274 DISEASES OF SWINE 



gathering infectious material to be transported to the home feed 

 lots and set up an outbreak of cholera among your hogs. 



Infection of Public Roads. — This should be prevented in so far 

 as possible. There are in every neighborhood frequently to be 

 found farmers whose hogs are as likely to be found upon the public 

 road as they are to be in their home feed lots. In case the herd of 

 such a farmer becomes infected it is not long until his animals have 

 spread the infection all over the neighborhood. By their presence 

 on the public roads they themselves are more exposed to the infec- 

 tion and, at the same time, more likely to scatter the disease over 

 the community. There should be an absolute enforcement in 

 every community of a law which makes it necessary for everyone to 

 keep hogs off of the public roads. 



Whenever there is an outbreak of cholera on a farm it is the 

 usual rule to immediately ship all the animals that are anywhere 

 near in condition to be profitably sold. This is a practice which 

 cannot be condemned under present conditions, as the results of 

 recent outbreaks have been the total loss of entire herds, or a very 

 high percentage at least, while of those that do survive the attack 

 very frequently there are several which remain runty and never 

 do well afterward. 



There can be no severe criticism for a man who tries to save 

 himself as much of the loss of possible. The present regulations 

 governing the meat-inspection judgment of cholera hogs, however, 

 makes this shipment of diseased animals far less profitable than it 

 was in former years. By a recent ruhng of the Bureau of Animal 

 Industry no animals can now be passed for food if they show even 

 slight positive evidence of cholera, while well-marked lesions in 

 even one organ is sufficient evidence on which to condemn the 

 entire carcass. In addition to this the Federal Inspectors are now 

 taking temperatures of all suspicious animals, and any that show a 

 temperature of 106° F. or above are condemned if on postmortem 

 they show any signs of the disease. This is a very decided change 

 from the old regulations which permitted the passage for food of 

 animals in which the changes were slight, and only provided for 

 condemnation in those cases where the changes were well marked 

 and quite widely distributed. This change will make a great deal 

 of difference in the returns which will be received from the ship- 



