558 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



hog cholera, and eighty-two to investigate doiirine, besides fifty 

 miscellaneous calls. 



GLANDERS. 



During this period, in answer to official calls to investigate 

 glanders, the Department has visited thirty-six counties in the 

 state, and in most instances the disease has been found to exist 

 as a result of the importation of horses from other states. In one 

 instance a carload of horses was shipped and all but two of the 

 animals in the shipment were found to be affeicted with glanders. 

 This carload was sold and distributed on Iowa farms before this 

 Department received the call to investigate, and the infected 

 horses thus distributed were accountable for the loss of a number 

 of native horses. This is a sample of what we learned was 

 happening in various parts of the state and on account of these 

 results the Animal Health Commission formulated their mling 

 requiring that all horses shipped into the state from states west of 

 the Mississippi river must be accompanied by health certificate 

 and record of mallein test. Since this ruling went into effect on 

 August 23, 1911, the testing of such shipments before being 

 released at point of destination has revealed the existence of 

 glanders in a number of importations. 



The rule provides that any shipment of horses from states 

 west of the Mississippi river not accompanied by health certificate 

 and record of mallein test, enters the state in quarantine and 

 shall remain in quarantine until released by this Department. 

 The strict application of this rule will prevent the recurrence of 

 such outbreaks, as the one referred to, and will save our Iowa 

 farm,ers a large percentage of the losses heretofone sustained on 

 account of outbreaks of glanders resulting from the importation 

 of diseased horses. During this period, the Department encoun- 

 tered quite a serious outbreak in the vicinity of Eldora, Iowa, 

 which was definitely traced to one western horse that escaped 

 from a shipment reaching Iowa Falls from Wyoming four years 

 ago. 



Most of the outbreaks of glanders located during this period 

 are the result of importations from South Dakota, and these im- 

 portations in most instances were unbroken horses. 



The writer is of the opinion a ruling should be made proliibiting 

 the importation of unbroken horses for the reason that this class 

 of horses cannot be satisfactorily examined or tested. At this 



