HEALTH OF DAIRY CATTLE

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2217, 1 August 1914, Page 8

HEALTH OF DAIRY CATTLE

A REVIEW. DANGERS TO THE HERDS.

The general condition of the dairy herds.of New Zealand wore reviewed by Dr. C..J. Iteakes, of tho Department of Agriculture, at the A. and P. Societies': Conference. '. . • Dr. Reakes said that some improvement, in quality of the bulls kept is noticeable, but far too.many poor yielding cows were stil] being milked. Here, again, however, improvement was going' 611. Calf-rearing did , not yet receive the attention it needed. Continuing, •he said: . . • ■ . A Bad Feature. "One of the worst features of -the present system of rearing calves, in some . North Island districts especially; is the still too common practice of herding young calves in small paddocks (socalled calf-paddocks), which have been used for tho same purpose year after' year. These small paddocks; as a result, become very foul, and are a fruitful cause of ill-health and, at times, of mortality among the young stock. "In the provision of winter feed, a good advance has been made, the feed being usually hay, ensilage, or root crops, and the result of this can but be highly beneficial, not only to the genera] gheaitli and vigour of the stock, but also the finances of the farmers. Root-crops are excellent feed, but'dairy cows, especially when calving, do inuch better if given a daily ration of good (jrass hay, or, failing that, of onsilage, in , addition, or good hay alone is excellent. * By its bulk and nutritive qualities.it aids proper digestion, and enables the body temperature to be maintained with less demand upon tho animal's general constitutional powers than is the case when roots alone havo to be depended l upon.

tuberculosis Weil In Hand. _ "Aβ regards tuberculosis, tho position is, in' a sense, satisfactory; New Zealand lias • far less of this disease among her dairy cows than is the case in. most older countries; yet its existence . constitutes a severe tax upon stock-owners. Up,to the year 1910 tho returns afforded by the' inspectors at meat .export slaughterhouses and abattoirs (which constitute a fairly, reliable indication) showed a steady annual in-' crease in the percentage of affected animals. Since then, however, this- increase has been .checked, though it , is to bo regretted that no reduction is yet apparent in cattle. Still, it is something to feel that there is good reason" to believe.that we have this diseaso in hand, especially when it is considered that during the 'last'four years.dairying -has been extended, and the percentage of milking cows.(the most susceptible class of cattle) to the whole of the cattle in the country has been'increase ing. I hope for improvement in tho direction of a gradual reduction'in tho number of tubercular,cattle in the very near future. The , checking of the spread of the disease may be attributed to:—(1) Careful .'inspection by available staff; • (2) the pasteurisation of separated milk at. some butter factories, and or whey at practically all cheese factories; ,(3) the exercise of more.-.■para on the; part of stock-owners. t-Further improvements can be . brought about b.y:—(l) So adjusting tho present staff of tho Department, as. to enable more detailed inspection to. bo.carrie3 out on proper linos; (3) more pasteurisation of dairy factory by-products; (3) still more' co-operation', or stock-owners with tlie Department's officers, ; . , .-,j,: ■■",■.!■:■%- -■ Blackleg and Other Troubles. "Blackleg is well in hand -in Tara•,Mki; and now, practically speaking, causes no trouble to farmers there be3'ond the necessity .'for arranging for, ;the inoculation , of their calves each year.In parts of the Auckland province this disease is giving some trouble, and tho position-there is one,,demanding careful attention at the present, moment. A number of outbreaks have occurred scattered over a wide area, and the De- _ partmental officers- have been kept busy in dealing with the. whole question. What has been done there up to now illustrates: the great value of co-opera-tion! between the farmers .and the Department in dealing with diseaso. With tho assistance of; the Farmers' Union, I was able to secure the assistance of the farmers in coping with this disease. A result of this has been-that the inoculation of .calves has been carried out without difficulty, and, moreover) several previously /unknown old centres of infection have been discovered and properly dealt with. .•'■■ '

"Vaginitis, a contagious inflammatory condition, has bcon frequently met with of'late in the: North Island. In'view of the prevalence of tick fever in Queensland (termed red water in South Africa), a careful- watch has been; kept hero. From time to time ticks found on-pat-tlo'in the-'district, north of. Auckland have been examined, but all have been found to bo of a quite different species to that responsible for the dissemination of tick fever in' Queensland. ,Mr. H. A. Reid,'the officer entrusted ivith the special scientific work of, thovDe? partraent in connection with animal disease, -recently made a special visit to the North Auckland district, and found ■nothing to indicate that any tick-con-veyed disease. existed thero cither now or in the past. Altogether, the present' conditions as/regards cattle disease are Rood, but we must not oiily maintain these conditions, but also continue to endeavour to improve upon them year by year." ■;