FARMERS' MONTHLY OF HAMPSHIRE COUNTY 



in this county, gave the following testi- 

 mony. "In preventing tuberculosis we 

 must consider five things: It is jjreventa- 

 ble, it is curable, it is communicable, it is 

 not inherited and it is an economic loss. 

 It is communicable, that is — catching, 

 from one person to another. We can re- 

 duce this by sanatorium and by proper 

 home supervision. It is curable, we have 

 proven this. That it is not inherited has 

 also been proven. We say it is preventa- 

 ble. How are we going to prevent it? 

 First, we must find the source of infec- 

 tion. 



"No doubt you all know about the ten 

 year program that is being conducted by 

 that State Department of Health for the 

 examination of all 107( underweight 

 children and children that have been ex- 

 posed to the disease. The results of three 

 years of experience for the state have 

 been summarized by Dr. Henry D. Chad- 

 wick who is an expert in this work. He 

 says, "One third more children from rural 

 communities have tuberculosis in some 

 form than do children. Why? Because 

 most city children have pasteurized milk 

 and rural children have raw milk from 

 untested cows." This is for the state as 

 a whole. For our own county it would be 

 impossible to make this comparison, but I 

 will say we have our share of infected 

 ■children, which varies from two to six 

 per cent in different towns in the county. 



"Last year 441 persons in the state 

 died from tuberculosis. This is what we 

 call an economic loss. Staticians are re- 

 minding us all of the time that the death 

 rate from this disease has been cut in 

 half in the last twenty years. Are we 

 going to be satisfied with this? Tubercu- 

 losis is one of the oldest diseases. It may 

 not disappear from the world, but we can 

 do a great deal to keep the infection 

 down. 



"When such men as Dr. John B. Hawes 

 of Boston say "sometime or other we are 

 all infected with tuberculosis, and it is 

 safe to say that 987c of the infections 

 take place in childhood," we must find out 

 where this infection is coming from. I go 

 through the county and find boys and 

 girls learning to raise vegetables, chick- 

 ens and cows. If the cattle are the type 

 that Yankee Bill is raising we may ques- 

 tion whether they are tubercular or not. 

 If Dr. Chadwick says "one third more 

 rural children are found tubercular than 

 in the cities," and Dr. Hawes says, "98% 

 are infected in childhood" we must trace 

 this infection and be sure it it not coming 

 from milk. We must poke Yankee Bill 

 in the ribs and see how best we can help 

 him to clean up this disea.se in his cattle. 



This trial was one of three held in the 

 western part of the state. -The idea of 

 the trial was brought forward by J. C. 

 Cort of the State Department of Agri- 

 culture, and it was thru the co-operation 

 of this department that the trials were 

 made possible. 



PROGRESS ON T. B. EDRADICATION UP TO 1927 



T B. E.vo-i\co,tion Jan. 192 7 



Hampshire county is up to the state 

 average in the percentage of cattle in ac- 

 credited herds, but falls below the state 

 average in the total number of cattle un- 

 der test, according to figures just made 

 public by the division of animal industry. 



The records show that at the present 

 time there are 459 accredited herds in 

 the state with a total of 10,259 cattle in 

 these herds. This is only about five per 

 cent of the total number of cattle in the 

 state. The total number of cattle under 

 test in the state, including those in accred- 

 ited herds, is 28,495 or about 15 per cent 

 of the total cow population of the state. 

 Taking the United States as a whole, five 

 per cent of the cattle are in accredited 

 herds, but fully 25 per cent are under 

 test. This shows that Massachusetts is 

 lagging behind the country as a whole. 



The figures for the various counties are 

 shown graphically on the chart. Hamp- 

 shire county is a little farther along in 

 testing than some other important dairy 

 counties, but still has a long way to go. 

 One of the eneoui-aging features in Hamp. 

 shire county is that there are, in addition 

 to the accredited herds, a considerable 

 number of cattle under test which will 

 give plenty of material to work on for the 

 next few years if the area test plan is 

 adopted in the state. 



If an area test plan were adopted it is 

 probable that a beginning would be made 

 in Berkshire county and that it would 

 spread into Hampden and Hampshire 

 counties naturally. 



Tests made in Huntington show that 

 there is a very small percentage of reac- 

 tors. Tests made, in the western part of 

 the county, on cattle to be shipped to 

 Connecticut show similar results. The 

 farmers in this section are overlooking an 

 opportunity if they do not test now. 



Detail County Figures 



The following table shows the progress 

 that has been made in the different towns 

 of the county up to January 15, 1927, in 

 T. B. eradication under state and federal 

 government supervision: 



There are 715 T. B. free cattle in the 

 29 accredited herds. Amherst has the 

 greatest number, 353. Huntington is 

 second with 98. The percentage of reac- 

 tors is high enough so that it is time that 

 this disease was cleaned up. The longer 

 the tea*mg is put off the larger the per- 

 centage of reactors will be. The East- 

 hampton herd is an example of this as 

 82.47r of the cattle reacted. Herds of 

 this kind have been a liability to the own- 

 ers for some time. Udder trouble and 

 breeding difficulties are usually prevalent 

 in such herds. While it may be a shock 

 to the owner of such herds to find such a 

 large percentage of reactors, in the long 

 run will be ahead by getting rid of them. 

 The only sad thing about it will be that 

 he waited so long before testing. 



