ABORTION IN CATTLE

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1695, 24 August 1904, Page 67

ABORTION IN CATTLE

[Recently Lord Onslow, President of the Bqard of Agriculture, received a deputation with regard to abortion in cattle. The deputation consisted of Sir C. T. D. Acland, Sir E. Strachey, M.P., Mr E. Mathews, Mr E. A. Mr T. F. Plowman, representing the Bath and West and Southern Counties Society; Colonel Curtis Hayward and Professor J. W. 'Axe, representing the British Dairy Farmers’ Association, anil others. Sir 0. T. D. Acland briefly m- • troduoed the deputation, and explained that its object was to urge the desirability of appointing a departmental committee to inquire as fully as possible into the question of abortion in cattle and the injury caused to cattle by the warble fly. with a view to the expediency of legislating upon the subject. After speeches by Mr E. Mathews, Colonel Curtis Hayward, Mr St. John Ackers, Mr Middleton, Mr Rawlence, Professor Axe. Mr Davies, and Sir Edward Strachey. Lord Onslow said he agreed that.they did not know as much as they would wish to do on the subject of contagious abortion; but lie hoped that the fact of that deputation’s having put the matter before the Board of Agriculture, and the fact of the Bath and West of England Society’s having interested other societies, such as the British Dairy-Far-mers’ Association and'the Central Chamber of Agriculture, on the subject, would circulate generally among farmers the knowledge that there was such a thing as contagious abortion, and that it was to be carefully guarded against. He was surprised to hear that there was a doubt in anybody’s mind as to the existence of contagious abortion. How the contagion might be conveyed was, no doubt, a matter they had not yet got r.‘ rhe bottom of; but nobody reading Professor Bang’s report on experiments in inoculation could doubt that abortion could be contagious by the injection of the virus from or.e cow to another. It had not yet been ascertained whether an 1 affected cow when put in the‘same byre with healthy cows would cause abortion in them. Professor Axe had conducted a number of experiments, but he did not think they could be said to be in any rvay conclusive. None of them bad done more than show a great (Pal might be done by strict cleanliness, the use of disinfectants, and carbolic ' acid given with the food. Those combined seemed to have been effective, but none seemed to have produced the desired result alone. Considerable inquiry bad been made into the matter. One speaker had rather doubted whether the BOARD OF AGRICULTURE’S LEAFLETS

reached the proper persons, and whether if they did reach them, they paid much attention to what they but that could not be said to be the fault of the Board. They did all they could to bring their information up to date and to circulate that information among the farmers, together with the best known' remedies. They had a leaflet on the subject of contagious abortion in cattle which would be disseminated in the course of the next few days; and he earnestly hoped that, all those who were present, and were interested in the question, would urge fanners to give it consideration, and to carry out the suggestions for a remedy. They were not expensive. The actual cost of the drugs, in one of the experiments, did not amount to> more than Is Gd or 2s per head per annum, while the amount of trouble was very slight. Something, at any rate, might be done by an extensive use of the disinfectants suggested in the leaflet. He had been asked to consider two questions—(l) compelling notification of abortion ; and (2) the appointment of a departmental committee. As to the first, nothing could be done without legislation, and he would appeal to Sir Edward Stmehey as to whether the House of Commons was a body through whom such legislation could readily be passed. The question was—What , was abortion ? What were the signs of abortion? They all knew that when a cow slipped her calf that was abortion, but Mr Middleton had referred to the cow' turning, and said he had satisfied himself—and no doubt he was right—that that was abortion, and probably CONTAGIOUS ABORTION. But would a dairy farmer notice it ? Mr Middleton bad only found it out by accident. With the best will in the world, could they be certain they would get notification of every case which was likely to be contagious? As to the second point, the appointment of a departmental committee, that was a sug-

gestion well worthy of consideration. Several departmental committees of the Board were at present sitting, and he hoped that when the labours of one or other of them were concluded they might be able to turn their attention to that subject. But it would require a good many years really to get at the bottom of the matter. .If the inquiry were to bo of any use it would have probably to be conducted, not by a committee, but by some specialist who was well qualified to do so, and by experiment rather than by the examination of witnesses. He quite agreed that the matter was becoming a very serious one, and the statistics which had been referred to showed that abortion was even more widespread than had been thought to be the case. The Board, and particularly the veterinary branch, would continue to give careful attention to the .subject. He had before him a typewritten report of some sixty or seventy pages containing all the information they had been able to glean upon the matter.

Sir Ed. Strachey said the great object of the deputation was to ask for the appointment of a departmental committee to consider the restrictions and notifications which, of course, would have to be legislated upon. They did not ask for legislation until there had been a departmental committee appointed who would have agriculturists and dairy farmers all over the country before it, arid thus find out what kind of regulations and notifications they would be ready to support in order to stamp out the disease. Lord Onslow said the facts in connection with the contagious character of trie disease must first be ascertained to form a scientific basis.

Sir C. T. D. Acland .said lie rather gathered that some measures had already been taken which had a tendency To lessening the disease, at any rate. It would he of advantage if temporary regulations were passed". Lord Onslow said they were measures which it was suggested should he voluntarily undertaken by the farmers. It would he better to find out. before making them compulsory, whether their voluntary adoption was successful or not. Sir C. T. D. Acland agreed. If there was anything which the societies represented could do to assist the department in carrying out the inquiry they would most willingly do it. After thanking Lord Onslow, the deputation withdrew.