DISEASED STOCK.

Franklin Times, Volume 9, Issue 781, 3 November 1922, Page 6

DISEASED STOCK.

THE. ONLY PRACTICABLE REMEDY. ESTABLISHMENT OF VETERINARY CLUB. In all districts where thq major portion of the community is following farming' pursuits there is a certain amount of disease amongst live stock', In swamp lands the amount of disease amongst stock is, of course, much greater than upon improved holdings, this being due to the fact that in swamp areas are bred a great many of the germs which cause disease. However, even on the best of improved lands disease is to be found,, and as the country becomes more and more closely settled and is brought into a higher state of cultivation the amount of .disease in a given area usually increases. (This statement is easily explained by the fact that. as the farms become more productive, so do farmers increase the number of their stock The amount of disease consequent upon increase m the quantity of stock would therefore increase, and farmers must see to it that it is the quality of their stock and not the amount of disease that increases. The only practicable manner in which the amount of disease amongst stock can be very materially lessened is by the farmers in each district having veterinary aid continually available, andi the only means of obtaining continual veterinary assistance (for fanners at a reasonable cost is by the establishment of veterinary clubs. Proposals to establish such clubs have not, we believe, been received with much favour In those districts where a veterinary surgeon is residing and. practising, the farmers consented having the idea that there is a “vet” there for those who want one, and that those who .do not require one can do without This attitude may suit those farmers* but it is not in any way mateiially lessening the amount of. disease in the districts and incidentally it is not an; evidence of that feeling of co-operation which farmers in alii parts of this Dominion claim to have. Other farmers will offer the excuse that they have a veterinarian already resident in the district in which they, (the far. '-si.de, and that* any movement with the object of establishing a club would perhaps cause such r to depart and find a new sphere of activities. The query as to what should be done then, would not ,require much answering, as one only needs to point out that any qualified vet. who had a good practice would not give it up without. a good’ fight, It must be admitted, and remembered, that many men who are at present practising as veterinarians are not in any way qualified, and some are not at all fitted for the job. In districts where a qualified vet. is already practising, could he not be induced to enter into the spirit of the movement, and urged! to apply for the position of veterinarian to the club? With the money shortage that at present exists all over this country these professional men -who are attending the hard-hit “cookie” must be finding it a little difficult to carriy on, and where such is the case it is certain that the, farmer who does pay will have to make amends for the one who does not pay up Times ut of number farmers have urged the Government' and the dairy companies to provide them with veterinary assistance, but nothing has been done. The Agricultural Department on two occasions, a few short months ago, wrote to a branch, of the N.Z Farmers’ Union in this province, staffing in answer to their request that no qualified veterinarians were availabiei, and, less than one month afterwards there were more than twenty applications . m answer to an advertisement calling for a chief veterinarian for the Hauraki Plains Veterinary Club. The fanners have no assistance, and it is therefore up to them, especially in view of the present hard .times, to help themselves. Veterinary assistance must be always available before intensive dairy farming can be successfully carried on.—Te Aroha News,