NEW ZEALAND LIVESTOCK

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 986, 31 May 1930, Page 10

NEW ZEALAND LIVESTOCK

NEEDLESS ALARM FELT ABOUT IMPORTING MAINTAINING QUALITY Special to fHE EUR WELLINGTON, Today. Tho new strain that New Zealand stock needs in order to maintain tts quality is easily procurable, stated u i authority today. The import of stock 1 from the United Kingdom Is perfectly I safe and it is only the political pres* 1 sure of needlessly alarmed farmwi I which is preventing it. It is pointed out that for the ber.:* I fit of purchasers abroad, the British Government is maintaining a quirat* tine station where stock may be iso* lated for a fortnight before shipment jj After this, the stock is many weeks on the voyage to New Zealand, an-i I after that the Department of Agriculture may detain them as long as pleases. The normal period of deter- | tion for stock is a few weeks. Again?: ;! this lapse of time must be set tbe I; fact that the incubation period for | foot and mouth disease is 11 days. It is admitted that the introductior of the disease to New Zealand wouk be a disa-ster, hui it is claimed tha: the risk is negligible. However. authorities admit tLd jj| while it is impossible for an anisKL to introduce the disease through cottact with other unaffected animals in jp New Zealand, there may be a remo:t chance of the germ, which remains | secreted in the bones of cattle, gain- U ing sway through the < perations d freezing works. Outbreaks in Enf land and in Scotland have been trace: . to offal. The main cause of fear i i due to the fact that the animal if* fee ted with the disease can endans£ other stock through polluting grass Nevertheless, it is claimed that ft? fears of farmers are exaggerated, V& that if a beginning is not made £ an early date to introduce new bloo' !j to the Dominion, farm production*® i exports will suffer.