CATTLE commissioners' REPORT. 243 



List of items for the deficiency of 1904 can be found in the 

 1904 report. 



During the years 1903 and 1904 the cattle cost the state an 

 average of $33.98, including all expenses. It cost an average 

 to condemn and destroy, including all expenses, $11.91 ; the own- 

 ers received an average of $22.07. 



During the years di 1905 and 1906, under the same condi- 

 tions, cattle cost $35.48 each. It cost to condemn and destroy, 

 including all expenses of testing 935 pure blood cattle under the 

 new law and all other expenses pertaining to the business, an 

 average of $12.14; the owners received upon an average, for 

 each animal, $23.34. 



More work has been done by the commissioners and more 

 money expended during the last two years than any other two 

 years within the history of the board. And it is the duty of the 

 commissioners to show why more work has been done and more 

 money expended. 



The custom previous to 1904 in relation to pure blood cattle 

 being brought into the state for breeding purposes, was for 

 the commissioners to grant permits upon the tests made by the 

 veterinarians in the state where the cattle were bought. The 

 commissioners discovered by destroying several large herds 

 that the disease was traced back to some animal that had been 

 brought in from another state, and used in the herd for breed- 

 ing purposes ; sometimes it would be a male and sometimes a 

 female. This condition of things was reported by the commis- 

 sioners to the agricultural committee two years ago, and they 

 thought advisable to pass a law whereby all pure blood cattle 

 brought into Maine from another state should be tested by order 

 of the Maine commissioners within thirty days after arrival, and 

 also all pure blood cattle sold within the state should be tested 

 before delivery. 



The commissioners had no way of knowing what the expense 

 of this new law would be, but the legislature appropriated about 

 three thousand dollars more than the commissioners expended 

 in the two years previous, which brought the appropriation up to 

 thirty thousand dollars, for the two succeeding years, 1905 and 

 1906. The first year the law was in force we condemned twenty- 

 three cattle and the last year, seven, that were brought into the 

 state for breeding purposes. These cattle were destroyed with- 



