FIFTIETH ANNUAL CONVENTION 165 



and who can advise how to handle the herd so as to free it 

 from the disease or to keep it free. 



The Accredited-Herd Plan. 



The accredited-herd plan, by which owners of tuber- 

 culosis-free herds receive State and Federal recognition, 

 has met the approbation of breeders of cattle all over the 

 United States, and it is reasonable to expect w that this plan 

 will be followed until most of the purebred herds of the 

 country are under supervision. The accredited-herd plan 

 has been conducted only in a general campaign, without 

 concentration of effort in any particular locality; but it 

 would be advantageous for a county having a large, number 

 of purebred herds to make an effort to have the tuberculin- 

 testing work extended to every herd in the county. 



The advantages of such a plan are readily understood. 

 It would call the attention of prospective buyers all over the 

 United States to the possibility of a wider field for choice 

 of purebred cattle in the numerous herds accredited, and 

 there can be no doubt that cattle in such a locality would 

 sell at better prices because buyers would save a great deal 

 of time by not having to look up animals from scattered 

 accredited herds. 



Facts Regarding Losses, Due to Tuberculosis. 



No discussion of a better and larger live-stock industry 

 of the Nation can be complete without consideration of live- 

 stock losses directly attributable to tuberculosis. It is im- 

 perative that these losses be reduced. A campaign for the 

 control and eventual eradication of this disease was started 

 in May, 1917, by forming the Tuberculosis Eradication Divi- 

 sion of the Bureau of Animal Industry. The results ob- 

 tained by 2% years of systematic control effort indicate 

 that there has been an appreciable effect on the losses sus- 

 tained from the disease. 



The records kept by the department show that about 

 65 per cent of cattle and swine slaughtered in the United 

 States annually are killed at official establishments where 



