Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1915-02-11
.een Counties
Michigan
DIFFERENTIATED IN So DAYS
Farmers Cooperate With State
Authorities

The federal authorities and state
officials are 10 be complimented on
the capable manner i'm which they
handled the hoof and mouth dis
ease. The disease existed in fifteen
counties in this state and rapidly
gained Roadway before the farmers
realized the gravity of the situation.
Indiana and Michigan are cited as
instances of the Importance in this re-
spect of public opinion. In Michigan
the first herd was slaughtered on Oc-
tober 10Th. Cases of the disease ex-
listed in fifteen Michigan counties and
eighteen in Indiana. In all, $50 coun-
ties were affected. Sixty days later
these herds had all been slaughtered
and the infected premises cleaned and
freed from disease. In the interval
there had been only a few scattering
instances, half dozen possibly, of the
plague spreading from these different
centers of infection to neighboring
farms.
The people not only observed the
quarantine regulations but they did all
in their power to expedite the work
Of slaughter. In many cases they had
the bitches in which the animals were
to be buried dug and waiting for the
killing gangs. AS rule, no objection
was taken to the appraisers valuation
of the condemned stock, which is the
more surprising in view of the fact
that so little was generally known of
the seriousness of the disease. The
farmers did not want to part with
mouths and feet grew better and they
had no experience with the after eff
fects of the pestilence-the constant
aborting, the failure to produce milk,
the ability to disseminate disease
months after the visible symptoms had
disappeared. Nevertheless they ac-
copied the situation-helping instead
of hindering.
In only very few cases was there
any attempt to conceal the existence
of the disease. In fact, public opinion
was so strongly against this that it
was practically impossible to do so. In
one instance man fed some skim
milk from a creamery to q calf which
later developed foot and mouth dis
ease. 1t occurred to him to kill the
calf and say nothing about the matter.
The neighbors, however, obtained some
linking of the facts and notified the
authorities. After he had been forced
10 admit that he had killed the calf the
body was dug up and unmistakable
marks of the disease found upon it.
Within two weeks all the rest of the
herd was infected and had to be killed.
in addition, the owner was fined $50
or so for breaking the quarantine reg
ulations. The sentiment of the whole
community, it should be noted. was
against him.
In another case in Michigan an in
dividual with a weakness for dogs, of
which he owned five or six, ignored
the regulations which required all
dogs TO be tied up in order TO pre-
vent tteir picking up and spreading
the disease. With him, as with the
calf owner, it was the neighbors who
objected. The sheriff tied up the dogs
and their owner paid fine of S23 A
week or ten days afterwards he was
punished more severely by the loss
of all his cattle, which came down
with the disease and had to be slaugh-
tered. There had been no previous
outbreak in that neghborhood for
three weeks.
Although dogs, as in this case, and
chickens unquestionably act as mech
anical carriers in spreading the dis
ease, in Indiana and Michigan the
creameries were found to be one of
the chief sources of contagion. One
of the first steps taken by the author
tiles was to insist upon the creameries
sterilizing the skinned milk and whey
before these were returned to be fed
to stock. At the beginning of the
campaign in Berrien county, Michigan,
there were at least ITO herds infected
in an area approximately eighteen
miles long by eight miles wide. OF
this infection 20 per cent. was traced
TO skinned milk returned by the
creameries. After the order requir-
ing sterilization went into effect one
establishment allowed it's apparatus
10 get out of order and three days went
by before it was repaired. Infection
in 33 herds was traced to the care
lessness of these three days.
In Allegan county, again, there was
one small herd affected, the owner of
which was one of 50 patrons of
creamery. Though he delivered milk
TO it for only one or two days this
was sufficient to infect II herds and it
was considered fortunate that all Of
the 50 patrons did not suffer.