THIRTY-SEVENTH ANNUAL CONVENTION. 181 



brought into every herd by purchasing a few animals from this 

 one herd until they found their whole herd was affected. 



Not only is it a loss from a dairy point of view, but when 

 this condition is found out then it becomes absolutely necessary 

 to deal with it. No one would willingly consume the products 

 from animals that you knew were affected. We have found 

 that an ounce of prevention was worth more than a pound of 

 cure, not only in the human family but in the bovine family. 



By acquiring this knowledge for yourselves you will find 

 yourselves voluntarily taking hold of the matter for the sake 

 of the herd itself, because you cannot afford to carry your own 

 insurance. You do not carry your own fire insurance. At an 

 expense of a few dollars this mutual fire insurance carries a risk 

 upon a large number of the farms. What about the live stock 

 insurance? All that it requires is the application of two days 

 time, the application of the tuberculin at a small expense com- 

 pared with the value of the stock. Is it not worth ten or fifteen 

 or even twenty dollars to know whether your herd has this dis- 

 ease or not? The paying out of a small amount of money will 

 enable you to answer that question satisfactorily. 



If the tuberculin test is properly applied and you find you 

 do not have this disease, you will experience a sense of relief. 

 If you find you do not have this disease you will run a greater 

 risk when you buy animals and bring them into your herd with- 

 out testing them. No one should think of doing a thing of this 

 sort. It is almost impossible to buy without picking up this 

 disease. 



In the southern part of our state three years ago there were 

 twelve per cent that responded to that test, that has been reduced 

 down so that now on an average not more than two or two and 

 a half per cent are found. We find only very little of the dis- 

 ease. They are taking hold so vigorously, whole counties are 

 having their herds tested and finding only from one to one and 

 a half per cent ; ten animals in a thousand. 



When we began this campaign in Wisconsin the majority 

 of our dairymen took the same attitude as you do. They were 



