DAIRY CATTLE DISEASES

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 412, 21 July 1928, Page 25

DAIRY CATTLE DISEASES

OFFICIAL RESEARCH WORK BY DEPARTMENT Extended activities of the Department of Agriculture in connection with diseases of dairy cows have been announced by the Hon. O. J. Hawken in the following statement: ‘‘During the last three years the veterinary staff of the Department of Agriculture has been engaged in special investigation work into certain diseases of dairy cows which are causing serious loss to dairy-farmers through decreased returns from their herds. These troubles —contagious abortion, failure to hold to the bull, mammitis, and vaginitis—are all associated with the reproductive and milk-yielding organs; and while more or less intensive methods of dairyfarming naturally predispose cows to troubles of this kind, it has been realised that every effort must be made to assist farmers to overcome them to the fullest extent possible. The work already done by the investigators here has brought out some valuable information bearing directly upon the problems which have been faced; but effective and reliable methods of preventive and curative treatment, especially methods capable of application by the dairy-farmers without too much expenditure of time, money, and labour, have yet to be discovered. “During his recent trip abroad, Dr. Reakes, Director-General of the Department, devoted a great deal of his time to inquiries into what was known and what research work was being done in regard to this group of diseases. He found them to be more or less troublesome in all the countries he visited, and made a special point of discussing the subject with the most eminent authorities in Great Britain, the Continent of Europe, and South Africa. A great deal of information bearing on the question was obtained, but it is evident that the knowledge necessary to effectively cope with these troubles is not yet available. “On Dr. Reakes’s recommendation it has therefore been decided to further extend our investigation work in the Dominion, and to set aside two skilled veterinary officers —Mr. C. V. Dayus (now stationed at Hamilton) and Mr. W. M. Webster (now at Masterton) to devote the whole of their time to special field investigations in connection with this group of diseases, in direct conjunction with Mr. C. S. M. Hopkirk, officer in charge, and Mr. D. A. Gill, assistant officer in charge, of the Wallaceville Veterinary Laboratory. While these officers will specialise in the investigation, it will be supplemented by the general assistance of all the field veterinary and stock inspection staff of the department. All the four officers mentioned have for the last three years been concentrating as much as possible upon the work in question, and thus already have a special knowledge of it; hence it is hoped that the more systematic and wider research now being initiated may bring about more knowledge of these difficult troubles, and enable better methods of preventive and curative treatment to be found. The information obtained by Dr. Reakes regarding methods being used in investigation work in other countries, especially in Denmark and South Africa, will be utilised to the fullest extent, and every advantage will be taken of the personal relations he established with scientists overseas who are working at the same problems for the interchange of views upon the progress of the work.”

SULPHUR FOR WORMS

EXPERIMENTS IN FRANCE Experiments have lately been conducted in France with anhydrous sulphur as a means of clearing sheep of stomach worms. It Is claimed that the treatment proved successful. The proportion used was 20oz. of sulphur anhydride to 40 gallons of water. The mixture was prepared in a barrel, and from thence dipped into an ordinary watering trough. Lambs were used in the test, and at first it was found that owing to the odour and acidity of the solution they would not drink. As, however, they had no other water they soon returned to the trough and drank freely. After four days’ treatment autopsies held on previously infected lambs showed that practically all the parasites had been destroyed. From references appearing in American veterinary papers, it appears that tests have been made in U.S.A. with carbon tetrachloride for the destruction of stomach worms. That chemical has been successfully used in Australia and elsewhere for clearing sheep of liver flukes, but so far as we know not for stomach parasites. In the American experiments a 2 c.c. dose caused a slight mortality among sheep that were on a fully dry ration, comprising grain, etc. On the other hand, sheep at pasture, and not receiving artificial feed, were given doses up to 15 c.c. without ill effect.