The Grangeville globe. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho) 1907-1922, 1914-11-19
PUT BLAME ON CROWS.
South Idaho Farmer Says Birds Carry
Hog Cholera Over Country.

Another solution OF the puzzling pl oh.
lem of how hog cholera spreads over
The country is offered by \. A. Jacob
sen, of Payette who writes TO the
statesman at Boise and tells his ex-
periences with the deadly swine disease
Mr.. Jacobsen believes that crows car
! ry the cholera germs from one farm to
another inoculating the hog pens and
other places where they stop. He ad-
vises a practice OF keeping the crows
going when they come flying over"
His letter follows:
Last fan l had 80 head of hogs run
ming In my orchard with no cholera
known to be nearer than on the Boise
river. l had in the orchard a number
of plum trees. the fruit of which I had
left on for the hogs to pick up as 1t
dropped. One day an enormous large
flock of crows came over from the
direction of the Boise river and lit on
those plum trees and of course fed on
them. also knocked off a lot of plums
which the hogs picked up.
few days later l noticed one of
the hogs tail and ears dropping, and
apparently weak in the hind parts. A
few days later another hog acted the
same way. then another showed up
the same way. l then called in the
veterinaries and they made a thor
ough examination OF a dead hog. and
pronounced 1t hog cholera. I am sat
isfied they were correct In their dag
nosis. My 80 head all took 1t one aft
er another.
l lost Is head out of the 80. What
brought It here to my farm? No chol-
era nearer than the Boise river. some
40 miles distant. at that time had
no running water on the farm. The
ditch that supplies the farm for irri-
cation had been dry for quite a while.
had not brought any hogs from any
diseased district. So ] came to the
conclusion that 1t must have been
brought by the crows coming from
the direction Of the Boise river. and
think 1t stands to reason that crows
are apt to carry the disease. especially
as hogs in this western country often
run at large in the field. and one may
crawl in the brush and die. AS a mat
ter Of fact crow quickly finds the
carcass and loads up with enough
germs to start the cholera at the next
hog yard that such crow may gain ac-
cess to-
Some of my hogs died in a few days
after taking the disease. though I had
them all serumed as quick as l found
what allied them. Others were sick
some two months and then died. I saw
enough of 1t to convince me that the
disease should not be fooled with but
that the most stringent precaution-
airy measurers should be observed a.
once.
! l was pretty thoroughly discouraged
and disguised with the hog business
by the time 1 got matters cleaned up
or better said, when the disease
cleaned itself up, for little can b.
done after infection except isolation
of infected hogs and afterward max
ing a thorough cleanup of the yard
and pens, all of which / did.
1t was discouraging and no doub
is to everyone having had to conten
with the disease. but what is life Of
the farm without hogs. l took
chance this summer and bought ca
load of hogs, put them on the sam
ground, and run them there all sum
mer and fall so far without the dis
ease breaking out.
But we keep the crows going whe
they come flying over.
N A. JACOBSEN.