DISEASES OF DAIRY CATTLE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2862, 20 January 1909, Page 6

DISEASES OF DAIRY CATTLE.

Mr Gilruth's parting remarks upon the health of the live stock of the Dominion will command much greater attention than those upon agricultural education which have been attributed to him. It is to be hoped, indeed, that their force will compel the Government to take the action which he has long Teeommended and shown to be necessary for the health of both our herds and ourselves, as well as for the interests of our export trade ; enforce the pasteurisation of factory skimmilk intended for food for calves and pigs, and proclaim contagious mammitis to%e a contagious disease, rendering it an offence to trafiic in any way with affected animals or their milk, other than to send the former to the butcher. By a coincidence last week's mail brought reports from England that the Cheshire County Council was considering the advisabteness of recommending the Board of .-Vgrieulture to include contagious mammitis amonjg the diseases whiob could be dealt with und^i the Diseases of Animals Acts. The outbreak in England was extremely severe, one owner reporting the loss of 25 cows, and many other farmers losing smaller numbers ; and as good milk cows in England have a value of £18 to £22, the aggregate 1-oss is very serious. The disease is said to be prevalent in many parte of the country, and to have been spread by the simo means as those which Mr Gilruth has warned New Zealand farmers to avoid — viz., by the hands of the milkers. Ths chief veterinary- inspector for Cheshire describes the disease as "a somewhat uncommon affection" (despite its alarming prevalence). It is due to a streptococcus, and is conveyed by the iiacds of the milkers in most cases from one cow to another. An instance is given of the man on one farm, visiting on a Sunday the men of a neighbouring farm, joining in milking the cows, and then the whole party going to the first farm and milking that herd, the consequence being that the infection was spread throughout both herds. Owners are urged to realise the importance of watching any cow showing a tendency to udclei disease, and treating every such case as infectious ; a>jd the danger that arises from, the disease not being promptly recognised is impressed upon farmers. The English veterinarian.*, it will be seen, are no more able than are those of New Zealand to prescribe lemedial treatment, and the precautionary measures which they recommend are identical with those set out in Mr Gilruth's leaflet on the disease, now being circulated amongst dairy-farmers, every, one of whom should make a point of obtaining it. The crusade against tuberculous cattle, too, is much more active in England than in New Zealand ; but there is in England the anomaly that while the owner of an affected dairy cow may in certain circumstances receive compensation for the destruction of the animal up to three -fourths of its value, th« person in whose possession a tuberculous beast intended for food is found i;ot only does not receive compensation, but is liable to criminal prosecution and heavy fine or imprisonment. Both tuberculosis and mammitis are stated to be increasing in New Zealand, and the situation claims the urgent attention of the Government.