PLAN FOR CONTROL.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVIII, Issue 74, 24 February 1938, Page 5

PLAN FOR CONTROL.

MASTITIS AMONG CATTLE. Por Press Association. AUCKLAND, Feb. 23. Mastitis among dairy cattle, which costs the Dominion many thousands ot pounds each year, is present in advanced forms among at least 3 per cent of cows in this country, said Dr G. J. Hucker, of the New York Agricultural Experiment Station, before his departure for the United States. At the invitation of the Government ha spent six months in investigating the scourge 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 lias suggested a plan to control the disease, which in direct loss of stock and lowered production constitutes one of the dairy-farmers’ 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,” and will enable operators to segregate Infected animals. ,

It is intended to incorporate this tost in the activities of every lierdtesting association, so that each cow r tested for butterfat production shall also have a record of fitness or otherwise, Dr Hucker said. To institute tests on a Dominion-wide basis the Department of Agriculture is importing an adequate supply of materials. World-wide experiments have convinced him that vaccination is not effective. If delicate tests were taken among the dairy cattle in New Zealand probably 50 per cent would be found to suffer from mastitis.