HEALTH OF LIVE STOCK

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25238, 29 May 1943, Page 6

HEALTH OF LIVE STOCK

GARBAGE FOR PIGS MEASURES OF CONTROL The amending regulations,, under the Stock Diseases Regulations, 1937, dealing with the feeding of garbage to pigs, were gazetted on May 20, and will come into effect on June 17. Before the regulations were amended, it. was an offence to feed unboiled garbage to pigs, and in explaining the provisions of the new regulations, the district superintendent of the live stock division ’of 'the Department of Agridulture (Mr C. V. Dayus) said yesterday that, in the interests of the health of the live stock of the Dominion, it had become necessary to provide'further measures of control, particularly as a precaution against the occurrence of an outbreak of swine or foot-and-mouth disease. Apart fi-om the fact that all garbage which is fed to pigs must be boiled, the essential feature of the new regulation is that no one may feed garbage, obtained /■ from sources elsewhere than on the premises on which the pigs are kept, without obtaining a permit from the director of the live stock division of the Department of Agriculture'at Wellington. Before a permit is issued,. an applicant will be required to set apart a portion of the premises, completely inaccessible to pigs, solely for the reception, handling, storage, and boiling of garbage. He will also be required to install on the > premises, set apart for the purpose of boiling garbage before it is fed to pigs, a steam generating plant capable of raising the temperature of the garbage to 212 degrees Fahrenheit, and of maintaining that temperature for not less than an hour, or a boiler or boilers of such capacity that the quantity of garbage received daily can be effectively boiled for’an hour. ! * Any inspector of stock is given the right to suspend any permit if he, is satisfied that the conditions of the permit are not being complied with by the holder. “ Garbage'*' is defined in the regulations to include ‘‘.meat scraps, discarded meat, meat offal, bones, or kitchen or camp waste and fruit or vegetable matter which has been collected or has 'been in contact with, or is ‘ fed to swine, together with any of the other items mentioned above. “ The means are provided by which the use of garbage as. a pig feed can' be'maintained,” Mr Dayus said. “The reasons' that have been given for the introduction of the regulations are sufficient indication of the necessity for its proper administration, and with the fullest co-operation of those pig feeders concerned, there is no doubt that this may be effected-in a satisfactory manner.” / ,