CONTAGIOUS MAMMITIS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18901, 26 December 1924, Page 6

CONTAGIOUS MAMMITIS

A cure for contagious mammitis. one of the most serious general dis- | eases affecting dairy cows, is claimed j to have been found. It. is a vaccine prepared by a Waikalo bacteriolo- | gist and the evidence of its cfriJ cacy, published this morning, is suffi- | cientlv convincing to demand prompt (investigation by the li\e stock divi ! sion of the Department of Agrieul- ! tine. .It would naturally be ueeos | sary to have investigations carried | out with scientific exactitude over | several years to decide whether or not, injections of the vaccine give immunity, but that fact should not . be allowed to delay for long an ofli eial utterance on the subject. Im inanity even for one milking s*\a son would be of such vital import ance to the dairy farmers and to pro duction in general, that all possible expedition should be employed by the department to arrive ;i( a decision, even if it took only the foint of an interim report. Already a sufficiently large number of herds have been treated to provide a field for preliminary investigation, and if further h«rd treatments are carried out under the eye of qualified officials, it should not be long before a pronouncement could be made. The matter is of such vital consequence that the department might detail

one or more of its best experts to make the investigation. • The disease is costing the country a huge sum annually; in many cases it is keeping to a very low average the production of herds of high quality, managed on most scientific lines. Much of the effort now being devoted to breeding, testing and feeding is nullified by this disease, which within a few weeks may attack a large proportion of a herd. If the claims for the treatment are confirmed, a problem of first importance will have been solved.