215 



herd is always great. Losses from death and condemnation 

 of infected animils will occur at intervals for a number of 



years. 



When a herd becomes infected the cows that react with the 

 tuberculin test should be quarantined or destroyed. The 

 Danish method of quarantining tuberculous cows and steril- 

 izing the milk from such cows can not be employed in this 

 country without having an inspector conduct the process of 

 sterilization. Some authorities believe that tuberculous milk 

 may contain a sufficient quantity of the poison or toxine to 

 injure the health of persons w^ho consume such infected milk, 

 especially if the persons are tuberculous. Hence it is the 

 cheapest and safest to remove all tuberculous animals from 

 the dairy herd and never thereafter use their milk as human 



food. 



The barns, stalls and watering troughs where tuberculous 

 animals have been kept, fed and watered should be thor- 

 oughly cleansed and disinfected. Thereafter the herd must 

 be tested with tuberculin at least every six months. If 

 proper hygienic conditions are maintained the number of 

 cows that react will be fewer at the second test than at the 

 first. 



The dairy herds that supply the city of Montgomery with 

 milk have been tested twice with tuberculin. All of the cows 

 have been tested once and part of them twice ; between the 

 first and second tests several herds were changed by the sale 

 of tested cows and the purchase of untested cows. The first 

 test showed that about one per cent, of the entire number 

 were tuberculous. In the second test about two and one- 

 fourth per cent, of the entire number tested reacted. 



A dairy herd was tested by a qualified veterinarian in a 

 place in Alabama where no law exists to enforce the removal 

 of tuberculous animals from the dairy; over 50 per cent, of 

 that herd of cows reacted. Tuberculin tests in Alabama have 

 thus far proven that many herds are free of tuberculosis, some 

 herds are slightly infected and others have been seriously 

 infected. Hence the necessity for thorough inspection. 



How to Make the Tuberculin Test— Begin with a small 



