17

The strangles cases were isolated at the "stables buildings," about 3/4 of
a mile distant from the home farm. Tracheotomy tubes had to be inserted
in several cases and the outbreak involved the performance of a minor oper-
ation of some sort almost daily between the dates mentioned above.

During the year six veterinary assistants on the Punjab cadre were
attached for periods of three months each to the farm for training in the
handling, casting and preparation of stock for operations, methods of segre-
gation against contagious disease, etc.

In view of the fact that there are only two veterinary assistants attach-
ed to the farm, and that most of the time of one of them is taken up by the
supervision of healthy mules and donkeys in the paddocks, I think the work
done by them has been highly creditable.

Workshop and Machinery.—The only important additions to the machi-
nery was a new Ohio chaff and silo cutter. It arrived slightly damaged in
transit from Karachi in October. The cutting knives are about one inch shorter
than in the old machine, but it is capable of cutting quite as much fodder per
hour. It has proved of the utmost utility; many thousands of maunds of fodder
stalks have been cut up by it and fed to cattle, which would otherwise have
been wasted.

Wear and tear on carts, cart wheels, etc, during the year has been very
great owing to the extra carting and to the extra bad state of the roads, both due
to the prolonged drought. Ordinary country cart wheels in this district have
now become very expensive, and the experiment of making up wheels on iron
naves of the army transport pattern has been tried. I think so long as the
spokes are made up of well seasoned wood and the wheels are well tyred, that
they will be much more economical than ordinary wheels.

In conclusion, I should like to point out that the extra stall feeding, en-
tailed by the failure of the rains, involves the whole of the outdoor staff of the
farm in a great deal of extra supervision, and special credit is due to Captain
Morris, the farm overseer, for hard work throughout the year.

The work of the clerical staff has been satisfactory.

                        14 AG—380-30-7-14—SGPP Lahore