DISPUTED TESTS OF COWS

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 26945, 22 January 1953, Page 10

DISPUTED TESTS OF COWS

SERUM FOUND TO BE SATISFACTORY ANIMALS SLAUGHTERED AT HASTINGS (New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, January 21. Speciments of the tuberculin involved in the recent disputed testing of two Hastings dairy herds have now been examined in Melbourne by the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories, the suppliers of the product, and have been found satisfactory. Laboratory and field tests indicate that the tuberculin used was in every respect reliable, and that its potency was satisfactory. Last August, the 96 animals in the Hastings herds concerned were subjected to the routine test, and of that number 42 reacted to the test and were removed from the herds. On slaughter, it was found that only two showed lesions of tuberculosis.

Inquiries have revealed as pertinent the presence of avian tuberculosis in the pheasants at the Greenmeadows acclimatisation farm. After the discovery that the pheasants were badly affected, all had to be destroyed. Experts consider that some cattle in the district may have been infected with avian tuberculosis, as it is known that birds from previous releases from the acclimatisation farm have been seen on dairy farms in the neighbourhood.