HAMRSHIRI 



COUNTY 



1) i916 



FARM BUREAU MONTRIZ^ 



Published by the Hampshire County Farm Bureau 



PRICES 50 CENTS PER YEAR; $1.00 PER YEAR INCLUDING MEMBERSHIP IN FARM BUREAU 



Vol. 1 



Northampton, Mass., July, 1916 



No. 11 



FIELD MEETINGS 

 Several towns have shown a de- 

 sire to have field meetings held in 

 the different sections of the Coun- 

 ty this summer and at the June Ad- 

 visory Board Meeting it was voted 

 to hold five of these meetings, scat- 

 tered throughout the County. One 

 will be held in Hadley for the To- 

 bacco and Onion Growers. This 

 meeting will be held on July 21st 

 and Mr. H. G. Bell. Agronomist for 

 the National Fertilizer Association 

 of Chicago. Mr. J. S. Alsop, Pres. 

 New England Tobacco Growers' As- 

 sociation, Avon, Conn., and Dr. Geo. 

 Chapman of the Mass. Agricultural 

 College haye been obtained as speak- 

 ers. Other meetings have been ar- 

 ranged for in Cummington on W, H. 

 Morey's farm, Williamsburg on J. S. 

 Graves' farm, Ware on Bert Green's 

 farm, and also one in Granby. The 

 last four meetings will be held some 

 time in August. Plans are nearly 

 completed for another meeting to be 

 held on the Mixter Farm, Hardwick. 

 The trip will be made by auto and 

 an attempt is being made to get at 

 least twenty autos to carry the 

 farmers who desire to go. The Conn- 

 ecticut Valley Breeders' Association 

 Is co-operating to make it a success. 

 Every dairyman, no matter what 

 breed of stock he has, will profit 

 from seeing this herd of 300 Guern- 

 seys, said by many to be the best in 

 the country. 



A list is given below of the towns 

 In Hampshire County with the num- 

 ber of members belonging to the 

 Farm Bureau. Also the amounts 

 appropriated by several of the towns: 



Members 



Amherst 15 



Belchertown 10 



Chesterfield 42 



Cummington 10 



Easthampton 49 



Enfield 1 



Goshen 10 



Granby 10 



Greenwich 2 



Hadley 27 



Hatfield _ 17 



HuBtington 38 



Middlefield 5 



.Miscellaneous 5 



Northampton 68 



Pelham 1 



Plainfleld 10 



Prescott 2 



South Hadley 10 



Southampton 24 



Ware ... 37 



Weshampton . . . . 13 



Williamsburg 20 



Worthington 6 



432 

 Town 

 Appropriation 



Chesterfield $15.00 



Cummington 25.00 



Granby 25.00 



Huntington 25.00 



Plainfleld 25.00 



Prescott 25.00 



Southampton 25.00 



Ware 100.00 



Westhampton 25.00 



Williamsburg 25,00 



$^-15tO» 



. J ¥-o.oa 



CONTAGIOUS ABORTION. 



Contagious abortion among cattle, 

 the annual loss from which was esti- 

 mated a few years ago to be $20,000- 

 000, is spreading so rapidly through 

 the country that from an economic 

 standpoint it threatens to become 

 one of the most important of animal 

 diseases. Formerly confined almost 

 exclusively to dairy cows and farm 

 beef herds, it has now found its way 

 to the range, where losses in some in- 

 stances have run as high as one- 

 half of the calf crop. Here the con- 

 ditions are such as to make Its con- 

 trol difficult. For this reason it Is 

 important that stockmen should 

 realize the seriousness of the disease 

 and the necessity for the adoption of 

 measures for preventing its spread. 



At the present time sanitary and 

 hygienic measures are the only 

 means of control which have dem- 

 onstrated their effectiveness. The 

 drugs and proprietary preparations 

 which have been advocated for the 

 cure or prevention of the disease are 

 regarded by the specialists of the de- 

 partment as ineffective, and their 

 use can not be recommended. On the 



other hand, it is certain that proper 

 disinfection of premises, and in par- 

 ticular of breeding animals, will do 

 much to minimize losses. 



Recently preparations known as 

 "bacterins," consisting of a suspen- 

 sion of the killed organisms of abor- 

 tion, and serum obtained from in- 

 fected animals, have come into use 

 and can be obtained from several 

 firms who manufacture biologic 

 products. These products are still 

 in the experimental stage, and much 

 time must elapse before their true 

 value can be determined. Not- 



withstanding this fact, this line of 

 treatment offers the most scientific 

 and reasonable method of combating 

 the disease, and our only hopes of 

 eventually controlling abortion lies 

 in the future development of an ef- 

 fective vaccine or serum. 



The organism which causes the 

 disease may be conveyed from cow 

 to cow by means of the bull or may 

 enter the system with contaminated 

 food. All aborting animals and all 

 showing a discharge should, there- 

 fore, be isolated from the healthy 

 members of the herd in order to 

 eliminate, so far as possible, infect- 

 ive material. Infected stables should 

 be thoroughly cleaned with a stand- 

 ard disinfectant applied with a force 

 or spray pump, the disinfection of 

 the contaminated stall being repeat- 

 ed after each abortion. Manure 

 and contaminated litter should be 

 promptly removed and plowed under 

 to prevent access to it by other cat- 

 tle. Detailed instructions for the 

 disinfection of both the cow and the 

 bull are contained in Circular 210 

 of the Bureau of Animal Industry. 



Many herd owners fail to observe 

 these precautions because they do 

 not realize that the infection is pres- 

 ent in their herds. The disease Is 

 insidious, it usually requires a long 

 time to develop, does not reveal it- 

 self by warning symptoms, and does 

 not, indeed, appear to affect in any 

 way the general health of the ani- 

 mal. In consequence, it is quite 

 likely that the infection will have 

 spread throughout the herd before 

 the owner is aware of any dnger. 

 There are, it is true, certain tests 

 Continued on Page Three 



