FOOT-AND-MOUTH DISEASE

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22307, 22 January 1938, Page 11

FOOT-AND-MOUTH DISEASE

COMPENSATION TO FARMERS

COSTS NEARLY £ 224,000

Ctook oci ova cosiißsroroßXT.) LONDON, January 1. More than 80,000 head of livestock have been slaughtered in England since the outbreak of foot and mouth disease in the middle of October. Compensation payable to farmers for their losses so far totals nearly £224,000. Since October 16 there have been 153 outbreaks. Excepting small outbreaks in Northumberland and Cheshire, the disease has been substantially confined to the eastern and southern counties. An area of infection at Devizes is now causing some concern, but apart from this there are signs that the incidence of the disease is abating. Up to date there have been slaughtered 8651 cattle, 15,144 sheep, and 6537 pigs. Serious as the outbreak is, it does not compare with the experience of 1923, when the animals slaughtered included 69,256 cattle, 26,170 sheep, and 33,304 pigs, and the compensation paid to farmers amounted to £1,898,211. Starlings Blamed

The average annual number of animals slaughtered during the years 1925 to 1937 is 3505 cattle, 5001 sheep, and 1946 pigs. Of the total animal population of Great Britain recorded in June of this year, these figures represent about 0.04 per cent, of the cattle, 0.02 per cent, of the sheep, and 0.05 per cent, of the pigs. In other words, four per 10,000 cattle, two per 10,000 sheep, and five per 10,000 pigs have been slaughtered annually on the average in pursuance of the slaughter policy. The expert advisers of the Minister for Agriculture believe that there is overwhelming evidence that foot-and-mouth disease was introduced here in the autumn from the Continent by migratory birds, principally starlings. TJie outbreak began when the mass migrations were at their height, and the type of infection, the areas affected, and the way in which the disease spread leave little doubt that it was carried by birds.

When the first outbreaks were confirmed in Norfolk, farmers spoke of having seen their fields infested a few days before by starlings that were obviously exhausted by a long flight over the sea. The recent spread of the infection to Wiltshire is believed to be due to migratory birds having resorted to animal feeding-troughs because of the hard weather. The theory that the disease is imported by birds i.s now being made the subject of further research. But even if the theory is confirmed it is felt that no organised measures against the risk of the introduction of infection by this means would be practicable.

TOr-DRESSING HILL COUNTRY

The top-dressing of liill country is generally ;i difficult and costly process on account of the unsuitability of machines or lorries for the purpose. A good deal of hill country in Hawke's Bay has been top-dressed by other than mechanical means, and a demonstration of this method will be given on Thursday, at 2 o'clock, on Sir R. Heaton Rhodes's property at "Otahuna." to which farmers interested are invited.

A man believed to be a Swiss, named Otto Meyer, aged 24. was killed when he fell from the third floor of the Eiffel Tower while visiting the Paris Exhibition.