BOVINE T.B.

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 11, Issue 7, 19 March 1947, Page 7

BOVINE T.B.

DETAILS OF VICTORIAN ■ SCHEME HIGH PERCENTAGE IN BRITAIN Victoria has a scheme for eradication of T.B. under which 108,000 cattle in 2800 herds are now being tested regularly. The number has increased from 85,000 cows in the previous season. The percentage of re-actors then was 1.4 over all; in cows not previously tested it was still only 2.5 per cent. It would seem from this that Victorian dairy cattle are remarkably free from T.B. A point made in the Australian report was that in America, Denmark and Sweden it \yas considered that one of the major causes of infection of healthy herds with bovine tuberculosis was feeding of calves with raw milk or other dairy products from infected cows. In all of these countries legislation has been provided which made it compulsory for all milk or whey returned from creameries for feeding stock to be heat treated. There is a similar provision in Victoria under the Stock Diseases Act, gazetted in 1941, providing that skim milk must be heated to 180 degrees and whey to 160 degrees. When visiting Victoria Lord Bledisloe spoke of the health of Britain’s cattle; there.was a large percentage of disease, especially T.B. and contagious ’ abortion. No less than 40 per cent, of England’s cattle reacted to the T.B. test. Steps had been taken by the Royal Agricultural Society of Britain to assist in stamping out the disease by not allowing any T.B. cattle to enter a adopt that same policy.