No. 4.] llErOlIT OF CATTLE BUIIEAU. 241 



Tli(>re seem to be various ways in wliicli more could be done 

 if means permitted. If all eattle, except beeves fur imme- 

 diate slaughter and calves under six mouths old offered for 

 sale at Brighton market each Aveek, Massachusetts as well 

 as out of the State cattle, could be tested with tuberculin, and 

 the sale of all reactors stopped so as to furnish a clean mar- 

 ket, thus preventing infected animals from going out into 

 the herds of the Commonwealth, it would be an advance on 

 our present methods. At present only dairy, working and 

 store cattle from out of the State are tested, because the 

 State would have to pay for Massachusetts cattle that reacted, 

 and the funds of the Cattle Bureau are insufficient for this. 



There are buyers from Hampshire and Franklin counties' 

 who buy IMassachusetts cows that are farrow or a long way 

 from calving and ship them up to Belchertown, Greenfield, 

 Shelburne, Bernardston and such towns, where they are kept 

 by different farmers until they come in again, and are then 

 shipped to Brighton as fresh cows. Many of these animals 

 are tuberculous, and are spreading disease wherever they go. 

 Such creatures could not be shipped to Maine, ^ew Hamj)- 

 shire or Vermont without having to undergo a tuberculin 

 test. The movement of such animals should be stopped, in- 

 trastate as well as interstate. Then herds where tuberculosis 

 is constantly being found should be tested, the premises dis- 

 infected by the State, the herd retested in three or four 

 months, and if any reacted the premises should be disinfected 

 again. The owner should be given to understand that he 

 must purchase only tested animals in the future, and that 

 the State would never again compensate him for a tuberculous 

 creature. There are certain herds from which one or two 

 cows are now taken by the State every year, and paid for 

 by the Commonwealth, where it seems like putting a premium 

 on disease to do so, as the owners would take more pains to 

 keep their herds healthy if this market for diseased cattle 

 were taken away. 



At present, when an entire herd is tested by the State the 

 test is made with the understanding that the owner will take 

 Avhat the butcher will give for reacting animals that pass 

 slaughterhouse inspection as fit for beef, the State to pay for 



