CONTAGIOUS MAMMITIS.

Patea Mail, Volume XXXII, 14 December 1910, Page 4

CONTAGIOUS MAMMITIS.

A -writer in the " New Zealand Times" records a case where the ravages of contagious mammitis in a Taranaki dairy herd resulted in 30 head having to be dispatched to the saleyard owing to their having become infected with this insidious malady. The writer goes on to say that in all probability the farmer was somewhat to blame, because, had he taken the precaution to isolate the infected animals at the first indication of infection, he could have poe&ibly prevented it from spreading amongst his herd, and thus checked it in its earlier stages. The adoption of _ the milking machine has rendered its detection much more difficult than under the old system of hand milking, consequently, where machines are in use, it is absolutely necessary to exercise the utmost care in order to prevent mammitis from obtaining a hold in a dairy herd. To do this, the machine and all its accessories must not only be kept and maintained in a sanitary condition at all times, but they should be frequently disinfected and sterilised. Carelessness in this respeot not only incurs grave risks of spoiling a milk supply, but when once a disease like mammitis gets a hold on a herd, the latter stands a big chance of getting ruined before the disease can be checked.