DISEASES IN STOCK.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXIX, Issue 120, 13 July 1911, Page 5

DISEASES IN STOCK.

AND HOW THEY MAY HE CUBED, The Taranaki Agricultural Society experienced t!io uku.il wet weather on Tuesday night, when a meeting of members ami farmers generally was failed to hear a lecture on ‘Trevenue!) of id;.souse,” i>y Air C. J. Henkes, C i act Government Veterinarian. Nevertheless, there was a very fair attendance, and the president of tin Society, Air W. Ambury, presided, and introduced Mr iienkes to the meeting. Air Itcakas, after some intredactor.' remarks, said that the prevention of disease was, to ids mind, the most important tiling of all, far better than curing animals that have got sick. A great point was to build up the constitution ; the stronger raid healthier an animal the better able it was to withstand disease. And the constitu* ion should bo built np whilst animal:; wore young. Jn New Zealand we hadn’t ns many diseases as were experienced in many other countries, and we could congratulate ourselves on being a very healthy country by comparison, so far as stock were concerned. All the more necessary to keep it healthy and to keep present disease under control. In constitution of cattle and pigs the great need was for an improvement in the .feeding of *-he young stock. Ko often felt like giving some of the Taranaki fanners a taste of the cruelty they meted out to their young stock, although, of course, tlierc had been a great improvement in recent years. iSkim milk or whey was a poor food unless pasteurised to enable the stock to get the most out of it, but a good calf food should also bo used. It was necessary to feed the animals cleanly—a neglected feature on the farm. Troughs wore very seldom cleaned, and tire sour feed fouled the next food poured in, causing the calves to scour, to have indigestion, to get “pot-bellied,” and so on. Those

calves were to be the dairy rows of | the future, and if they were neglected when young what sort of cows would they bo and what sort would they produce? If all calves had been properly fed there would be healthier stock and better milkers. Proper feeding of the pigs would have brought the pigs to profit earlier, and made better pork. Pigs were even mere neglected than calves. Pigs were not dirty, as some people believed, and were more comfortable when decently housed. Cleanliness in pig-raising would greatly improve the industry and the farmers’ profits. Ho congratulated Taranaki people on the great improvement in providing winter feed for cows. A few years ago very few farmers did this; now the majority did so, and the cows were better in consequence. There was a better appreciation of the advantages of winter feeding. Referring to feeding on mangolds and the reported losses of stock from this cause, lie emphasised that mangolds V'houid be pitted for two or three months. In that time the root became more digestible, more suitable as a food for stock, and more nutritious.

Coining to specific diseases, he said some of the more troublesome diseases could be prevented if proper care were taken. Contagious mammitis was difficult to deal with, because there was no satisfactory method of dealing with't, and this gave all the more cause for endeavouring to prevent its appearance. Contagions mammitis in its early stages might be overlooked, and in that state be conveyed to other cows in the herd. A suspected cow should be isolated, milked by hand, and milked last. To test a mild case, the symptoms being a little thickening of the teat or a little Jump at the top of it, or a hardening of the quarter, the suspected quarter should ho milked into a glass, and if mammitis wore present there would bo a bijown flaky deposit. He didn’t consider farmers were careful enough when buying cows in the yard, paying too little attention to the udder, winch should be handled if possible and not judged on appearance, ikic-n milker should make a point of passing the hand over the uduer to ascertain its soundness, and tins was particularly necessary in maciunc-muiaug, lor mere wie observation or tne w-

aoi' was uoo oramaruy as cxose as ui cue case ox ixauu-imxidiig. 11-mut; uiscot'cred an allccteu cow she siiouia oe isolated, minted last, mid by mum. Contagious aooruou. —a orinnately tills 1 wus attic known iiore now, tnougu il, Had oueu common enougti a lew’ years ago. ano improvement was U ue to one exhorts or the larxnms t.*cmnJvus, pxompLc-d by the advice ox lus predecessor, Mr o ■ a. Uurutn. ino inspector, nix' Jiimro, l:au tola mm tnex e was no contagions aocruou iiuvo now. lint every care must be taken. A cow widen aborted from natural causes inigut be capable <oi causing abortion in other cows, ana mie snoiild be treated just as a cow would be winch was Known to be Buttering It uni contagious ■ abortion. Where possible, a lire should do ligated ovei tne aborted call, so. as to Uestroj not only cue foetus out also ail causes of infection. at nau been dis-CLV't-red that cows became infected through the mouth, and great cure shouln bo taken to prevent the fouling of pastures by aborting cows. ■.\ note a nro was impracticaole, the ground should be saturated with strong uoii-poisonous sheep dip, mid then turned over.

Blackleg.—it was very saiisfact uy to know that by the co-operation of tue farmers themselves blackleg had been got under control, hut the inoculation must ho continued. y Tuberculosis.-—it every criry far mer took proper precautions there would be very much less of tin? disease, which could not ho got under control in a week or so. But tbo disease was increasing, though nor sc lap-dly last year as prcviom.lv’. 'Jhis was to he expend d in a n-'-'-.-ly si-l tied country, where steak had Ir'en hist imported so recently and where (attic was so closely stocked. Tuberculosis would have been worse hut for tlie policy of supervision and weeding out of poor cow's from the herds. But that was not enough. There were more cattle year by year, and some further steps were necessary to get the disease under, or else it would get us under in time. One step necessary was to sterilise skim milk and w-iev. It was of no use to lull out oid cows and to keen on bringing up a race of tubercular calves. Jilxpoi imonts in complete pasteurisation' lin'd pro" M its value at (lien Oroua, and the results of the experiments had already I eon published Some hundreds of pigs had been treated. Very few of those fed entirely on pasteurised milk wein foua ; to be infected. Otht'i pigs, fed on.y part time on the pasteurised milk, showed a liighei percentage of tuberculosis. The percentage was very much heavier in pigs fed wholly no unpasteuvised skim milk. * Ho also mentioned the ease of a district, not in New Zealand ,w here pasteurisation had chocked the disease; the cessation of this 1 treatment gave it another footing, and I the resumption of pasteurisation | brought about a healthy state of niPiM— noarin The fh-nnoiocs from

diseased cows and pigs were capable of tiansrnittiug tuberculosis to healthy pigs. He himself had proved that tin'-- paddock contamination was no theory, hut an actual fact, and that tit? infection was possible for months after the actual contamination. lie advised farmers to keep pigs out of the cow paddocks. He a-is satisfied that pasteurisation of skim milk was going to ho a big facia; in elm.mating this disease. i'levrisy ;n pigs.—This was brought on as r. result of bad management, duo to the pigs being kept under dirty conditions, in mud and tilth, and pro- \ hied with poor sleeping acconinio iaj tion. Sonic of the pigstyos were fit i only for saturating with kerosene, and | An mug; th ey wore so saturated vith filth that they would not burn without tne. kerosene. larmers ougnt fc know bow much better it would bo for them and ler the pigs if they were decently boused. 'J he disease left an mums linkable adhesion of the lung to the ribs, and this often caused yfcho ciuvi.s to be condemned. He strongly ac, \ist.ci extra cure of pigs after cast-muon, stating that dire and filth naruoura.t diseases. pTcour in calves.—Scour was due tojb feeding, and to worms in the stomach. these worms were veiy small and difficult to detect in a post mortem examination. He explained 10 those present how to detect them. ‘Jaives so affected fouled the paddock ana (Thor young stock following would bo Uucctcc! too. The calves should m suc '‘i case be put into the driest possible paddock, for the wetter the giantd tne longer the eggs of the worms retained their vitality. Air Beakes concluded by invitim* questions. " To Air Stanley: A calf affected with norms should oa taken olf the pad- , ,P\ ’'’. hich it was running. it suoulil -rave a close of lysol in linseed 011 to a calf eight months old a toaspooiitul of lysol in about a quarts oi a pint of oil; subsequent closes lour nays afterwards in milk. The mnU ' Sll °:- C ! | b ? Sl ven dry nutritious I’’, 1 - sp.ink with a common salt . iy iced and no medicine " 0,1 ; d be bettor than medicine and no dry toed. + :J,°J V 1 H ’ C -. Sampson: Inflammaciou Of. the womb sometimes prevented cows from getting in calf. It depenued on the nature of the attack. t o Air ,j. Smih; A cow which aborted last year and was then thoroughly uashed out should be washed out again a week or two afterwards before , n ° stll l te , d again. There should (>3 no need for further irrigation, but washing of the outer parts was good. S. reed; lie couldn’t givo a call-food formula off-hand, and even i! lie gave one the farmer might not 03 able to get the ingredients. What was wanted eras an artificial food to replace what had been taken out of tiie milk. It was a question of how hu; tne Government should trench on private enterprise .

J (> A) r Sampson ; Feeding shark-oil wasn’t the best way of replacing butc- r-fat, and no oil mixed so readily with milk as to enable the farmer to bo satisfied that the calf got his full share. Some farmers hau found no otnor food necessary with pasteurised milk.

fo Mr James; He had a very poor opinion of hay-tea. Calves winch did well on it were doubtless doing well in spite of it and not because of it. Jo Mr A. W. Mood: If pigs were kept cleanly conditions, well housed, and well ted they would not be liable to pleurisy.

io ilr Yv. Am bury : Sunlight would kill tuberculosis germs in a grass paddock where it got a chance. A good method of cleaning such a field would bo to run sheep and cattle alternately. Sheep did not take tuberculosis, and the absence of the cattle would enable the sun to get at it directly. To Mr Stanley: Lime would be of every use in this way. To Mr S. J. Smith: Fresh-pulled mangolds fed to cows would likely have the effect of causing the cows to “go off” their milk. Mr Reakes hoped every farmer realised that a herd could never be cleared of contagious abortion unless the bull was thoroughly treated as well as the cows. r Jo Mr Smellie: One tabloid to a whisky-bottle full of water was the strongest solution permissible, and the tabloid roust be thoroughly dissolved. Any solid particles would cause inflammation. Serious damage might follow the use of a tinned bucket or kerosene tin for mixing the solution. To Air F. Cornwall; Cows suffering from slight indigestion would be dull, not feed very well, perhaps scouring, perhaps constipated. A “blown” cow was suffering from indigestion. A cow with acute indigestion would hump her back and “look sorry for herself.” She would not scour, might kick up against her body with her hind leg, and lose part of the use of her hind logs.

Mr Cornwall said that a very valuable old cow of his had not recovered from indigestion until he had given her a quantity of hot stout, three tablespooufuls of carbonate of soda, two of ginger, and some wdiisky. Mr Eoakos said he couldn’t feel sure which of these things had “done the trick,” but probably it was the stimulant.

To Mr Teed: lied water, as we had it in New Zealand, was generally found in cattle that wore on turnips. A change to a grass paddock, with some good sweet hay, or chaff, bran, or crushed oats, was an effective cure. It was purely a feeding malady.

To Mr Sampson : Nature often cured mammitis in its mild form. Mr H. Okey moved a very hearty vote of thanks to Mr Rcakes, and complimented him on t!;e manner in which lie had handled a subject of such vital interest to the farming community. He congratulated the Department on the success of its crusade against blackleg. This was seconded by Mr Stanley Smith, and carried, by acclamation.— “News.”