163
156
Buildings.
Carefully disinfect, under the direction of a veterinary surgeon, the buildings in which the clean cattle will be housed. It is very desirable to segregate infected cattle in different buildings, if possible. If this is absolutely impossible, have a movable partition made of sheets of corrugated iron fixed on a wooden frame. It should be as high as possible. As the number of infected cows decreases, the partition can be moved along and the vacated stalls disinfected. There should be no door through the partition. The drainage should run from the clean cows past the infected, never vice versa. The same applies, of course, to the water supply.
It is essential for the non-reactors to be never allowed to drink water which can have been contaminated by any possibility by the reactors.
Calving infected cattle.
When a reacting cow or heifer calves, it should be arranged for the calf to be delivered direct on to a clean cloth or sheet and removed at once. It should be kept from all contact with its mother and from the soiled litter of her box. If the herd owner has had a non-reacting cow calve within 4 days, before or after, the calf from the reactor should be given some of the colostrum from that non-reacting cow in order that it may not miss entirely the natural aid to resistance to disease, especially of the alimentary tract, which it should have acquired through its own mother's first milk.
Rearing of calves.
It cannot be impressed too strongly on herd owners the importance of rearing calves and young stock in airy and sunny surroundings, with ample nourishment and a clean dry bed. They are then much more likely to be resistant to any chance infection of tuberculosis or any other disease. They should never be given any milk from the reacting cows. If possible, the men attending the reactors should have nothing to do with the non-reactors and young stock. If this is impossible, then they should always milk and tend the reactors last.
Care must be taken that calves are not fed on skim milk or whey from creameries and cheese factories, as, being from bulked milk, it is almost certain to contain tuberculosis.
Care of cattle at grass.
It is essential that non-reactors should not be turned into fields recently used by reactors. In taking any steps to eradicate either tuberculosis, Johne's disease or abortion, it is of the first importance that animals should be prevented from contaminating the ponds and streams from which they drink with their fæces and urine. The water should be so fenced off that the cattle can only get their heads to it, or else the water pumped out into a tank. This applies especially to stagnant ponds. Owners should guard against infection from running water which may have come through an infected area. If the boundary fences are weak, or of such a nature as not to prevent contact with a neighbour's cattle, a second fence should be provided. A two-strand wire fence, under which sheep can go, at least
6 feet from main fence, is sufficient.
Importance of care.
The above precautions may seem tiresome and expensive, but they are not nearly so much so as a reinfection after a herd has been nearly or completely cleared. To succeed (an even seriously infected herd can be cleared in 3 years), it is necessary to carry out the above instructions rigidly.
Disposal of reactors.
157
If reactors are rigidly segregated from the clean cattle, there is no necessity to dispose of them, but in the case of cattle of no particular value to the herd it is much wiser to do so, as there is always the possibility of the disease becoming acute and of their becoming wasters."
"
The recommendations in this scheme have been drawn up with the best possible veterinary advice.
APPENDIX 13.
Human and cow population and rateable value in Great Britain.
(a) Human and cow population and rateable value by counties in England
and Wales.
Administrative County. County Borough.
A.C. C.B. =
calf and heifers in milk,
Kate-
Rateable value on
Rateable Number of
value
cows in
for
milk or in
County or county borough.
Population,
1st April,
1931.
1930, for general county purposes
general county purposes per head.
able value for genera!
county
4th June, 1931.
poses
per
cow.
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
Berks (A.C.)
pur-
485 382
78,467 15
(1)
ENGLAND.
£,000.
£
Bedford (A.C.)
220,474
1,157.9 5.3
10,911 106
214,181
1,339.5 6.3
24,723*
Reading (C.B.)
97,153
683-1 7.0
Berks (A.C. and C.B.)
311,334
2,022.6
6.5
24,723
Buckingham (A.C.)
271,565
1,664.1
6.1
28,753
Cambridge (A.C.)
140,004 776.0
5.5
Chester (A.C.)
675,190
3,710-0 5.5
8,107 127,001* 29
Birkenhead (C.B.)
147,946
910.4 6.2
Chester (C.B.)
41,438
290.5 7.0
Stockport (C.B.)
125,505
711-7 5-7
Wallasey (C.B.)...
97,465
791-6 8.1
Chester (A.C. and C.B.'s)
1,087,544
6,414.2
5-9
127,001
50
Cornwall (A.C.)
317,951
1,211.6
3.8
Cumberland (A.C.)
205,790
783-0
3.8
50,761* 15
Carlisle (C.B.)
57,107
334.2
5.9
Cumberland (A.C. and C.B.)
262,897
1,117.2 4.3
50,761 22
Derby (A.C.)
614,926
2,605.4
4.2
Derby (C.B.)
142,406
760.6
5.3
Derby (A.C. and C.B.)
757,332
3,366.0
4.4
Devon (A.C.)
458,664
2,644.0
5.8
73,641 46 105,915* 25
Exeter (C.B.)
66,039
549.5 8.3
Plymouth (C.B.)
208,166
1,633.6
7.8
Devon (A.C. and C.B.'s)
732,869
4,827.1
6.6
105,915 46
Dorset (A.C.)
239,347
1,459.9 6-1
63,040 23
Durham (A.C.)
924,050
3,260.5 3.5
30,285* 108
Darlington (C.B.)
72,093
436.6 6-1
Gateshead (C.B.)
122,379
494-8 4-0
South Shields (C.B.)
113,452
475.6 4.2
185,870
795-2 4.3
68,134 312.4 4.6
1,485,978
5,775.1
3.9
30,285
190
Sunderland (C.B.)
West Hartlepool (C.B.) Durham (A.C. and C.B.'s)
* Including cows in associated county boroughs.
892 23 94
73,641* 35
164
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