64 EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 351 



Mastitis Diagnosis 



To enable veterinarians and dairymen to obtain an accurate diagno- 

 sis of bovine mastitis for the control and treatment of this disease, facili- 

 ties have been provided for a laboratory test bv the Experiment Statiion. 

 This service is available to all New Hampshire dairymen and veterinarians 

 at a charge of $.25 per sample. 



One composite sample from each cow is sufficient for the test. If 

 treatment is to be administered, then it is advisable to test individual quar- 

 ter samples from a cow to determine which quarters are infected and 

 therefore require treatment. Sample bottles can be obtained by writing 

 to the Bacteriology department. Directions for taking the samples are 

 submitted with the bottles. 



During the fiscal year 1942-43, a total of 325 samples was tested for 

 New Hampshire dairymen. 



L. W. Slanetz 



National Poultry Improvement Plan 



Record of Perfor?7iance: During this past year there were 12 farms 

 or 15 flocks of chickens under the national plan and one flock of turkeys 

 under state supervision. These 15 flocks had a total farm population of 

 54,893 birds, including 6,054 under supervision of the state inspector. 



Certified: Eight flocks, involving 20,570 birds, were certified during 

 the year. 



Approval: The U. S. Approval Stage of the plan had a decided in- 

 creased participation this year. There were 263 flocks that were handled 

 bv qualified flock selecting agents and their work was checked by the 

 official state inspector. This w^as an increase of 94 flocks over the year 

 1941-42. The total number of birds under this stage of the plan was 

 518,922 compared with 302,613 in 1941-42. 



H. E. Parker 



Pullorum Testing 



Over the last fiscal year, 1942-43 more hens and related fowl were 

 tested for pullorum disease than in any previous year since the program 

 was inaugurated in 1918-19, when 4,000 birds were tested. In 1920-21, 

 1 1,400 birds were tested. At that time 60 per cent of the flocks tested and 

 7.66 per cent of the birds in these flocks were found to be infected with 

 pullorum disease. 



In contrast to the above figures the staff tested 1,056,191 birds dur- 

 ing the year, and re-tested 58,908 birds, making a total number of 

 1,115,099 samples analyzed. These birds were from 599 flocks of which 

 20 flocks were found to be infected. The infected flocks had a total of 

 1,317 infected birds. Thus 3.33 per cent of the 599 flocks were infected 

 and .124 per cent of the total number of birds tested were found to be 

 infected. 



Although the amount of infection in both flocks and birds had in- 

 creased over the previous year, the picture is very satisfactory. The rea- 

 son is that the poultry population has greatly increased, and many new 



