MASTITIS AMONG CATTLE

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22335, 24 February 1938, Page 10

MASTITIS AMONG CATTLE

♦ DEPARTMENT EVOLVING PLAN OP CONTROL dominion-wide TesTs to DETECT INFECTION (fabss association telegram.) AUCKLAND. February 23. Mastitis among dairy cattle, which costs the Dominion many thousands of pounds each year, is present in advanced forms among at least 3 per cent, of the cows in this country, said Dr. G. J. Hucker, of the New York Agricultural Experiment Station, before his departure by the Niagara for the United States. At the invitation of the Government he spent six months in investigating mastitis among dairy cattle and a detection test system is now being evolved by experts in the Department of Agriculture. Dr. Hucker is recognised as a World authority on mastitis, or mammitis as it is sometimes called. In collaboration with officers of the Department of Agriculture, he has suggested a plan to control the disease, which in the direct loss Of stofck and lowered production constitutes one of the dairy farmer’s major problems. The plan is nOw. being formulated by departmental officers, and. is designed to detect incipient cases by what is known as the brom thymol , blue test. In New Zealand it Will be known as the “indicator test,” add will eriable operators to segregate infected anirhals. , It is intended to incorporate this test ih the activities of every, herdtesting association, so that each cOw tested for butter-fat ptoductiOn shall also have a record of fitness or otherwise. .... Dr. Hucker said that to institute tests oh a Dominion Wide basis the Department of Agriculture Was importing an adequate supply of materials. Worldwide experiments Had convinced Him that vaccination was, not effective; If delicate tests Were taken among dairy cattlC in New Zealand, , probably 50 per cent. Would be found to suffer from mastitis;