CATTLE COMPENSATION

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19132, 29 September 1936, Page 3

CATTLE COMPENSATION

LIMIT OF £l2 SPECIFIED ; JO LINE’S DISEASE CASE | j DIFFICULTY IN CONTROL'; i i ! The maximum compensation allowed for destroyed cattle under the Stock Act is £l2, and therefore the owner of 1»i0 Taranaki pedigree dairy herd that was destroyed because of an outbreak of i Johne’s disease lias suffered a great loss. ! The difficulty in controlling the disease is. referred to in the annual report of tho director of the Live Stock Division; Mr. \Y. C. .Barry. The report stated i ■'Further evidence oft this disease canto to light during the year in Taranaki - and in llie Waikato, and it cun he suit- - mised that infection exists on many ■ other farms which, on account of owners not suspecting the nature of the con- • dition, remain unrepovted to tho deparc- ' incut, .lohne's disease can he brieiij .' described as chronic' bacterial enteritis oi : cattle, due to the entrance of a specific genu. CONSIDERABLE ANXIETY “The germ is taken into the. animal’s 1 system in food or water, and theie is evidence to support the. belief that it ! CU U live in the soil for considerable I periods, particularly in wet, badly- - drained pastures, '! he disease, can. have i u very lengthy incubative period and ! an animal may carry infection lor years ‘ | before the typical symptoms are shown. I This fact- creates one ' of the greatest • j difficulties in tin- control of the surerd .j of (he disease. I “Owing to its insidious nature, and ( the economic loss whicli if is capaole cl I producing, more especially when it occurs in pedigree herds, control of Jolme’s disease is causing the division considerable anxiety. Since the introdiie, i ion a few years back by overseas workers on tho disease of a diagnostic agent known as Johnin, this has beim extensively used by the. department in ’ die. detection of the disease. Although Iho Johnin test cannot be said to be absolute-lv reliable, yet it affords the only method of ' detection known at- ' present, and is undoubtedly most helpful. INTERESTS OF OWNERS "In methods oi control, it- is recognised that- drastic measures designed to prevent the movement of stock from known affected farms must necessarily intliet seven- hardship mi owners,” the report added. “Nevertheless, this heroines necessary on farms on which tno i disease has reached heavy proportions. I In oilier cases in which infection on ’ a farm is slight, it is hoped that by the institution of periodical Johnin testing, the disease on such farms will he controlled. Jn this connection the districti superintendent- of the Wellington district lms organised an attempt at- eradication in two grade herds in Taranaki. Semiannual testing is being carried out, with the slaughter of reacting animals. Some j I ime must necessarily elapse before an i opinion can he formed, but the trial

will prove highly valuable iu determining the success -or otherwise' of such moans of effecting.-the eradication of the disease. '* ■JMP ITjK ■ DOCKETS;. autl McJSSOBS. Books, ready printed. at-'fierrrttF Jobbing Department.