STOCK FROM BRITAIN

Taranaki Daily News, 5 September 1933, Page 12

STOCK FROM BRITAIN

EMBARGO SUPPORTED 1 DANGERS OF DISEASE. NEW BLOOD NOT NEEDED. Suggestions that New Zealand should lift the embargo on the importation of stock from Great Britain are strongly opposed by Mr. W. Peirson, B.Sc., M.R. C.V.S., who discusses the subject in a comprehensive statement published in the ’ Mataura Ensign (Gore). Mr. Peirson is one of the few veterinary surgeons in the Dominion who have had personal experience of foot and mouth disease in Great Britain. He emphasises the extreme seriousness of an outbreak of the disease in New Zealand, and questions I the need for the introduction of new ; blood to maintain the standard of the . country’s flocks and herds. Dealing with the allegations that many ’ breeds of livestock in New Zealand show 1 signs of in-breeding and need the benefit of fresh blood from abroad, Mr. Peirson says:—“The Romney as we know it in New Zealand is of a different type from that of the Home Country. It is a breed that has been evolved in this country by selection originally from imported stock. The Romney of to-day is as good as ever it was, and can only be im- ’ proved by careful breeding and selection within the type that has already been 1 created in this country. These Romneys i find their place in export Jx>th for staid ' purposes and as mutton. SUITABLE BEEF TYPES. “The Corriedale is a New Zealand production, evolved by the careful mating ' and selection of different types, the product being of such quality as to merit export to any part of the world, even to the Home Country itself. “As for Herefords, we have in New Zealand a type well suited to our climatic conditions, the studs of this breed being comparable to any in the world. ■ In the Shorthorn beef breed the early ■ improvers of this breed practised inbreeding to a far greater extent than is the present custom, but coupled with this in-breeding was careful and selective, which has given us the beef Shorthorn as we know it to-day. “Three years ago a prominent Home Country judge and breeder of Ayrshires while on a visit to New Zealand spent most of his time among the stud stock. ■ His remarks were to the effect that he was surprised at the quality shown, and that they could take their place with the best at Home. In other breeds we need just look to the milk records, the great work of the milk-recording societies to see what they have done to cultivate selective breeding. A glimpse at these will convince one as to whether our dairy breeds are deteriorating or not. EXPERIENCE OF JERSEY, “The island of Jersey, with a cattle population of only about 11,090, has had in force' an embargo on the importation of cattle for the past 150 years. And what do we find ? Cattle on the island are freer from diseases, including tuberculosis, than any other cattle in the world; their constitution is unimpaired, and they are fit for export to any part of the world. What has been done under an embargo in Jersey is an argument in favour of the retention of the embargo in New Zealand. “So far as pigs are concerned, Tamworths, Large Whites, Middle Whites, Berkshires and others are already present in the country, and by careful selection the correct types could be evolved to suit climatic conditions and market requirements.” The Home Country built up her stud stock by careful breeding and selection, , Mr. Peirson proceeds. Surely New Zea- ■ land could do the same, and in a shorter .time, for had she not had a better start from already selected stock ? Breeding, which included in-breeding, with careful selection had been the starting point of most of the world’s pure types of to-day. In-breeding, if noticed to be the cause of defects, could be corrected. The poor picture made by New Zealand stock at certain times of the year was due more to ill-feeding than to ill-breeding. j It had been said that no ease of foot- 1 and-mouth disease in any importing country had ever been proved to be < traceable to Great Britain. Why? Was it because of the cost of investigating the origin of such outbreaks? It was only after huge sums of money and much time had been spent in patient research work that the authorities discovered that the virus responsible for foot-and-mouth disease was actually imported in bone in chilled carcases, and by various other channels. That virus, i in dried blood, would survive on leather ] for 80 days, on hides for 89 days, and on J rubber for 102 days. In chilled bovine f carcases it would exist for 33 days in the i tongue, 40 days in blood on meat wrap- i pings, and 80 days in the bone marrow and blood clot. I EXISTENCE OF CARRIERS. ?

“Foreign research workers definitely state that earners of the disease do exist,” he continues. “British research workers have not as yet found any carriers, but their Continental co-work-ers have. Waldmann, experimenting with 500 recovered cattle, showed the virus to be present |n six of them at varying intervals from six to 246 days after infection. J. Fortner stresses the importance of the work of Waldmann, and States that Loffler (the discoverer of the virus of foot-and-mouth disease in 1892) considered that cattle could excrete the. virus up to seven months after recovery. In one exceptional case an infected guinea pig was still excreting the virus 198 days after infection.”

The points against the lifting of the embargo are summarised as follows:—(1) Carriers do exist; (2) Loffler, the discoverer of the virus of foot-and-mouth disease, and who is considered one of the foremost authorities on the disease, was of the opinion that cattle could carry the disease up to seven months after recovery; (3) Waldmann, another research worker, demonstrated carriers up to 246 days; (4) there is no urgent necessity for new blood; what is more urgent is education in the principles of breeding; (5) with the present incomplete state of our knowledge of the various types and strains of the foot-and-mouth disease viruses, it would be foolish to run any unnecessary risks; (6) an outbreak of the disease would mean financial catastrophe, not only to the farmer, but to the whole of New Zealand; (7) an outbreak would mean the loss of our markets, for during an enforced stand-still period other competitors would creep in and grasp those markets for which we have so long striven