The Yale expositor., 1898-02-18
DAIRY AND POULTRY.
INTERESTING CHAPTERS FOR
OUR RURAL READERS.
How Successful Farmers Operate This
Department of the Parma Fow
Hints as to the Care of Live Stock
and Poultry.
Live stock Diseases In Illinois.

state board of live stock commission
ers of Illinois is just off the press. In
point of volume it Is the largest report
issued by the board, and contains
much interesting information covering
a wide range of contagious diseases In
domestic animals. The first section OF
the report deals with the boards ex-
perience with Texas fever during the
year, and also with the experiments
that are being conducted for the pur-
pose of demonstrating how Texas
fever Is conveyed from southern to
northern cattle, and with the process
of dipping southern cattle to destroy
the tick, hoping thus to render such
cattle incapable of communicating the
disease. The report unequivocally In
dorses the opinion expressed by the
experimenters of the bureau of animal
industry that the so-called Texas fever
tick (Boophilus Bovis) is carrier OF
the disease from southern cattle, on
which it grows, to northern cattle that
come in contact with the ground where
the mature ticks drop off, lay their
eggs and hatch their young. But the
board is not yet entirely satisfied that
the experiments in this direction have
been sufficient in number and OF SUM
cient magnitude to conclusively dem
onstrate that this is the only metnod
of transmitting the disease. The re-
port states that during the coming
year exposure tests are in contenpla-
ton by the board in this state with
dipped southern cattle for the purpose
of demonstrating whether they are
capable of communicating the disease
after the ticks upon them have been
destroyed, and for this purpose the
Fort Worth stock yards have volun-
teered to furnish the dipped cattle for
such experiments. The experiments
will be conducted on premises from
which the Texas cattle can be unloaded
direct from the cars. Owing to the
great demand for stock cattle during
the past year, the report states, cattle
from dangerous territory were I'M
ported into the state, and gave rise to
ten separate outbreaks of the disease
among Illinois native cattle. Some OF
these outbreaks proved quite serious
in point of loss to the owners A large
section of the report Is devoted to the
discussion of tuberculosis among the
dairy cattle of the state and its rela-
ton to the public health. The board
states that there is no question in the
minds of scientists as to the iden-
tity of the disease in animals
and in man, and that the disease
is contagious and readily communi-
Gated to man through the milk OF al
fected animals and undoubtedly to
some extent through meat when the
heat used in cooking Is not sufiicient
to destroy the germ. The effectiveness
and infalliblity of Koch's tuberculin
as diagnostic agent in determining
the presence of tuberculosis in an ami
NAL has been thoroughly proved by its
use in seven hundred head OF dairy
cattle during the past year. Or this
number tested seventy-seven head
showed a rise in temperature indicating
the presence of tuberculosis and were
slaughtered. On post-mortem exami-
nation each of the seventy-seven dis
closed the presence OF tuberculosis in
the animal The board states It's in
ability to announce the extent to which
this disease prevails among the dairy
herds of the state owing to lack or
statistical information that could only
be secured through conducting tuber-
culin tests or through supervision OF
slaughter houses, that while many
herds are entirely free from the dis
ease others contain affected animals
In, how TO
as twenty-five, fifty and. in extreme
cases, seventy-ive per cent. One Of
| the most extreme cases noted in the
report. is a herd tested in McHenry
county, containing thirty-five animals
of which twenty-five responded to the
test, were slaughtered and found to be
diseased. The history Of this herd
also clearly indicates the spread of the
disease by contagion.
The board strongly urges legislation
| to properly deal with this disease
among dairy and breeding cattle, pro-
viding that all dairy and breeding
herds in the state shall be tested with
tuberculin, and that sufficient funds
shall be appropriated, not only to pay
| the expenses of this work, but to in
part reimburse the owners for losses
incurred in the eradication Of the dis
ease. 1t is of the opinion that 1t Is
only a question of brief space of
time when the legislature will find it
necessary to enact such legislation, as
many eastern states have done so, and
are by law prohibiting the shipment
of cattle within their borders without
a certificate showing that the tubercu-
lin test has been made.
During the year there were quaran-
tined on account of the existence of
CHAMBERS in horses seventy-seven ami
mails diseased and two hundred and
twenty-three exposed. The diseased an
imals were destroyed and all prem
ises disinfected. Chambers existed dur
ing the year in fifteen counties of the
state. The records Of the past twelve
year show a general decrease in the
prevalence of this disease by counties.
ranging from forty-four counties In
1887 to the number stated last year.