Farming Column

Opunake Times, 16 August 1932, Page 1

Farming Column

CONTAGIOUS MAMMITIS

SYMPTOMS OF DISEASE. INTERESTING ADDRESS. Dairying; is a business, as much as any oilier undertaking, and business methods must be exploited to control all avenues of possible loss. In a report of an address published in the Waikato Times on July 5, the speaker said : “About 20 per cent, of cows appeared to be buffering from mammitis, in herds lie had sampled, which coincided with the number given by workers in England.’’ According’ to the live stock statistics published on January 31, 1931, there were 1,499,532 cows in milk in New Zealand. If 20 per cent of this total, which is 299,906 cows, are affected with mammitis, the loss in butterfat alone must run into thousands of pojunds. On the face of this, it is not surprising that factories are now grading milk.

The foundations of successful dairying are laid on the farm, and there is to-day a real danger, that over-emphasis on the general conditions prevailing may distract attention from economies that can be effected on the farm by the individual fanner. Science is gradually triumphing over disease, the most deadly enemy of the dairy farmer. Contagions mammitis is not 1 a single affection, but a group of diseases which attack the udder. ,

In a very valuable paper on Bovine Mastitis read at the National Veterinary Medical Association's annual meeting at Bath, in 1922, Mr. F. T. Harvey, F.R. C.V.S., gave three main bacteria as being responsible for the development of the different kinds of udder troubles. They were: (1) Staphyloccocius; (2) sterptococcus; (3) coli. In an examination into the responsibility, one authority gave the first as being responsible for 16 per cent., streptococcus 75 per cent., and coli 3 per cent. The Symptoms. The symptoms and progress of the disease vary in different cows and herds and it may exist for some time before it is observed, and meanwhile the disease may have spread throughout the herd. Some of the symptoms are shivering fits, the horns, ears, tail and limbs are cold, and the hair standing on end. This is followed by a reaction with a flush of heat and the glands of the judder swell up and become firm and solid in one or. more quarters. There is a high temperature and excited breathing. In other cases the shivering and general upsetting of the system is not noticed and the first sign of trouble is a hard swelling and a hot, tender udder. The milk is a watery fliuid, sometimes tingeo with blood and containing mass-' es of clotted casein, and very often has an offensive smell. The course of the disease varies and no definite rule can be laid dow. In the course of a week tin udder may soften, the heat and tenderness disappear and seem normal. More often a greait quantity of the inflammatory product remains in the glands and develops into a solid, hard lump. In other cases it breaks into a creamy liquid pus and bursts. This abscess may escape externally or biurst into the milk ducts and discharge through the tests. This generally causes the loss of one or more quarters. All cases of mammitis should be treated as contagious, even the mildest form. Important Points. If the alteration in the milk be ever so slight, there should be no relaxation of care. Sometimes the first symptoms disappear the next milking and it might be thoiught that the cow had recovered, but this is problematical. More often it is found that she comes back next year with an affected quarter, and in the meantime she has been a danger to the rest of the herd. Infection is spread by hand, by the teat cups of the milking machines, dirt or injuries paused by kicks and wire cutis, and very often the (rouble starts just before, or after a cow has aborted. One of the greatest safeguards when a herd is mammitis free, is cleanliness, coupled with proper management and inoculation to prevent its occurrence. Cows affected with mammitis should be kept apart from the rest of the herd, a separate paddock with plenty of food and water, should be available. The milking should be done by hand only. The affected quarters should be kept well stripped out, as often as conditions will allow, once every two hours, if possible, and the contents milked into a tin of disinfectant and buried (not stripped on to the floor, as happens often). The methods advised by the Department of Agriculture of milk-* ing tlie clean cows first, the slightly affected next, and the worst last, not having come up to expectations, can easily be

understood. The same precautions should be taken as with human beings suffejriiig ’from typhoid, diptheria, smallpox, plague and cholera. Good Results Achieved. In a letter dated July 18, 1929, .Dr. Lourens, Director of the State Serum Institute, Rotterdam, Holland, stated: “I have the honour to inform you that during the last five years about three thousand cows every year are treated with vaccine for udder diseases with good results.” About 80 per cent, of the udder diseases are caused by streptococci and the other 20 per cent by bacpyogenes, stphyliccicci and baccoli. The best chances of curing are when the mastitis is in the beginning and it is of great value when the treatment of the vaccimes is supported by milking the cows more times a day, especially the inflamed quarters. Vaccine for the treatment of mammitis has been used in New Zealand for the past seven years and the following figures are of interest; Analysis of 23,661 cows treated in 1925: Replies received, 617; favourable replies, 533; unfavourable replies, 84; number of cases of contagious mammitis in previous season, 3,572; number of cases of contagious mammitis in season following inoculation, 657. For successful dairying, productive capacity, quantity and quality are matters for concern and the question of “Endurance in Production” is an avenue for interesting and profitable enquiry. There are approximately 65,000 dairy farmers in New Zealand and only 1,386 are users of vaccine and taking the only reasonable means of cambating’mammitis in their herds. Thirty years ago blackleg was very prevalent among calves, and Dr. Gilruth introduced inoculation, which cleaned up the trouble. Now there are only isolated outbreaks and they are inoculated at once.