DISEASE IN STOCK.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1183, 19 July 1911, Page 10

DISEASE IN STOCK.

JIE, TvEAKES ADVISES FARMERS, "PREVENTION BETTER THAN CURE." . At New Plymouth, before members of the Agricultural Society and other farmers, Mr. C. J. Reakes (head of the livo 6tock nnd meat division of tho Department.of Agriculture) delivered nn.address on the prevention of diseases in stock. Building Up Condition. Mr.' Iteakes said that the prevention of disease was, to his mind, tho most important thing of all, far better than'curing' animals that havo got sick. A great point was to build up tho constitution; the stronger and healthier an animal tho better able it was to withstand disease. The. constitution should be built up whilst animals were young. In constitution of cattle and pigs the groat, need was for an improvement in the feeding of tho young stock, 110 often felt like giving some 01 tho Taranaki farmers a taste of tho cruelty they meted out to their young 6tock, although, of course, thero had teen a great improvement in recent years. Skim milk or whey was n poor food unless pasteurised to enable the stock to get the most out of it, but a good calf food should also be used. It was necessary to feed the animals cleanly—a neglected feature on tho farm. Troughs were very seldom cleaned, and tho sour feed fouled tho next food poured in, causing the calves to scour, to havo indigestion, to get "potbellied," and so on. Those calves were to bo tho daily cows of tho future, nnd if they were neglected when young what sort of cows would they ha and what sort would they produce? If all calves had been properly fed there would be henlthier stock and better milkers. Proper feeding of the pigs would havo brought the pigs to profit earlier, nnd made better pork. Pics v;ore even more neglected than calvcs. Pigs were not dirty, as somo poople believed, and were moro comfortable when decently housed. Cleanliness in pig-raising would greatly improve tho industry and tho farmers' profits. Contagious Mammitis.

Coming to specific diseases, lie said some 'of the more trouhlesomo diseases could l>e prevented, if. proper care were taken. Contagious inanimitis was difficult to deal with, because there was no satisfactory method of dealing with it, and this gavo nil the more cause for endeavouring to prevent its appearance. Contagious manimitis ill its early stages might be overlooked, ■and i in that state bo conveyed to other cows in tho herd. A suspected cow should bo'isolated, milked by hand, and milked last. To test a mild case, tho ■ symptoms being a little thickening of the teat or a little lump at the top of it, or a .hardening of the quarter, the suspected garter should lie milked into a glass, and if mammitis wero present there would bo a brown flaky deposit. 110 didn't consider farmers were careful enough when buyiag cows in the yard, paying too little attention to the udder, which should be handled if possible and not judged on tfippearaneo. Each milker'should mako a point of passing the hand over the udder to ascertain its' soundness ,and this was particularly necessary, in machiiie-railk-ing, for there, the observation of tho udder was not ordinarily as closo a3 in the case of hand-milking: Having discovered an alTected cow she should bo isolated, milked last, and by hand..

Contagious Abortion. Fortunately, said Mr. Eeakcs, contagious abortion was littlo known hero now, though it had been common enough a few years .ago. The improvement was due to tho efforts of the farmers themselves, prompted by the advico of his predecessor, Mr. ,T. 'A. Gilruth.'' Tho inspector,. Mr. Jlunro, had told him there was no. contagions abortion in Trirannki now. But every , care must be taken. A cow which aborted from natural causes might be capablo of causing abortion in other cows, and she should be treated just as a cow would be which was known to be suffering from contagious, abortion. Where possible, a fire should be- lighted over tho aborted calf, so as to destroy not ouly tho foetus but also all causes of infection. It had been discovered that cows became infected through,.tho mouth, and great care should be taiajr. to prevent tlio fouling of pastures by aborting cows. Where a fire was impracticable, . the ground should bo saturated with strong non-poisonous sheep dip, and then turned over. ■ Tuberculosis. On tho _ subject of tuberculosis, Mr. Reakes said that if every farmer took proper precautions there would bo very much loss of this disease, which could not be got under control in a week or so. The disease was increasing, though not so rapidly last year as previously. This was to bo expected in a newly-settled country, where stock had been first imported so recently, and where cattle was so closc- ] .ly stocked. Tuberculosis would havo .been worso but for tha policy of sutlervision and weeding out of poor cows from the herds. But that was not enough. There wore mors cattlo year by year, and some further steps wero necessary to get the diseaso under, or elso it would get the farmers under in time. One step necessary was to sterilise skim mill: and whey. It was of no use to kill out old cows and to keep on bringing up a race of tubercular calves. Experiments in complete pasteurisation had proved its value. At Glen Oroua some hundreds of pigs had been treated. Very few of those fed entirely on pasteurised milk were found to lie infeoted. Other pigs fed only part timo on tho pasteurised ,milk showed a higher pcrcentago of . tuberculosis The percentage v.-ns very much heavier in pigs fed wholly on unpastouriscd skim milk. He also mentioned the case of a district, not in New Zealand, whore pasteurisation had checked tho disease; the cessation of this treatment gavo it. -another footing, and tho resumption of pasteurisation brought about a healthy state of affairs ag-iin, The droppings from diseased cows and pigs were capable of transmitting tuberculosis to healthy .pigs. Ho had proved that the paddock' contamination was no theory, but an actual fact, and that the infection was possible, for months after tho actual contamination. He advised farmers to keep pigs out of tho cow paddocks. Ho was satisfied that pasteurisation of skim milk was going to bo a big factor in eliminating this disease. Other Trouble:. Mr. TCcakc-s said that scour in calves was duo to ill-feeding, nud-' to worms in tho stomach. These worms wero very small and difficult to detect in a post-mor-tem examination. He explained how to detect them. Calves so alTected fouled the paddock, and other young stock following would be affected too. The calves should in snch cases bo put into tiio driest possible paddock, for tho wetter the ground the longer tho eggs of tho worms retained their vitality. Pleurisy in pigs "as, ho stated, brought on as a result of bad management, due to the pigs being kept under dirty conditions, in mud and filth, and provided with poor slopping accommodation. Homo of t.he pigsties wero fit only for saturating with kerosone and burning; they wero so saturated with filth that they would not burn without the kerosene. Farmers ought to know how much hotter it would , bo for tliem and for tho pigs if thev wero decently housed. The disease left nn unmistakable adhesion of the lung to the ribs, and this often caused the carcass-to bo condemned.

The Chief Veterinarian states that although W.icldeg in Taranaki is under control, the inoculation of calves must bo continued.