The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1915-01-22
HOG CHOLERA AND THE
REMEDIES BY EXPERTS
From tuesdays Daily.

a letter from a business man OF
Olivia. MINI. I'm which he spoke Of
the success had i'm the war waged
against hog cholera in that county,
where II had previously prevailed in
n very ~virulent form. The letter
said: I'VE gave the double treat.
ment, that is the serum and virus,
for two successive years, and as a
result of this campaign the agricul-
tural college at the university be.
came interested, and from that the
government designated this county
as one of the counties to carry on
demonstration work against hog chol-
era. We now have six veterinarians,
together with men who do sanitary
work. They are doing all of the work
and furnish the serum free of charge
10 the farmer, and they have practic.
ally stamped GU hog cholera In this
county. We. OF course, feel that
Renville county has had n great ad.
vantage in ~eradicating the disease
by reason of the government experts
being on the job at all times. AS |
understand IL. there are only eleven
counties i'm the United States that
have this class OF work done. In
conversation with one of the veteri-
narians yesterday, he informed m
that he va~ccinated $4,000 hogs and
that the loss was below 8 per cent.
In every instance the vaccination
took place in infected herds"
The secretary of the Commercial
club wrote to DR.. G. S. Weaver at
Olivia. who is the federal inspector
in charge OF the work. and asked
what could be done to stop the
spread of hog cholera i'm Blue Earth
and adjoining counties, and whether
it was possible to get outside assist.
ance, either from the national or
state governments.
DIR. Weaver replied. under date OF
October Is. as follows:
In reply TO your letter OF the
eth instant concerning hog cholera
eradication, etc, in Renville county.
| wish TO state that congress ap-
propriated $500. 900 for the depart
ment OF agriculture to use i'm devils
ing ways and means of controlling
Or possibly eventually graduating
hog cholera. 4 cooperative plan was
decided upon whereby the state was
10 select a certain county, furnish
certain data and such other assist
nce as necessary. Renyille county
has been selected for the demonstra.
ton I'm this state.
Our method is to vaccinate the
normal hogs in infected herds and
try to get enough cooperation from
the farmer that he will clean and
disinfeCt his infected premises, there
by Kidding his farm of infection.
Hog cholera cannot be controlled
without organized cooperative ef.
fort. | believe that your first step
should be toward forming an organi-
zation. ] refer you to Mr.. Ralph
LOOMS, secretary OF the Renville
County Swine Breeders association.
Bird Island. MINI. Write him for de.
tails and you will find the plan of
organization good. Three factors are
usually considered education, SAM.
tation. vaccination. Through an or.
ganiZation you will be able to secure
able men TO give the necessary lee.
lures on sanitation and vaccination.
You viii be able To keep serum on
hand for emergencies. By purchasing
in large lots you will be able to get
serum at reduced rates. ] know of
no place that you can secure free
serum. For immediate relief write TO
DIR. S. II. Ward, Sec. Live Stock
Sanitary Board, Old Capitol building,
ST Paul, Mimi, and II he cannot
help you he can refer you to some
good commercial plants.
Il believe that you will find tile
proposition worthy of consideration
and will be able TO accomplish
much toward the betterment of your
city and community. Very respect.
fully. Gilbert s. Weaver. Inspector
i'm charge"
The secretary of the Commercial
club then wrote to Mr.. Ralph LOOMS
and asked for any information that
he could give, and received much
valuable information. Answering un,
der date Of November 7, Mr.. Loomis
said:
Il have your letter of November
2. Our Swine Breeders club wal or
ganized last October with eleven
members. The objects of organization
are as stated on the back of our
membership application card. The hos
cholera epidemic Ia our county last
year was very bad. Farmers did not
understand the use of serum, moi
appreciate the difference between
good serum and inferior serum One
farmer paid s5.40 for serum TO vac
cinate W. hogs, in addition to the
veterinary fee Of SO. This was al
outrageous price, but the hogs LIVED
they were already immune. having
passed through the dangerous stage
OF the disease, The veterinarian him
self apparently did not know tina
vaccination was not worth while.
'This farmer got the idea that |
the farmers would organize and bun
their SERUM collectively, efficient
service would be obtained. and alst
a better understanding OF cholers
uro.,l1 fallaw tla dieeugQfnne I'm thf