MAMMITIS.

Waipa Post, Volume II, Issue 56, 27 October 1911, Page 4

MAMMITIS.

SCOURGE OF THE DAIRY FARM. A short time ago potation from the King Country waited upon the Government with a request that the authorities should go into the matter of a trial that was offered to the Agricultural Department by Mr Ernest Skinner, of Taranaki, regarding the use of his preparation called “ Mammitem,” on cows suffering from mammitis. The desired test was not arranged. Dairymen the world over have to face mammitis in all its forms and veterinarians have not, so far, discovered a remedy which will cure the affected quarter and yet leave the milk glands in a healthy milking state. As matters stand mammitis is one of the greatest scourges the dairyman has to contend with, and it will appear in a clean herd practically without giving any indication of how it arose. Cases have come under notice in which heifers have developed the disease on the first calf, thus showing that the germs have not been carried by. the milker. Trained veterinarians and farmers who have fought the disease recognise the seriousness of contamination and use every effort to prevent the spread of the disease. As the disease is one which takes many forms and gives a great number of symptoms it is hard to define from inflammation of the udder until the more acute forms develop, and then the farmer will require all the knowledge that the veterinarian can give him, but if he is advised in time he will study this complaint, and be in a position to fight it as he will need to sooner or later, as the spread is daily increasing and is more than seriously affecting the prosperity of the dairy industry of New Zealand. In certain herds under observation of the Veterinary Division 40 to 80 per cent of the cows have become useless and many have died as a result of the disease.

It will be seen from the above the importance which a remedy is to the farmer and State. Mr

Skinner is a practical farmer of fifteen years’ experience in Taranaki. He has had considerable trouble with mammitis in his herd, and after a great deal of costly experimenting and research he has been able, with the assistance of a practical chemist, to formulate a preparation of remarkable antiseptic properties—properties that are said to be death to germ life, yet healing and harmless to the membrane of the udder. It is stated that results have proved this treatment to be far in advance of anything yet put before the dairy farmer, and Mr Skinner is now introducing it to dairy farmers.