A Look at Recommendations for the Control of Infertility Due to Clover Disease in Sheep

Bennetts, Underwood and Shier (1946a) published the first detailed scientific report of an infertility syndrome affecting ewes grazing subterranean clover pastures which they thought to contain ".... an oestrogen or an oestrogen precursor ...". The infertility was expressed as a failure to conceive and was accompanied by varying degrees of dystocia, uterine prolapse and lactation in maiden ewes. The syndrome, which included abnormalities of the urino-genital tract and lactation in wethers, subsequently became known as "clover disease" (Shier & Rossiter 1949). Several reviews of the scientific literature are available (Moule 1961; Moule, Braden & Lammond 1963; Morley 1966; Bickoff 1968; Braden & McDonald 1970; Francis; Gladstones & Stern 1970; Lindsay & Kelly 1970; Rossiter 1970; Braden & Cox 1974) and so this is not attempted here. This paper presents the recommendations that can be made to flock owners troubled by the disease and examines the basis of such recommendations.