DISEASE AMONG STOCK

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 74, Issue 192, 15 August 1931, Page 20 (Supplement)

DISEASE AMONG STOCK

FOOT-AND-MOUTH COMPLAINT DANGER EMPHASISED BY RECURRENCE IN BRITAIN MANY ANIMALS SAID TO HAVE BEEN DESTROYED

Since the recent recommendation of the Board of Agriculture that the han on the importation of livestock from Great Britain should he lifted’ interest has been centred more than ever on the incidence of foot-and’-mouth disease in that country, Outbreaks of the disease have occurred in England with persistent frequency since September of last year, a fact which ha s been reflected in the vigorous protests by New Zealand farmers against the recommendations of the board. The opposition to the lifting of the existing restrictions is likely to be further strengtheued as a result of the serious recurrence of ihe disease during June, not only in England, but also in Scotland and Wales.

During the 18 months prior to June i the following cases of root-and-mouth 1 disease were confirmed in England:—, March 24, 1931, at Briercliff, Lancashire; March 14, at Menston, near Leeds; March 8, at Stafford; January 26, at Bletchley, Bedfordshire; Jami- i ary 18, at Lewes, Sussex; November 10, 1930, at Huddersfield, Yorkshire; September 20 and 28, at Stockesley, Yorkshire; September 15, at Pinbright, Surrey; September 6 and 7, at Holbeck, Yorkshire; December 23, 1929, in West Sussex. Blow to Scottish Interests. Agricuhural interests in Scotland re-1 ceivcd a heavy blow. One of the to 1 scots of the Ministry’s order prohibiting i all markets, sales and exhibitions of livestock, except licensed markets an 1 sales of fat stock for immediate slaugli ter was that no cattle, sheep or pigs could be exhibited at the 100th show of the Highland Agricultural Society, which opened at Edinburgh on July 23. Tne Scottish outbreaks occurred o: Perth, where, according to the BanwshLe Journal, the first suspicions we? aroused or June 18, wffien an animal grazing among other cattle in a fie'.d belonging to a firm of auctioneers observe-* to he ill. The existence of ’.ov t n nd mouth disease was at once feared, and the authorities were lui mediately communicated with. At 2 a.m. next day officials from the Ministry of Agriculture confirmed the existence of the disease. The animal affected was one of a consignment of cattle from Ireland. They had been exposed for sale in the auctioneers’ mart, and eight had been sold to a farmer of Pictstonhill, near Perth. The unsold animals, which in-

eluded the affected member of the herd, had been placed in fields belonging to the auctioneers, and tvere to nave been re-exposed for sale. Cremation of Affected Animals, On examination of these cattle, as well as those at Pictstonhill, it was found that a few had contracted the disease. Arrangements were immedi ately made to have them destroyed iu the fields in which they grazed, along with other cattle with which they had been in contact. Altogether 50 animals were cremated. 33 of which had been in contact with the cattle affected. The outbreak caused a great sensation among the farming . community around Perth. That day was market day. but little business was done. The auction marts, the largest in the country, at which big sales are held, were closed, and no one was allowed within the gates. The county police were engaged from an early hour in the morning stopping the movement of cattle within a radius of 15 miles. John N. Ritchie, veterinary inspector for the County of Midlothian, had a suspected ease in that county under observation in an Irish bullock and the same day four or five Irish cattle on a farm near Kirkcaldy were certified as suffering from the disease. The task, of slaughtering the animals in the affected foot-and-mouth area, near Downpatrick, Northern Ireland, was carried out without delay. Unemployed were utilised to dig huge graves, in which the carcases were buried in quicklime. One hundred head of cattle and over 200 sheep were killed on four farms under the supervision of officials of the Department of Agriculture.