417 
American Agriculturist, April 26,1924 
Plans For Fighting T B 
Do the Results Justify the Expense ? 
L AST week in our feature article we after the herd was supposed to be free, 
mentioned the great sums that are has been due not to the failure of the 
being spent in New York and other 
States to control or eradicate tuber¬ 
culosis in dairy cattle. We stated that 
in spite of all the work that has been 
done and the money that has been spent 
there are dairy counties that have 
upwards of 50% of the cattle affected 
by this dreaded disease, and that the 
average over the entire state is at least 
15%. It is the purpose of this series of 
articles in American Agriculturist on 
cattle tuberculosis to show what is being 
done to conquer T B, to explain and dis¬ 
cuss the different programs for eradica¬ 
tion and to point out where certain 
mistakes are being made. It is difficult 
to explain the plans or programs upon 
which the officials and breeders are 
working because there are more than one 
plan being used, and it is hard to find any 
two people in the tuberculosis control 
who will agree upon what is the best plan 
or program to follow. 
Who Should Pay for the Test ? 
The first step in fighting bovine 
tuberculosis is the application of the 
tuberculin test to determine whether or 
not the cow has the disease. Right at the 
start we have a disagreement among 
officials and dairymen as to who should 
pay for applying the test. Some claim 
that the state or the county should pay 
the veterinarian for giving the tuberculin 
test while others claim that the herd 
owner himself should stand the cost. As 
a matter of practice, some owners pay 
for it themselves and some do not. 
Of course, there is nothing to prevent 
any owner from hiring a veterinarian to 
test his dairy. In the long run, free 
testing is an unsafe practice. If a man 
is not interested enough to pay for the 
test himself, then he certainly will not be 
interested enough to clean up his dairy 
and particularly to keep it clean after the 
tuberculin test determines which cows 
have the disea.se. 
The Three Ways of Testing 
The tuberculin test may be applied in 
one of three ways. The most frequently 
used is the subcutaneous or under-the- 
skin test. This consists in injecting a 
proper quantity of tuberculin under the' 
skin into the subcutaneous tissue. If the 
animal has tuberculosis, the tuberculin 
will cause a fever and a rising tempera¬ 
ture, which will occur between the eighth 
and twentieth hour after the tuberculin is 
injected. The temperature is taken by 
the veterinarian several times and the 
proper study of these temperatures 
determines whether the animal has the 
disease or not. 
The intradermic or into-the-skin test is 
used in area work and on range cattle 
not easily controlled. The tuberculin is 
put between the layers of the skin, only a 
few drops being used, and is usually 
applied at the base of the tail. This test 
is most frequently used with swine, being 
applied in the skin of the ear near its 
base. With the intradermic test, if a 
cow has tuberculosis, a swelling at the 
point of the injection will occur from 72 
to 150 hours after the injection. 
The ophthalmic or into-the-eye test is 
used considerably in what is called 
“check testing;” that is, it is used in 
connection with the other tests mentioned 
above. Sometimes a cow will not react 
to the first two tests, but will to the eye 
test. Tuberculin is placed in one eye 
and the other eye is used as a check. 
The eye receiving the treatment will, if 
the cow has tuberculosis, show a discharge 
>u from three to ten hours after the 
application. 
None of these tests are safe in the hands 
°f an amateur and no dairyman should 
allow any but the best trained and most 
experienced veterinarian to do any 
testing. A good deal of the trouble that 
has occurred in the diagnosis of cattle 
tuberculosis or in finding cows that had it 
tuberculin test, but to the failure of the 
inexperienced or poorly trained veter¬ 
inarian to properly read his test. 
What the Accredited Herd Plan Is 
The accredited herd plan for eradicating 
tuberculosis has been generally accepted 
and is the basis of all programs of eradica¬ 
tion. No real progress was made in 
controlling tuberculosis until this plan 
was found. Briefly, it consists in treating 
each herd and the premises on ithich that 
herd is kept as a unit, and to make appli¬ 
cations of tuberculin to the herd until it 
is certain that every cow is free from T B. 
It is based on a three-cornered coopera¬ 
tion among the Bureau of Husbandry of 
the United States Department of Agricul¬ 
ture, the State Departments of Agricul¬ 
ture, and the individual herd owners. 
The Federal and State representatives 
enter into a written contract with the 
cattle owner whereby he agrees to submit 
his entire herd to a tuberculin test; to 
slaughter under inspection any animals 
showing evidence of tuberculosis; to 
remove all reacting animals from the 
herd; to use reacting bulls under precau¬ 
tion; to heat milk and milk products from 
reacting cows to 150 degrees Fahrenheit 
for at least twenty minutes, rapidly 
cooling the milk before using for any 
purpose whatever; to remove all calves 
from reacting cows at birth, and to main¬ 
tain such calves on premises free from 
infection of tuberculosis and feed them 
only on milk from cows that have passed 
a satisfactory tuberculin test, or on 
pasteurized milk; to allow no cattle to 
associate with the herd which has not 
passed two tuberculin tests approved by 
the Federal or State officials; and to 
thoroughly disinfect premises where tu¬ 
berculosis cattle have been harbored. 
After operating under such a plan, if a 
cattle owner should pass two clean annual 
or three clean semi-annual tuberculin 
tests, he receives the so-called accredited 
herd certificate. With such a certificate, 
he is permitted to ship his cattle into 
other States, subject to regulations in 
those States, without further tuberculin 
test for a period of one year. As many 
breeders of purebred cattle depend upon 
sale,:, out of the State, it can be seen that 
an accredited herd certificate is a valuable 
asset to purebred breeders. Wisconsin 
was the first State to use the accredited 
herd plan. 
Is Area Plan Best ? 
From this idea of using the farm as a 
unit, the next logical step was the area 
plan of the community or the town or the 
country. The start is made with one 
farm as a unit. When that is cleaned up 
and accredited, then you can get the 
herd next door accredited, and so on 
until there are no cattle with the disease 
in the neighborhood, or the town, or the 
county. This is what is meant by the 
area plan of working. The plan is being 
used quite generally in most of the States. 
It has objections which we will discuss 
later. 
The opposite of the area plan of work 
is the individual plan where one man will 
clean up his herd in one community, 
someone else will do the same in another 
community or county, without any 
relation to those that have already been 
accredited. 
It will be seen from the number of 
things required of the individual owner 
in his contract to start to get his herd 
accredited that the authorities recognize 
that there are a lot of things that must 
be done to keep the herd clean if it is 
once free from tuberculosis. It is just 
because of this that millions of dollars 
have been practically wasted by the State 
in indemnities to cattle owners who were 
more interested in getting rid of their 
diseased cattle for a price than they were 
in freeing their premises from tuberculosis. 
(Continued on page 421) 
What Are Standardized 
Ingredients? 
T HE standardizing process, through which 
every Larro ingredient must pass, works 
just like the hour-glass. 
To say, for instance, that Larro bran is standard¬ 
ized means that scores of carloads of highest 
grade bran, with all their variations, have been 
combined into one unchanging blend of bran 
that is just right in every way—in color, texture, 
analysis and feeding value. 
The standardizing process does what Nature and 
the people who produce feeding stuffs cannot do 
— it keeps each Larro ingredient exactly the 
same — it takes out the variations of color, tex¬ 
ture, analysis and feeding value that they allow 
to creep in. 
That’s why Larro not only looks the same, but 
is the same, year in and year out. 
Larro makes cows do their best all the time— 
they don’t go off feed—they make you a bigger 
profit whether milk is up or down. Let Larro 
end your feeding problems now. It’s the same 
milk-making, profit-making ration all the year 
round. Safe, uniform, healthful, profitable. 
The Larrowe Milling Company 
20 Larrowe Building Detroit, Michigan 
“BROOKLYN BRAND” 
SULPHUR 
COMMERCIAL FLOUR SULPHUR, 99 ^% Pure 
For Spraying—Insecticide Purposes 
SUPERFINE COMMERCIAL FLOUR SU LPHUR, 99K% Pur e\For Dusting 
FLOWERS OF SULPHUR, 100% Pure ). Purposes 
“NIAGARA BRAND” 
AMERICAN CRUDE SALTPETRE 
For Better, Bigger and More Fruit 
ALSO CRUDE NITRATE OF SODA 
80 Maiden Lane, BATTELLE & RENWICK, New York, N.Y. 
Write Dept. “ C” for Prices and Booklets 
CABBAGE PLANTS 
Fulwood’s Frost Proof plants will produce headed cabbage 
three weeks before your home-grown plants and will stand 
a temperature of 20 degrees above zero without injury 
1 havebwenty million now ready. Varieties; Jersey Wake¬ 
field, Charleston Wakefield, Copenhagen Market, Suc¬ 
cession and Elat Dutch. Prices by express any quantity 
at §2.00 per ,1000. By parcel post, postpaid, 20C for 
$1.00; 500 for $1.75; 1000 for $3. First class plants and 
safe arrival guaranteed. 
P. D. FULWOOD T1FT0N, GA. 
TIMOTHY SEED 
Few dealers can equal Metcalf’s Recleaned Timothy, 
99 70% pure. $4.70 per bushel of 45 lbs. Metcalf's 
Timothy and Alsike Mixed at $5 25 per bu. of 45 lbs. 
Cotton bags free and freight paid in 5 bu. lots. 
B. F. METCALF & SON, Inc. 
206-208 W. Genesee St. - - Syracuse, N. Y. 
BOLENS POWER HOE 
and Lawn 
Mower Tractor 
It seeds, it cultivates, 
it mows the lawn. It 
supplies power for operating 
light machinery. 
The BOLENS has a patented 
arched axle for clearance and a 
tool control for accurate guid¬ 
ance in close weeding and culti¬ 
vating. A differential drive 
makes turning easy. All attachments have snap 
hitches and are Instantly Interchangeable. A boy 
will run it with delight. Send for full particulars. 
334 PARK SI., GILSON MIG. CO., PORI WASHINGTON, WIS. 
WHEN WRITING TO ADVERTISERS 
BE SURE TO MENTION THE <-» 
American Agriculturist 
