406 DISEASES OF CATTLE. 



The investigations made by the British Dairy Farmers' Association 

 deserve particaihir attention, coming as tliey do directly from a cattle 

 owners' organization. The council of this association " resolved to 

 submit the general consideration of the question to a committee, with 

 a view to some more definite understanding as to the possible extent 

 to which tuberculosis exists in dairy cattle." The secretary was 

 instructed to write to a number of dairy farmers being members of 

 the association, asking their cooperation and the use of their herds 

 for the application of the tests. Of the herds offered, 9 were selected, 

 containing 461 cows and 12 bulls, and l^H of these animals reacted, 

 being 40.8 per cent. There were among these cattle 335 Shorthorns, 

 of which 119, or 35 per cent, reacted; 07 crossbreds, of which 28, or 

 42 per cent, reacted ; 47 Ayrshires, of which 37, or 80 per cent, reacted. 



Another experiment of much interest is that of the Cheshire 

 County Council. The technical instruction committee set aside £250 

 to be used by a joint committee from the agricultui'al and horticul- 

 tural schools and Worleson Dairy Institute for applying the tuber- 

 culin test to their Iierds. The tests were made February 15. 1S09. 

 The results were : Worleson herd of 54 animals, 10 diseased, or 29.6 

 per cent; agricultural school herd of 17 animals. 4 diseased, or 23.5 

 per cent. The Worleson herd consisted of Shorthorn cows. In each 

 herd the purebred Shorthorn bull was tuberculous. The results of 

 the tuberculin test were confirmed by the slaughter of the animals 

 and examination of the carcasses. 



Sir T. D. G. Carmichael, member of Parliament for ^Midlothian, 

 gave evidence before the royal commission that his Polled Angus 

 herd was tested in the spring of 1895. " The results of the test were 

 fearfully unexjDected and alarming." Of 30 tested 13 showed de- 

 cided reaction — 43 per cent. Again, he speaks of having 41 animals 

 tested the same spring and 16 reacted — 39.5 per cent. 



Of 80 Shorthorn cattle intended for export which were tested 34 

 reacted, or 42 per cent. 



Of a herd of 25 British Shorthorns recently tested in quarantine 

 40 per cent were found tuberculous. 



The addition of these animals above referred to gives 20.930 head 

 examined and 5,441, or 26 per cent, pronounced tuberculous. And 

 these herds were not selected because they were supposed to be tuber- 

 culous, but represent the general cattle stork of the countrv. These 

 animals included at least 470 head of Shorthorns, of which 170, or 34 

 per cent, were tuberculous. 



To these facts may be added the eA'idence of Prof. Bang that 

 in the first half of the nineteenth century tuberculosis was brouo-ht 

 to Denmark by cattle from Switzerland. Schleswig, and England 

 and that the same thing is now going on in Sweden and Xorwav, 

 particularly through English cattle. Also the evidence of M. Sivorii 



