DESTRUCTION OF CALIFORNIA CATTLE BY VARIOUS DISEASES. 



Hon. NORMAN J. COLMAN, 



Commissioner of Agriculture: 



SIR: In accordance with your telegraphic order of September 28, 

 1888, I employed Dr. Thomas Bowhill, M. K. C. V. S., and at once 

 took the field to investigate the causes of the great mortality among 

 the cattle in Monterey County, this State. 



Arriving at Cholone, a station on the Southern Pacific Railroad, 

 we visited the herd of E. J. Breen, and found that during the month 

 of September he had lost over 900 out of a band of 1,200 cattle, and 

 nearly 100 others were suffering from the disease. Two cows were 

 killed that were in the last stages of the disease and autopsies made. 

 These are hereto attached and made a part of this report. Texas 

 fever was the trouble. 



Proceeding to Coburn's ranch, we found 13 cases of actinomy cosis 

 r; i id some tuberculosis. Two animals were killed, autopsies made, and 

 the results herewith submitted. 



At Soledad we examined one cow and pronounced it splenic fever. 

 Around this village nearly all the cattle are infected, and hundreds 

 have died. While we found no anthrax, there is no doubt in my 

 mind but that the disease exists here, and probably more than half 

 of the deaths have occurred from this cause. 



Visiting Gonzales, we found the whole region round about rotten 

 with anthrax. One herd of 800 cattle placed in a stubble field July 

 15 had suffered a loss of 100 head, and the autopsies showed anthrax 

 clearly in the general condition of the organs, and under the micro- 

 scope the anthrax germ. Autopsies herewith inclosed. Two horses 

 were examined and anthrax found. Autopsies also inclosed. At 

 this place the Spanish residents are in the habit of eating the meat 

 of the dead animals after "jerking" it, and the local physician re- 

 ports 14 deaths among their children from putrid sore throat, caused, 

 he says, by eating this diseased meat. Quantities of it are being 

 shipped to San Francisco, and this fact I have reported to the board 

 of health there. Proper action will be taken. 



Diligent search was made for the history of the causes leading to 

 these outbreaks, but the shortness of the time given for investiga- 

 tion rendered it impossible to gather reliable data. From all the 

 facts attainable, I am of the opinion that there is a considerable area 

 in this State that is permanently infected with the germs of splenic 

 fever. The tr alina Valley, where this outbreak occurred, was visited 

 last winter by cold sufficient to freeze the ground to the depth of an 

 inch. Certainly this would kill the fever germs. Many cattle have 

 been brought in this year from the San Joaquin Valley and other 

 parts of the State to feed on the stubble, but none can be found that 

 came from Texas or other southern points east of the Rockies. I 

 am not prepared to say definitely that the Texas fever originated 

 here, but there is much to induce the belief. 

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