678 



THE AORICULTtlUAL J tl U N A L 



No. 



Date of issue 

 Name 



Place of service 

 Employer 



Term for which pass is to emlnre 

 (Signature) 



Pass Officer. 



Given at Government House, Natal, 

 this Twentj-third day of Df cember, UIOl. 



By command of His Excellency the 

 Governor, 



CHARLES J. SMYTH 



Colonial Secretary. 



The Queensiand Redwater Immune Oattle, 



By H. W.i.TK[XS-PrrCHPORD, F.R.C.V.S., Director Ve erinary Department. 



AS previously announced, the shipment 

 of young stock from Australia has 

 come safely to hand, and tlie results of 

 the experiment will be followed with 

 great interest by all stock owners 

 throughout the Colony. If these 

 animals prove to be imnnine to further 

 attack of the redwater oi-g.aiisin, the im- 

 portance of the venture will be difficult 

 to overestimate, for there is no doubt 

 that great advantage will be taken of 

 this knowledge by farmers, both in the 

 imi^rovement of existing herds and also 

 in the re-stocking of farms depleted by 

 disease and war. 



The shipment consists of about lUO 

 heifers of from one to two years old, and 

 three young bulls of the Ayishire breed, 

 about the same age. The animals at lirst 

 sight strike one as being, in many cases, 

 somewhat undersized for their age, but it 

 must be Ijorne in mind that the object of 

 the Government in introducing these 

 animals into South Africa has been solely 

 that of establishing the possibility of stock 

 raised ia other redwater countries being 

 able to survive South African conditions. 

 It this fact is happily established, the im- 

 portation of more valuable stock will be 

 undertaken with greater conhdence, not 

 only from Australia, but from other dis- 

 tricts of North and South America, the 

 Ht(jck of which has attained to a similar 

 degree of immunity from this disease. 



Through difficulties of transport, etc., 

 these animals are arriving several months 

 after the time arrangcid for, and will now 

 be ])lacf'd upon our Natal pastures at the 

 height of summer, and at a time at which 

 their powers of resistance to redwater 

 will be likely to be tested to the utmost. 



When it is remembered that these heifers 

 have been drawn from a redwater district 

 — that is one in which the disease is 

 endemic, and in which the stock are to 

 a great degree immune to the disease — 

 and that, in addition, they have through 

 the kindness of the Queensland Govern- 

 ment authorities been subjected to a 

 severe test of susceptibility by the injec- 

 tion of virus, it will be seen that steps 

 have been taken to render the result of 

 the experiment conclusive. To the enter- 

 prise of Mr. Joseph Baynes, of Nel's Rust, 

 the Colony must ever remain indebted 

 for a spirited endeavour to prove that 

 Australian immune cattle can survive 

 Natal conditions. The S.S. Kadiri'i, 

 which was the boat bringing the 100 

 Government heifers, was chartered by this 

 gentlemen for the transport of a large 

 shipment of immune cattle, and this fine 

 herd will alford corroboratory evidence 

 of a most valuable nature upon this red- 

 water question, which has so h^ig and so 

 heavily retarded the cattle industry of the 

 Colony. 



Viewed from a practical point of view 

 there seems no reason to think that these 

 animals will fail to withstand the condi- 

 tions of the Natal veld. All the losses 

 in the paet, in this connection, can pro- 

 bably be traced to the failure on the pait 

 of the owner to assure himself that the 

 imported animals were drawn from a 

 district known to be immune to the 

 disease. Conditions of acclimatisation, 

 chalige of food, etc., have probably 

 but small influence upon the ultimate 

 question of survival, and, if these anim:,ils 

 enjoy as high a degree of immunity from 

 the disease redwater as we hope, it is 



