Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1907-07-17
Diseases of Hogs.

Il EQwln L.. SHDln,
1 Diseases of Hogs.
Il Doctor Mcneil, of the Iowa Agri-
tcultural College, made very inter
Testing address before the iowa Swine
breeders Association and the Ma
/ ftional Association of Expert Swine
Judges on the above subject.
Unfortunately, the professor like
|.some others, has not yet learned
perfectly to talk farmers English,
tand hence some of the breeders
Fand Judges professed to be unable
to follow him as closely as could be
desired. None the less it was very
interesting address.
We were particularly interested d
in his discussion of hog cholera, tu-
Eberculosis among hogs and snolt
t;disease or that disease which affects
fthe noses and sometimes the tails Of
pigs and the eyes Of calves, to which
he gave the name of necrotic stomac-
|tis, but which the breeders under
stood better when he told them that
Fit resulted in putting turned-up
Irish nose on the pigs.
On the subject Of hog cholera he
did'not pretend to give much new
Information. His main remedy is
one that to us seems impracticable,
namely that the state levy taxes
Sufficient to enable it to take hold of
every outbreak and stamp it out,
giving compensation to the owners.
The English government has tried
this in Ireland for twenty yeal 8
without any apparent decrease in the
Outbreaks. The same is true in Eng
1ans The principal new idea was
the possible discovery by. the Depart
ment Of Agriculture that hgo cholera
was caused by a germ.yet undiscov-
cred, entirely different from the
germs that have heretofore been re-
garded as causing swine plague and
hog chole-a;and that the germs which
appear in this disease are results
rather than causes. He stated that
this investigation had not gone far
enough to give definite practical re-
suits.
He entered into a detailed dis
cussion Of the development of tu-
berculosis in hogs first appearing
in the glands then becoming gener-
allied and affecting the lungs and
other organs. He pointed out very
clearly that this was caused by
drinking the milk from tuberculosis
cows and especially from eatiug the
droppings from tuberculosis cattle;
and that the only possible way to
get rid Of the disease was to attack
it through the diseased cattle; in all
ol which we believe he is absolutely
correct.
He rather startled the audience
by reading letter from a packer
to a shipper who had sent car load
of hogs to the packing house. Two
of these were condemned on ante
mortem inspection by the depart
ment inspector and for these the
shipper will stand the loss Fiftee n
were condemned on post mortem in
spection, the packer standing the
loss. The packer was anxious to
ascertain the name of the feeder
who fed the hogs that were con-
demned, which he described by col
or. 1t is needless to state that the
packer will not buy any more hogs
from that farm if he knows it.
| Doctor McNeill went on to state
that this packer had certain points
scheduled, from which he refused
to buy hogs on account Of the dis
ease. He might have added that
every packing house in the state
Of Iowa has certain points sched-
uled, that they avoid these disease
infected shipping points, and that
hogs from these points must go tc
Chicago or some other market.
This brings out situation that
farmers should study very care.
fully. 1t is needless to say the
packer is not standing the loss on
these hogs. For two years to ou1
certain knowledge the packing hous.
es have been charging up the
average loss on these tuberculosis
hogs as part Of the expenses of con.
ducting the business, and buying
hogs at sufficiently lower price te
enable them to stand this expense
In other words they have been put
ting the loss on the farmers gener
ally instead of on the man who owns
the diseased stock.
From this point of view the stant
taken by the commission men o
Chicago, that they will not sell cows
and heifers to the packers subjec
to examination, is in direct oppos
ition to the interests of the farming
class. If they were selling cow
and heifers subject to examination
the shipper who sends in these cat
tie would know where they cam,
from the farmer would know that h,
had tuberculosis in his herd and
would at once apply the tuberculil