BLOAT IN CATTLE

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31110, 13 July 1966, Page 10

BLOAT IN CATTLE

£lm Loss To Dairying

Bloat, which caused losses worth up to £1 million a year to the New Zealand dairy industry, was still a problem, and although a lot was known about it there was still a long way to go, Dr. A. T. Johns, Deputy Director-General of Agriculture, said in an address to the Canterbury branch of the New Zealand Institute of Chemistry. Dr. Johns is president of the institute and a graduate of Canterbury University College. He was formerly Director of the Plant Chemistry Division of the D.S.I.R. Dr. Johns outlined work done at Palmerston North in an attempt to find the chemical compound or compounds responsible for bloat in cattle, which at best, causes a loss in production' and at the worst, death. The problem had been worked on for 12 years and there was still a long way to go, but thinking on the problem was much clearer, said Dr. Johns. It seemed that a difference in susceptibility to bloat in cows was inherited and a chemical substance in plant material which caused foaming in the cow’s stomach might have been isolated. Prevention was easier than cure, said Dr. Johns, and for a few pence a cow, a fat or oil such as paraffin sprayed on a pasture could give 24hour protection. On an Australian farm where 51 cows had been lost through bloat in four years, causing a production loss of £2OOO, spraying had been done for an initial outlay of £62 for equipment and £3B annually, with no losses.