94 FORTY YEARS' EXPERIENCE OF A PRACTICAL HOG MAN 



An important point which should be mentioned is the possibility of 

 carrying, or the transmission of, cholera infection from herds, in which 

 the simultaneous method of treatment is employed, to herds which are 

 not immune. For the past year and a half we have shipped hogs and pigs 

 to every section of the United States, and we have as yet to learn of 

 the first instance where any infection has been carried from our herd to 

 other herds, even though those herds had not been given the simultaneous 

 treatment. And further, we have as yet to hear of the first case where 

 herds in our own locality have become infected because of our practice 

 of employing the simultaneous treatment to immunize our animals. 



It is advisable, however, that care should be taken where hogs are 

 being shipped from herds in which the simultaneous method is used, and 

 especially so when they are being sent into sections where the animals 

 are not immune. Animals just treated should be held several weeks before 

 shipment, and in all cases they should be thoroughly disinfected before 

 being sent out. Upon being received by the purchaser they should be 

 held in quarantine for about thirty days. Observation of the above pre- 

 cautions should remove all possibility of trouble. 



Each Man Must Decide for Self. Whether or not a breeder of hogs 

 should adopt the policy of simultaneously treating his animals, and thus 

 establishing and maintaining a permanent immune herd, is for each breeder 

 himself to determine. Situated as we are, in the center of the great swine 

 producing section of the country, where hog cholera outbreaks are con- 

 stantly occurring, and hog cholera germs are with us practically all of 

 the time, this method of treatment is our only salvation, and affords the 

 only means by which we can check and prevent the disease. For breeders, 

 who live in sections of the country where the disease seldom occurs, and 

 who are not bringing in stock from cholera infested districts, the need 

 for immediate action is not so imperative. But those breeders who do not 

 adopt the practice of permanently immunizing their herds, and follow 

 this up by likewise immunizing their young stock as it comes along each 

 year, should be ever on the alert, and when an out-break of cholera does 

 occur in their locality they should at once get in touch with their state 

 authorities, and active and persistent steps be taken to check the progress 

 of the disease. 



Unfortunately, many of our states have not as yet provided ample 

 facilities for the production of proper serum and virus to meet the demand 

 when hog cholera becomes epidemic. Under these circumstances breeders 

 are forced to depend upon commercial concerns for their supplies. 



It is in helping the breeder to get pure and potent serum and virus 

 that the state and federal authorities can be of greatest assistance. Every 

 plant manufacturing these supplies should be under constant state or 

 federal supervision, and every bottle of serum and virus sent out should 

 bear the stamp of the government inspector. This would in effect place all 

 serum and virus on a recognized standard basis as to their purity and 

 potency, and would insure to the farmer and breeder the quality of the 

 article they were getting. Then steps should be taken by the state author- 

 ities to see that the serum and virus are administered by men who know 

 their business and have license to do the work. 



While the simultaneous method of treatment affords a means of check- 

 ing and eliminating hog cholera, in districts or sections of the country 

 where it has become prevelant, every precaution should be taken to pre- 

 vent its being carried into other sections or states not so infected. 



A law should be passed making it a misdemeanor to sell a bunch of 

 sick hogs. A law should be passed requiring the railroad companies to 

 disinfect each stock car after it has taken a load of hogs to market, and 

 every public stock yard should be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected at 

 stated intervals. Further, a law is needed, and should be enacted by the 

 federal government, requiring a certificate of health for a hog before he 

 can be shipped from one state to another. 



These are precautionary measures which are needed and which can 

 and will do much towards preventing the spreading of the disease. 



