354 MISSOURI AGRICULTURAL REPORT, 



GUARDING AGAINST THE INTRODUCTION OF TUBER- 

 CULOSIS INTO THE DAIRY HERDS OF MISSOURI. 



(By Dr. D. F. Luckey, State Veterinarian of Missouri.) 



In view of the fact that very little is heard of tuberculosis among 

 the cattle in Missouri at the present time, and very little really exists 

 among them, it can reasonably be asked why we should do anything to 

 guard against its spread. The answer, if given in short, would be a very 

 simple one. We simply want to prevent tuberculosis from ever be- 

 coming prevalent among our herds. Then are our herds in any im- 

 mediate danger of becoming diseased with tuberculosis? The answer 

 to this is positively in the affirmative. There is no accurate way of 

 estimating the amount of tuberculosis among the cattle of any of the 

 states of this country. We have sufficient information, however, to make 

 reasonably accurate conclusions, and we know positively that in older 

 states in particular tuberculosis has become very prevalent among cat- 

 tle. The disease is spread from cattle to hogs, and the great number 

 of hogs that are being condemned at the slaughtering centers on ac- 

 count of tuberculosis is causing considerable agitation among the pack- 

 ers. Their investigations show that the tuberculous hogs are coming 

 principally from the older dairy districts, and they are, I am informed, 

 seriously considering the question of buying hogs from such districts 

 subject to post-mortem examination. 



PREVALENCE IN OLDER STATES. 



In many of the older states, notably Pennsylvania and Minnesota, 

 where a very rigid campaign of testing the dairy herds has been carried 

 on for years, so much tuberculosis is found among the cattle that its 

 eradication seems almost a hopeless task. In England and European 

 countries a closer investigation of the subject has been made and more 

 accurate statistics may be obtained. It is found that on an average 

 one out of every four of all classes of cattle in England are affected with 

 tuberculosis. A prominent importer of Aberdeen Angus cattle from 

 Scotland recently gave an interview in which he stated that an average 

 of one out of five of the cattle which he selected to bring to this coun- 

 try proved on inspection to be affected with tuberculosis. In some of 

 the European countries conditions are still worse. At certain slaughter- 

 ing centers in Germany as many as 50 per cent, and in some cases as 

 high as 75 per cent, of the carcasses of cattle slaughtered were con- 



