MAMMITIS CONTROL

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 3, Issue 667, 20 October 1933, Page 7

MAMMITIS CONTROL

AGRICULTURAL DEPARTMENT ADVANCES USEFUL SCHEME. PREVENTING SPREAD. With mammitis represenfting a cause of fairly heavy annual loss t0 the dairyfarmers of the Dominion, the mei-its of the mammitis control seheme, under the supervision of the Live Stock Division of the Deparltment of Agriculture, should be commended to every progreSsive dairyfarmer who wiis'hss to prevent the spread of this scpurge in his herd. So far there is lonly one farmer in this part of the district w'ho has entered into the seheme, and he expressed himisilf laia very satisfied. It is Ito be hoped" that greater use will be made of this metbod of ch'ecking aniaanmitis. When discussing this metihod of mammitis control, Mr. E. E. Elphick, Government veterinarian, who' is in charge of this branch' of the departrnents' activities, staltied that the seheme. did not starnp out mammitis in a dairy herd, but it enabled the diseaso or condition to be checked. Only one farmer in Hawke's Bay had so far taken advantage of this metbod of disease control, and it had, be undersitood, relieved this farmer of a considerable amiount of responsibility. The seheme, Mr. Elphick continued, was available to any farmer who wished to .take advantaige of it, and lentailed little extra iaboux to' the individual farmer. Brdefly, the farmer supplied a list of the narnes and numbers of every cow in his herd, and purchased a sufficient number of loz round ibotties. About once every nionth the farmjer collects a sample of milk from every cow in the herd, the milk sample from the individual cow being put in separate bottles, a small amount of formalin being added as a preservative. ' The bottles are then forwarded t0 the Wallaceville Veterinaiy LaboraItiory, where the samiples are tested for leucocytes and simiiar organisms resulting from cellular decomposition set up by mammitis and udder infiammation. After examination, the samples are classed into thrce grades — A, B, and C. The cows which are produeing the A grade milk are those frse from infection; the B grade cows are those showing signs of slight udder trou- _ ble, while the C grade cows are tbhose showing distinct indications of mammitis. The farmer then receives a list of his cows, classed into the three grades. The A grade cows are midked first, the B grade cows next, and finally the C grade cows. This prsvents the spread of matnmitis and udder trouhle, as the affecited cows, being milked last, are not in a position to pass on infection to clean cows, via ihe milking machine or milker. The next time the cows are sampkd and the milk tested, the individual cows may be anoved up or down, a grade, depending upon whether the condition geits worse or improvcs. Thus an A grade cow may go down to the B or C grade, while a B or C grade cow" may improve its position. Any changes in grading" necessitate the cows affeoted being milked wilh the other memhers of the same grade. Thus an A grade cow moved to the B. grade will be milked with the B grade cows. Mr. Elphick emphasised the importance of clealiness in the milking shed if the best results were to' be obtained from this system of mammitis control. If shed hygiene wtas unsatisfactory, then it was adding to the difficulties of control, besides putting to naught any efforts that were being: anade. Cleanliness of the yards and machines and on the' part of the milkers was a very necessary fiactor.