ere 



OUGHTA BE 



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^^•P HERE oughta be a law against that!" 



1 Sam Brown spoke sharply to his 

 veterinarian. 



"After the first of July there will be 

 a law, Sam." 



The two men were discussing a mis- 

 take Sam had made some time before. 



One morning he went to the bam 

 and was startled to find that one of his 

 cows had aborted a calf during the night. 

 Sam knew the cow wasn't due to calve 

 for at least three or four months, but, 

 there she was with a partially developed 

 calf lying in the gutter. 



On first thought this didn't worry Sam 

 too much. He always had had a Bang's 

 disease-free herd, and he figured the cow 

 probably had been injured in some way 

 and had aborted the calf as a result. So 

 he disposed of the calf and forgot about 

 the whole matter. 



Two weeks later, he again found an 

 aborted calf lying in the gutter. He 

 knew this cow wasn't due to freshen for 

 four months so he became concerned. 

 He had heard a lot about abortions and 

 Bang's disease, and abortion storms going 

 through herds, and thought it might be 

 wise to call in a veterinarian. 



The local veterinarian advised Sam to 

 blood test his herd for Bang's disease. 

 He had been testing quite regularly for 

 several years and had never had a re- 

 actor in his herd during that time. But 

 on the veterinarian's advice he had blood 

 samples sent to the laboratory for analy- 

 sis. To Sam's amazement the report came 

 back that he had several reactors and sev- 

 eral suspicious cows in his fine dairy 

 herd. 



"Where do you suppose I could have 

 picked up this infection. Doc.' I can't 



understand it. My herd has been dean 

 for so long." 



"There are many ways, Sam, by which 

 infection can get into a clean herd, and 

 one of the most common methods is by 

 bringing in replacement animals that 

 are infected. Have you added any cows 

 to your herd recently.'" 



"Well, yes I have. About three months 

 ago I bought a fine loddng cow at a 

 sale. That's her right down there. She 

 seems to be all right." 



"Let's check her blood test and see 

 what it shows." 



"OK, Doc. Her number is 789375." 



"Looks like she's a reactor all the way 

 across, Sam. That's probably where you 

 got your infection. Didn't this cow have 

 a blood test before you bought her?" 



"I don't know. She looked good and 

 I never gave a thought to checking on 

 her for Bang's disease." 



'. E-Form 33-A inpvL^.i] 



U. S. Department of Agriculture 



Agricultural Research Administration 

 Bureau or Animal Industry 



RECORD OF TEST FOR BRUCELLOSIS 



S..U.I Illinois 



Q__^ Richard R. Hoe 

 Cumberland 



CWiIy 



L„.,k«wu,^ Slx.mlles. west Of 



.Bradbupy, T,i.N,..l234-5.. 



ThU is port of the front page of the form 

 that must be filled out to conform with the 

 low requiring a record of test for brucel- 

 losis. 



The veterinarian shook his head. 

 "Well, Sam, it's really too bad, but it 

 looks like that's where you got your 

 Bang's disease. Right in that old girl 

 down there." 



And that's when Sam said: "There 

 oughta be a law." 



The law the veterinarian was referring 

 to is a change in the state Bang's disease 

 law which becomes eflfective July 1. It 

 says that: 



"On and after July 1, 1947, no female 

 cattle or breeding bulls more than eight 

 months of age shall be sold in this state 

 except for slaughter, unless such cattle 

 either:" 



a. "Have been tested for Bang's dis- 

 ease and found negative within 30 days 

 prior to the date of sale;" 



b. "Are under twenty months of age 

 and were vaccinated against Bang's dis- 

 ease with an approved vaccine when they 

 were not less than four or more than 

 eight months of age and were positively 

 identified; or" 



c. "Were in an abortion -free, accred- 

 ited herd at the time of sale." 



This means that any cow sold after 

 July 1 will have to show a clean test for 

 Bang's disease unless it has been properly 

 vaccinated, or comes from an accredited 

 herd. 



There are some exceptions to this law. 

 The Department of Agriculture may per- 

 mit cattle which react to the Bang's dis- 

 ease test to be sold or transferred into 

 herds where all of the animals have been 

 vaccinated against Bang's disease, or 

 where infection is known to exist. The 

 Department of Agriculture may permit 

 cattle more than eight months of age to 

 (Continued on Page 26) 



APRIL 1947 



