Fight Against Mammitis Scourge

Manawatu Times, Volume 63, Issue 46, 24 February 1938, Page 7

Fight Against Mammitis Scourge

Dominion-wide Scheme of Testing INVESTIGATIONS OP EMINENT AUTHORITY Per Press Association. AUCKLAND, Last Night. Mastitis) among dairy cattle which costs the Dominion many thousands of pounds ea jh year, is present in advanced forms among at least three per cent of the cows in this country, said Dr. G. J. Huckcr, of 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 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 has suggested a plan to control the disease which, in direct loss of stock and lowered production, constitutes one of the dairy farmers 7 major problems. A 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’ 7 and will enable operators to segregate infected animals. It is intended to incorporate this test in the activities of every Herd Testing Association so that each cow tested for butterfat production shall also have a record oi: fitness or otherwise, Dr. Huckcr 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 Dr. Hucker that vaccination is not effective. If delicate tusts were taken among dairy caftle in New Zealand probably 50 per cent woul Ibe found to suffer from