The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1919-03-22
Cases Reported in Several
Sections Throughout the
State
CAN BE CONTROLLED
BY USING SERUM
Department of Agriculture Trying to
Secure Supply for Vermont Farmers
Prompt Action Necessary to Save
the Hogs-National Work.

Secure supply LOT vermont arHeIS
Prompt Action Necessary to Save
the Hogs-National Work.
Hog cholera has been reported in some
places in Vermont and prompt action to-
ward its eradication should be taken.
The cholera has been reported in the vi
cinity of Bennington, Randolph and in
Windsor county, and some in the vicinity
Of Burlington II farmer finds his hogs
infected he should at once engage a vet
Urinary, approved by the state, and if
the hogs are found to have the cholera,
an effort TO procure serum should be
made at once A. j. Fossett, d. V. NJ,
deputy live stock commissioner for the
state of Vermont, says that the serum
which was being procured now worked
successfully in nearly all cases, if used in
time.
He is now endeavoring to make arrange
ments with big serum-producing house
in the west by which it is hoped serum
can be procured quickly in Vermont The
serum must be kept ON ice and at pres
ent no one is handling it. As a result
some valuable swine have been lost be-
cause the serum did not arrive in time.
The cost of treating the hogs varies from
80 to IS cents. The hog industry is com
ing to the front, according to Mr. DeFos-
sett, in Vermont, and cholera could do
lot of harm.
The National Association of Bureau OF
Animal Industry Veterinarians says:
One thing that made it possible for the
American farmer to keep the allies sup
piled with meat without great inconven-
fence to our people was the fact that
within the last few years the state and
federal authorities and those who have
been working with them have learned a
good deal about handling hog cholera
The pig is the emergency meat producer
and when the farmers were called upon
to turn out more meat, plans were i'm
mediately made to increase the number
of swine. This increase was made effect
tive, but il the old bugbear to the indus
try had been permitted to put in sucl
destructive blows in the last three Of
> four years as it did in 1918 and 1914, ",
: would have experienced many more pork
: less days.
:. The fact that the war is over SHOULD
, lead no one to believe that the hgh
= against hog cholera can be slackened il
the least The task has just begun il
earnest and, according to the veterinari
. ans in the bureau OF animal industry il
the United States department of agricu
Q ture, the ultimate object is absolute elm
| nation of the disease from the America
4 farms However, complete eradication
\ can hardly be expected for number {
4 years, at least, unless a greater number 9
1 farmers become better boosters and NOR
considerate neighbors thansat present
\ The magnitude Of the undertaken
\ ahead Of the veterinarians and Others o
I whose shoulders should rest the respons
bility of controlling the disease and gra,
/ ualy stamping 1t out, becomes more al
1 parent when we consider the wide teri
4 tory over which it has spread and the Ion
period over which it has exacted emo
nous toll from our herds of swine. II
saving that has resulted from the effor
n Of the veterinarians of the bureau of an
= NAL industry, in the last few years,
cooperation with the state and practi
ing veterinarians, can not be everest
mated and is not fully realized by Il
public Senator Kenyon of Iowa, in di
We cussing before congress some years al
~ the losses from hog cholera, presentt
= the matter in a convincing manner al
80 pointed out that for the last 40 years Il
loss due to this disease had averaged so
100000 annually Since this drain on t
industry had been so regular he compar
n the annual loss to the returns from
" annual investment of 81 100000 600 at
~ per cent interest, and stated that II
loss, compounded annually, represent
an amount sufficient to build transcon
. mental railroad or several canals like I
one we put through the Isthmus of Pa1
ma.
The fact that this loss has direct be-
ing on the cost of living and at tim
has threatened the safety of great
dustly, fight has been waged the i
few years to produce more hogs and p
tect them against cholera What is be-
accomplished in the control of hog ell
era may be read plainly in statistics. J.
spring we had very close to 75000000 h
in the country the largest number @
raised, and the loss from cholera for
last year has been the lowest on recor
-, 80 for every 1000 hogs. Assuming t
these animals were marketed at an eN
age weight of 200 pounds at the prevail
price for the year, this crop has return
to the producers about two and al
ter. billion dollars. If hog cholera
ragged last year as it did in 1913, the
would have been in the neighborhood
$500, 600, 600, and without the efforts
federal and state agents in the proper
plication of the serum and improved MI
DDS OF handling outbreaks of hog ehol
the program for more meat to meet
conditions would have been failure.