No. 5. DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 108 



the third time. Some may become sterile as a result of the disease 

 but after the second abortion tliey usually carry the calves to full 

 term. It can be controlled in herds by following the instructions 

 recommended in Circular No. 20, which is sent out by the State Live- 

 stock Sanitary Board. Breeders of valuable cattle are recommended 

 to adopt rigid sanitary measures for its control. 



Many young animals still die each year with such diseases as naval 

 infection, white scours, joint evil, paratyphoid infection and calf 

 pneumonia. These diseases are practically all caused by the same 

 class of infection organism and when once they become established 

 in a herd or in a stable, the losses each year in young animals is very 

 discouraging, as practically all cases are incurable and the fatality 

 is high. The only means of meeting the losses from this class of dis- 

 ease is in their prevention, and prevention can only be brought about 

 by a rigid system of sanitation or what is known in medicine as 

 surgical cleanliness. This can be brought about in a practical way 

 by isolating the pregnant animals, placing them in stalls that have 

 been thoroughly cleaned and disinfected before parturition, and the 

 dam and young animal kept in such quarters for the first week. The 

 infection in each of these diseases is easily carried on the hands and 

 clothing of the stable help, on the body of the dam, in troughs or 

 buckets that have not been boiled or cleansed, and it is difficult to 

 explain to those who are not skilled in the science of bacteriology the 

 importance of thorough cleanliness. 



These diseases, as well as foot-and-mouth disease, tuberculosis, 

 contagious abortion, etc., can easily be carried from farm to farm 

 in skim milk that is returned from the creamery as food for calves 

 or pigs. These diseases may also be carried in the cans from infected 

 herds to the creamery and thus infect the milk and other cans and 

 then be carried to various herds in the community. To meet the 

 dangers from spreading infection in this way, the last Legislature 

 passed a law requiring the pasteurization of skim milk, by heating 

 it to 178 degrees F. It is known that this temperature will kill the 

 organisms that cause these various diseases and that milk that has 

 been heated to this temperature can be fed safely to susceptible ani- 

 mals. During the last few months foot-and-mouth disease has been 

 spread considerably through creameries by infected cans and milk 

 returned to other farms as food for hogs and calves. In some cases 

 farmers have objected to handling hot milk and so far we have no 

 economical method for cooling milk promptly. For the reason many 

 of the creamerymen have been slow about installing pasteurizing 

 plants. An efficient method for pasteurizing skim milk can be in- 

 stalled in any creamery that is equipped with steam for less than 

 $15.00 and this form of pasteurization can be worked with a minimum 

 of expense and labor. The only criticism offered by most creamery- 

 men for not installing and using this method of pasteurization is the 

 fact that farmers object to hauling hot milk, and that heated milk 

 does not keep so well when they get it home. It is hoped that 

 creamerymen and their patrons will soon realize the importance of 

 pasteurizing milk that is used as food for hogs and calves and that 

 each party will co-operate in devising methods for pasteurizing, cool- 

 ing and keeping milk that will not be a means of conveying trans- 

 missible diseases from farm to farm. It is equally as important that 

 cans should be washed and properly sterilized at the creamery or 

 before they are returned to the patrons. 



