Losses of Stock Cause Much Waste Prevention Sought

Taranaki Daily News, 30 September 1940, Page 15 (Supplement)

Losses of Stock Cause Much Waste Prevention Sought

Farmers in Taranaki have demonstrated their willingness to work harder in order to increase production of commodities required urgently in Great Britain. The scientist and the expert are showing how this increase can be aided further by the elimination of waste.. _ As most people connected with the dairy industry are aware, the depreciation in dairy herds caused by disease^ is one of the principal wastages in the industry. T-.vo of the chief causes of loss are mastitis and contagious abortion or sterility. The Department of Agriculture is striving to reduce the incidence and the effect of these disorders. At the Wallaceville Research Station, near Wellington, the study of the causes of mastitis is continuous and exhaustive. The officer engaged in the work, Mr. T. Palmer- Jones, is approaching the problem from various angles. Particular inquiry is being directed to the milking machine. The effects upon the cow of the vacuum pressure, of the air flow and of the efficiency of the relief valves are some of the matters being studied. The department maintains a small herd of dairy cows for experimental work and is prepared to examine samples of milk sent by any farmer, or to investigate any curative agents submitted for examination. "The mastitis problem is one that is found in any country where there is dairying on a large scale," said Dr. C. S. M. Hopkirk, officer in charge of the Wallaceville Research Station. "The investigation will take a long time and there has been no discovery of a 'cure' that will give good results whenever applied. With the establishment of a small herd at Wallaceville of which the history of each animal in it is known from its first calving it should be possible to accumulate evidence that may help to control this disorder," eontinued Dr. Hopkirk.

Sub-division Abandoned. Apparently the suggested sub-division during milking operations of herds in which mastitis exists into the three grades of good, partially affected and badly affected cows has not been found t • justify the time and trouble involved. With records taken once a month changes in the condition of the cows occurred between the times of recordings and the result was that the statistical information did not serve the purpose hoped for. Abortion is still a sourc^ of annoyance and loss to the dairy farmer. There were no serious outbreaks in herds during the past season, but in the aggregate the loss caused to the industry is a heavy one. Irrigation of an affected cow or heifer and treatment that will tone up the animal's health is the treatment generally recommended. Avoidance of the trouble will ,..be. aided considerably by rearing heifers on the farm rather than purchasing them at the saleyards. An experiment is now under way to test the value of calf vaccination in preventing contagious abortion. It will be some years, however, before any results from this experiment can 1 2 reported with certainty. Sterility in dairy herds is another trouble investigated at the Wallaceville and Ruakura research stations, said Dr. J. F. Filmer, director of the animal research division, Department of Agriculture. The investigation at Ruakura, he added, gave hope of the department being enabled to suggest a means of detecting sterility in bulls capable of general application by daisy farmers. In this investigation, said Dr. Filmer, considerable assistance had been received from the technical officer of the New Zealand Dairy Board. ^ Asked if artificial insemination might reduce losses caused by sterility and increase the quality of dairy herds Dr. Filmer said that there were many difficulties to bev overcome, particularly in regard to technique. Experiments were being eontinued, and during the current season artificial insemination would be used alone on an experimental herd. The results of this experiment would give definite information which would be made available to the farming community in due course.