STAMPING OUT T.B.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLII, Issue 20512, 2 September 1936, Page 3

STAMPING OUT T.B.

SUCCESS OF EXPERIMENTS IN AYRSHIRE Further results of the Ayrshire experiment in the eradication of bovine tuberculosis have been reported by Mr S. J. Edwards, of the Hannah Dairy Research Institute. Between 1929 and 1932 free testing and expert advice on isolation of reactors were provided in an area of nine square miles. Last year all the herds in the area were re-tested to determine the influence of the experiment two and a half years after the cessation of free testing. At the official test in the autumn. 1929, 1198 animals were tested and 241 reacted. At the end of the three-year experimental period the number of reactors among 1322 animals was 87. In spring last year 1372 animals were tested, and only 13 reactors were found. The improvement in the expeHmental area also influenced neighbouring herds. Sixty-four herds, or one-third of all those within a fivemile area, are now free from infection. The report states that “no other area of comparable size in Great Britain contains a proportion to tubercle-free herds approaching this figure.” Radnorshire shares with the Scllly Isles the distinction of being the only area in Great Britain where no cattle have been slaughtered on account of tuberculosis during the last five years.