The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1920-07-30
SCAB ERADICATED IN COUNTY

count Of the scarcity of feed in Wyom
ing they also brought along scshies
which not only infected their own
herds butSpread the infection through
/ Iout Jhe western part Of Mellette
county. Finally the Wyoming boys
cleaned up their herds and then the
JOB was left to clean up the balance
! OF the county.
Plans were made and finally the
! Farm Bureau took over the dipping
/ tank located on the Switzerland Ranch
where the Wyoming cattle had been
! dipped Then committee was APP
! pointed to take the matter i'm hand
and draw up schedule SO that every
man in the infected district would
have an opportunity TO dip and rid
the community of the disease
! These plans were perfected and ar
ranged on community basis so that
there would be plenty of help each
! day and SO that a minimum Of hve
hundred head would be sent through
each day.
All in all some fifty two outfits Dip
ped their stock and were more than
pleased with the management. The
work was started at day break each
! day So that the cattle would not have
to Swelter i'm the hot sun and So that
the men could get their stock back
home the same day they dipped.
! Besides accidents sometimes happen
and time must be taken out for re-
pairing Of the tank, fences and corrals
which must be repaired as the~work
goes on The work could have been
run of in shorter time but IT. could
Inot have been done as efficiently as If
we had not taken the time we did.
The accomplishment was this We
cleaned up the disease which will al
Hiow the men TO ship without fear Of
being held up on the way, the cattle
will 90 into the winter in better shape
and they are rid of the lice and other
! tbothersome parasites Many men
iAage reported that the fiess do ,act
| bother the stock any more and that
they believe that the dipping was of
sreat benefit to the gaining in weight
! cdpdcity Of their stock. Besides the
country was spared of the expense of
building a tank to take care Of these
stock men. This would amount to
some two thousand dollars
The Farm Bureau had kept some
statistics on the probable cost and ad
yIsed the dippefs that the cost would
not exceed sixteen or eighteen cents
per head. After all the bills had
come in the cost finally figured to a.
bout what was expected which was
sixteen cents. Out of this was paid
grub bill, the dip, fuel, engine, assIs-
tance of night man and several mis-
ceIdneous items.
OF course it might be said that it
was a dangerous undertaking because
we were bringing cattle into infected
coralls and pastures, but those famil-
Jar with the disease know that the
disease can not live off of the animal
body more than three weeks We did
not take any of our stock TO the place
till some six weeks had elapsed be
tween the time that the Wyoming
outfits left and the time we started to
| dip. So it is plainly evident that
there is no possible chance of sprea d.
ing the diseases by coming into con
tact with the SO called once infected
pastures.
Another important item is that 1t
is often common that one per cent Of
the stock dipped may drown or for
other reasons may die This Is most
times due to careless handling or for
the lack of sufficient help. Care was
taken to have sufficient help on hand
each day and om loss was reduced to
the minimum. That Is not one single
animal died through the process Of
dipping.
AS community proposition it was
a tremendous success as every man
was as much Interested in the other
fellow as he was interested I'm himself
leyery man seemed to have keen sem
lse of cooperation and worked his
limit continually. 1t was one Of the
best community Jobs that | ever had
|anything to do with, Furthermore
its success was Que to these men who
we're so interested I'm Farm Bureau
Work and the welfare OF their neigh
bors.
Cedarbutte Is community of re-
Isponsiye rural folks that will try to
make acountry even against its great
lest drawbacks County Agent.