DAIRY DISEASES.

Wairarapa Age, 18 December 1924, Page 7

DAIRY DISEASES.

EXPERIMENTS BEING MADE.

The Live Stock Division of the Department of Agriculture is at present engaged in a systematic investigation of certain troublesome diseases affecting dairy cows, these being contagious abortion, sterility, and vaginitis. In order to obtain as definite a basis as possible upon which to establish the lines along which the investigation would be carried out, the Director of ’.he Division, several months back, took steps to secure a mass of information from field officers, both veterinarians and inspectors of stock, regarding their experience and personal observations of these diseases as met with in the course of their duties, and this proved of great value in enabling the scheme of investigation to be mapped out on g”od working lines.

The Wallaceville Laboratory forms the centre for special investigations and special experiments upon suitable animals. Working 'in close conjunciton are two capable veterinary officers stationed in dairying areas where they can keep in touch with affected herds, make close observations, and arrange for the carrying out of treatment based upon results or upon indications secured at the central experiment station. While these two officers devote their attention specially to this investigation, the whole of the veterinary and stock inspection staff of the Division will bo more or less associated with whjtt is being done. Contagious abortion and sterility m particular have caused great loss in practically all dairying countries, and latest advices front both England and America show that no satisfactory means of combating them has yet been discovered. The investigation is thus bound to be a difficult one, and quite probably it will occupy a prolonged period.