TUBERCULOUS PIGS

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 19750, 17 March 1934, Page 15

TUBERCULOUS PIGS

QUESTION OF INFECTION. Pigs and cattle are the stock most susceptible to tuberculosis, and the former are often infected from tuberculous cows since the pig is utilised to dispose of skim milk. Infection of the pig usually takes place with the food, though it may be spread from one tuberculous pig to another, from a tuberculous sow to her litter or through wounds such as those from castration. Fresh air and sunlight are the strongest allies in the fight against tuberculosis, and these should especially be studied in designing piggeries. The factory system of dealing with whole milk assists the spread of tuberculosis, since the skim milk is mixed in a common vat, from which suppliers take back the separated milk to the farm. One tuberculous herd may thus infect a district.

The dung and discharge from tuberculous cows are also sources of infection, as is also the uncooked offal from tuberculous animals. The usual place of infection of pigs is in the lymphatic glands about head and throat; but the glands between the lungs and those attached to stomach, liver and intestines, the liver, lungs, spleen and mammary glands are often diseased, and occosionally the bones. These signs are detected after slaughtering. Definite signs of tuberculosis are seldom noticed in the living animal. Sometimes unthriftiness is a warning; lumps may be felt at the throat, and in advanced cases diarrhoea, coughing and quick breathing are signs of tubercular trouble. These, however, often indicate a quite different disease, No line of treatment can be advised, but the disease can be controlled by prevention.

All dairy products used for pigs should be heated up to 180 deg. Fahrenheit and kept at that temperature for 15 minutes. All offal should be boiled before feeding to pigs. All suspected animals should be slaughtered and pens disinfected by washing with limewash, to which is added a little disinfectant. All litter and rubbish should be burned, the ground turned over and dressed with quicklime.