276 TUBERCULOSIS. 



and bring them up on the milk of the healthy herd alone. The 

 healthy herd must be tested every six months or so, and if any 

 show reaction they must at once be removed from the rest. The 

 tuberculous herd may be kept and milked, but the milk should be 

 sterilized. By keeping up this procedure for a few years, it is possible 

 to eliminate the infected animals and have left a herd of healthy 

 animals. 



4. A still more recent plan has been widely adopted in Germany 

 and seems at present to offer the simplest and most hopeful solution. 

 It consists in separating all calves, as soon as born, from their 

 mothers, and rearing them separately from the rest of the herd. 

 Tuberculosis is not hereditary, and the calves of tuberculous mothers 

 are, when born, free from the disease (except in rare instances). 

 If, therefore, they are at once separated from their mothers, brought 

 up on pasteurized milk, and not allowed any possible contact with 

 the other animals, they may be reared free from the disease, becoming 

 in a few years a herd of healthy cattle, and if they are guarded from 

 outside sources of contamination they will continue to be free from 

 the disease. Meantime the animals in the infected herd, whose 

 milk may be used if throughly pasteurized, may be slowly disposed of, 

 while the healthy, growing herd gradually replaces them with the 

 smallest possible loss to their owner. Of course the healthy 

 animals must not be allowed to enter the quarters formerly occupied 

 by the diseased herd until there has been a thorough disinfection 

 of the premises. 



Which of these methods of procedure it is best to adopt depends 

 upon circumstances. If a man has only a small number of animals 

 and only one or two of them are tuberculous, his simplest plan 

 will be to slaughter the reacting animals at once. If his herd is a 

 large one, it is best to build up a healthy herd by one of the methods 

 outlined. He must remember that a single tuberculous animal 

 is a menace to his entire herd and he should begin his fight against 

 the disease at the very first discovery of an affected animal. Neglect 

 in using the tuberculin for fear that some reacting animals be found 

 in the herd is the height of folly. Half-way measures in handling 

 this subject are no better than none. 



