506 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doo. 



commission also report that both Dr. Martin and Dr. Woodhead, 

 who carried out the experimental researches in this matter, 

 " insist that no tuberculous animal of any kind should be allowed 

 to remain in a dairy." 



We concur generally in the views expressed, but, having regard 

 to the extent to which tuberculosis exists among milch cows, and 

 to the absence of evidence that danger of conveying tuberculosis 

 arose from the use of milk as a food apart from the existence 

 of tubercular disease of the udder, we are of opinion that direct 

 action for the elimination of all tuberculous cows from dairies 

 should proceed tentatively. There are, however, directions in 

 which action should be taken at once. These are : (1) systematic 

 inspection of the cows in dairies and cow sheds by the officers of 

 the local sanitary authorities within whose district the premises 

 are situated ; (2) inspection when desired of the cows in any dairy 

 or cow shed, wherever situated, by the authorized officers of local 

 authorities within whose districts milk from the premises in ques- 

 tion is supplied ; (3) power for a medical officer of health to 

 suspend the supply of milk from any suspected cow for a limited 

 period pending veterinary inspection ; (4) power to prohibit the 

 sale of milk from any cow certified by a veterinary surgeon to be 

 suffering from such disease of the udder as in his opinion renders 

 the animal unfit for the supply of milk, or exhibiting clinical 

 symptoms of tuberculosis ; (5) the provision of a penalty for 

 supplying milk for sale from any cow having obvious udder 

 disease, without the possession by the owner of a certificate to 

 the effect that such disease is not tubercular. 



In considering the elimination of bovine tuberculosis, they 

 discuss fully Bang's method of handling this disease. Tuber- 

 culin, he believes, gives trustworthy results in over 90 per 

 cent, of the animals tested, and in the great majority of those 

 which react the test reveals only latent tuberculosis. Shortly 

 stated, Bang's method is as follows : he separates the sound 

 from the reacting animals, feeding the calves born, from the 

 first day of life, on boiled milk, submitting once or twice a 

 year the healthy animals to a fresh test, placing such as react 

 on the further side of the partition, and purchasing only 

 animals that have stood the tuberculin test. In this way a 

 healthy herd may take the place of one that had been 

 markedly diseased. The milk of reacting animals is used in 

 the dairy. Of course cows showing physical evidence of 

 disease are destroyed. 



