Ready to walk off his sheep farm in despair
Brown Trotter was a successful South Island sheep and cattle farmer who loved farming. He farmed for 52 years between 1932 and 1984 in the Fairlie district. Yet early in his farming career, in 1945 after topdressing with superphosphate and lime for 13 years, he was ready to walk off his sheep farm in despair.
This was due to his never ending stock health problems, which were crippling him financially. Even though his pasture growth was lush, he had major problems with slow fattening of lambs, chronic scouring, lamb deaths, parasites and worms. He writes of this period "the drenching gun and injection needle were the main implements on my property."
In desperation he experimented with trace minerals
Eventually in desperation he began to study and to experiment with trace minerals. He thought, "What else could it be?" First he tried varying ratios of copper and iron, which he supplied to his stock in drenches, licks, or by top dressing. He went on experimenting until he got the balance right.
He also cut down his bulk fertiliser use enormously, saving a great deal of money. Then he began to add zinc, iodine and selenium to his drenches or licks. All of this was against what the Department of Agriculture (nowadays MAF) was advising.
Results were startling
However Brown Trotter's instincts proved right. Results were startling. He writes, "Lambs drenched with my drench showed a weight gain of 7 lbs, while my undrenched lambs lost 2.5 lbs."
Gradually his stock health problems disappeared and his animals became exceptionally healthy. Annual death rates plummeted to 1%. He writes, "Results were exceptional and spectacular on all blocks. The lambing percentage has been the highest ever. Selenium is one of the biggest factors."
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