cat and don't play with it. Tell others of the plan.
• Experiment with changing diets.
• Don't provide catnip.
• Rehome the cat with someone with cat skills, in a different environment.
• Euthanasia may be considered necessary in New Zealand, as you are legally liable for damage. But talk to your veterinarian first.
  

10. Petting and biting syndrome

• It's where the cat allows so many strokes then gives a controlled bite or nip.
• Three strokes then a bite are typical, or not allowing certain body parts to be touched.
• It is often tolerated by the owner so is not cured.
• May get worse with age - could be physical problems.
• Certain parts of the body are more sensitive than others - the back end.
• It often happens in older cats and gets worse with age.
• Some cats will tolerate adults but not children stroking them.
• Can't do much. Leave the cat alone and warn others, especially children.
  

Possible cures/prevention

• Recognise the habit and avoid triggering it.
• Warn guests or remove cat when they arrive.
• But it may make the cat more cunning when biting.
• Talk to vet about drugs.
• Rehome the cat with someone with cat skills, in a different environment.

11.Over-grooming and self mutilation

• Cats regularly groom their flanks or backs when they are confused, or when upset after a threat.
• It seems a displacement behaviour resulting from anxiety or stress.
• It can get out of hand and is difficult to stop.
  

Possible cures/prevention

• Check for any problems of the skin.
• Protect the affected skin area - cat will probably shift attention to another.
• Check for diet allergies.
• Find the cause of the distress and remove it.
• Provide toys for stimulation.
• Reduce the number of cats in the house.
• Don't punish the cat for other offences - fix those problems first.
• Treat with drugs for anxiety.
• There may be no cure if it becomes serious, but take veterinary advice before considering euthanasia.
• Rehome the cat with someone with cat skills, in a different environment.

12. Hair ball

• This is a problem of long-haired breeds that are not regularly groomed.
• This is a very common feature of cats.
• It's not a problem until they come into the house from the garden to be sick.
• Thought to be a means of assisting digestion.
  

Possible cures/prevention

• Make sure grooming is adequate and the animal is kept clean.

13.Pica

• This is the eating or sucking of a wide range of non-nutritional items and can cause health problems.
• Sucking and kneading wool items is most common.
• It's thought to be need for dietary fibre, a depraved maternal behaviour snuggling up to dam's belly or natural trait of prey catching/eating.
• It often occurs in cats weaned too young.
• Severe stress can trigger it.
• Poor early socialisation is a likely cause.
• Some breeds are worse than others, eg Siamese.
  

Possible cures/prevention

• Provide toys to increase stimulation.
• Check diet for fibre.
• Try aversion tactics - water pistol, or noise.
• Provide favourite fabrics to save others.
• Rehome the cat with someone with cat skills, in a different environment.

14. Eating plants

• Thought to be a nutritional deficiency.
• The cat often knocks the plant over and breaks the pot in the process, adding to the problem.
  

Possible cures/prevention

• Remove the problem materials from cat's environment.
• Try different diets
• Rehome the cat with someone with cat skills, in a different environment.

15. Thieving

• Cats have an inquisitive nature so this habit can be a self gratifying experience.
• It can be part of pica syndrome - stealing favourite items to eat.
• It's part of the behaviour of bringing kill back to the den for the tribe.
  

Possible cures/prevention

• There is little point in chasing it to get it back - you add to the fun.
• Try to remove the opportunity for the cat to steal things.
• Completely ignore it when it brings items home
• Rehome the cat with someone with cat skills, in a different environment.

Cats in modern society - the 5th freedom

• Changes are coming in man's relationship with the domestic cat in New Zealand.
• We have a love/hate relationship with cats as we do with dogs, but cats are inherent hunters and it's now being realised the effect their hunting as on our endangered native wildlife - as it has done in Australia.
• The average age of a cat in modern society is 3.5 years. Euthanasia is the main cause of death. Thousands of kittens are euthanased each year.
• Just about every family in NZ has a pet dog or cat and many have both. Cats are more popular than dogs and are easier to get and dispose of (legally or illegally).
• Hundreds of thousands of cats are euthanased each year and Christmas is the peak time for this being the peak kitten season.
• The SPCA struggle to get the message across about desexing and "pets are not just for Christmas".
• There are now plenty of data now to show how much wildlife the average domestic "moggy" cleans up in a year. It is in the region of 20 birds/year.
• DOC in New Zealand are having a big campaign against the cat.
• Some people are very upset about this, blaming owners for irresponsible cat care.
• There is no welfare code for cats but this will be done sometime.
• Australia has brought in rules against cats in some areas where they must now be confined.
  
• "Keep your cat inside at night" will have to be the catch cry for future.
• New Zealand will have to face this in future as public concern and sympathy changes towards our native fauna - the impact of TV is massive. There are changes ahead for the Kiwi moggy with cat-free areas being accepted.
• Desexing feral cats releasing them back into the environment is a crazy idea.