28 Report oF DEPARTMENT OF ANIMAL HUSBANDRY OF THE 
INTRODUCTION. 
During the last decade the progress which the cattle owners of 
this State have made in the control of tuberculosis in their herds 
has been slight and this progress has been in comparatively few 
herds. While exact data are lacking it is probable that there is 
more tuberculosis in the herds of the State to-day than there was 
ten years ago.! 
As long as tuberculosis was considered purely as a public health 
problem and was handled with little regard for the interests of the 
cattle owner, there was often a disinclination on his part to face 
the facts. With a better knowledge of the nature of the disease 
' the more progressive breeders and dairymen are coming to feel that 
tuberculosis, like any other destructive disease of cattle, is an 
unprofitable adjunct to the business. Accordingly they are beginning 
to inquire into the various methods of freeing their herds from this 
pest. 
The herd of the New York Agricultural Eperiment Station was 
accidentally infected through the purchase of apparently sound cows 
and before the disease was detected more than one-half of the herd 
had become tuberculous. From this undesirable condition the herd 
has been transformed into a sound one within four years and it 
is believed that a statement of the conditions encountere( and means 
employed to eradicate the disease will be especially helpful to the 
dairymen at this time. 
In this work we can lay little claim to originality since we have 
followed the method recommended by Dr. Bang? of Copenhagen. 
Considering the uniform success which this method has met with 
in the various countries in which it has been employed it seems 
strange that it has not been more widely used in America. It 1s 
hoped that this presentation of the method and of the way in 
which it was successfully employed in the Station herd may stimu- 
late its introduction into the herds of the State. 
*In the report of a Special Committee of the Assembly on Tuberculosis 
presented February 1, 1900, the tuberculosis among cows in New York State 
was estimated at not to exceed 6 to 7 per cent. 
*Bang B. The struggle with tuberculosis in Denmark. The Veterinarian, 
68 :688, 1895. 
Bang b. Tuberculosis of cattle. Appendix, Bulletin 75 of the Depart- 
ment of Agriculture of the State of Pennsylvania, 1901. 
