17 



7. — DiRECTTOKS FOR InOCULATIXO. 



(1.) Yards and T?enfor inocidatinfj. 



On a station where the number of cattle does not exceed 2,000 

 or 3,000, and where a spaying bail and forcing yards are already 

 erected, the herd mightbc inoculated in the bail, although only half 

 the number would be got through in a day that could be operated 

 on in a proper innoculating pen. The cost of a proper pen 

 would be soon repaid by the saving of time in inoculating, and 

 by the convenience it would afterwards be, when branding store 

 stock brought upon the run, as well as in many other ways in 

 working in the herd. 



Where, therefore, the herd is large, it would save time and 

 expense to erect a small forcing yard, with a five railed six-feet high 

 pen, eight or ten panels in length, and two feet six inches wide in the 

 clear. The posts should be round, mortised through and through, 

 with the mortises worked close to the inner side of the post, so 

 as that when pu* up, the sides of the post do not project 

 further into the pen than the rails ; and they should be three feet 

 in and eight feet out of the ground, with caps on each pair across 

 the pen. A pen made of round rails will be found more con- 

 venient and safe to work at, than if they were split, less liable 

 to injure the cattle, and less costly in erection. The pen should 

 of course be logged, and have the proper gates and fastenings at 

 each end. In such a yard and pen, five or six hands could inocu- 

 late from 500 to 600 head a day. 



In whatever way the operation is performed, or whatever sort 

 of pen is used in inoculating, the tail ought to be kept steady ; 

 and where cattle do not pack so closely in the pen that they 

 cannot move, short round rails should be piit through the pen 

 behind them at every other post ; and if they are very small, 

 their heads should be secured to a rail of the pen by a leg-rope. 



{2.)— The Virus. 



The virus is to be taken from the lung of a young beast in the 

 second stage of the disease. 



To select an animal in this stage, perhaps the surest plan in 

 bush cattle is to gather up a mob in which there is reason to 

 believe the infection exists, although none of them show any signs 

 of being diseased, and drive them at a comparatively sharp pace 

 for one, two, or even three miles. If any of tliem are aflected, 

 they will, after going a mile or two, begin to pant and blow, and 

 perhaps to cough, and drop behind the mob, thereby showing 

 that they are touched in the lungs. An animal behaving in this 

 way when the disease is prevalent is almost certain to be a proper 

 subject, and will give the right sort of virus. This is seldom to be 

 obtained from one that shows signs of being diseased when not 

 disturbed. 



