Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1925-10-14
COUNTY AGENT NOTES
Beware Of Hog Cholera

Those who have had hog cholera in
their herds know of the results OF
same. In the state of Wisconsin in the
year of 1920 there were 2,236,000 hogs
and htere were lost by cholera that
year by Wisconsin farmers 66,509.
Figuring that in dollars and cents you
will realize the Importance of the
heading of this write-up.
| 1t is a most serious disease of hogs
and is found in practically all parts
of the world, having its beginning IN
| Ohio in 1888, and fall is the season
+, of the year when usually hog cholera
gets its foothold in the sections OF
| the middle west. Hog cholera is nigh
| ly contagious and is caused by germ
which lives in the blood OF the IN
| fected animal, and of course with hog
cholera comes fever and usually IN
| less proper precautions are taken
| a high death rate is sure to follow
1t has been talked in the past that
there were certain breeds OF hogs
that we're not susceptible to this dis
ease. This statement is absolutely in
| correct, because all breeds are sus-
ceptible alike.
This office wishes to warn at this
| time all swine raiSerS in Grant coun-
ty to be on the lookout for this dead
lest of al swine diseases. There is
| an outbreak of hog cholera in Grant
county at the present time, therefore
watch carefully your herd OF fatten-
| ing hogs. We would advise that stray
dogs should be caught and shut up,
for they are one Of the worst car
riers of hog cholera from place to
place that we have. A dog that is in
the habit of travelling the neighbor-
hood, our advice to you would be that
| for your own good if not for that of
your neighbors, you tie him up. Dogs
and cats and also pigeons may carry
an awful blow for you by bringing
hog cholera to your premises. Be sure
that your hogs do not leave your
premises. Prevention is the best cure
for once hogs get the cholera there is
very little to be done in the way of
bringing them through without the
disease being fatal to them.
Some of the best preventives that
we can think of are as follows: To
begin with comes Sanitation By this
we mean the keeping of lots as clean
as possible, giving your hogs good
fresh water to drink and a good dry
bed in which to sleep. Secondly
comes the war on stray dogs, cats and
pigeons. Last but not least comes
care regarding the proper feeding of
your hogs. During the past summer
hogs as a general rule have not been
accustomed to corn, many have been
ranged on grass alone. Now that you
have a corn crop your start feeding
them all the corn they will take, and
corn is a heat producing food and
will, If it is moldy, often times cause
a form of diarrhea, and incidentally
tear down the system of the hogs and
so make it possible for such diseases
as cholera to get a foothold.
If hog cholera is in your immediate
vicinity we would suggest that you
have your hogs Vaccinated for cholera.
vaccination is not cure, it is a pre-
Vention. Whether it be the single or
double treatment they are both pre-
yentlVes, not cures. After your hogs
are running the fever there will be no
value in vaccination, or at least not
a great deal. After hogs are vaccinat-
ed, especially is this true after giving
the double treatment, they should be
kept off full feed, such as corn, for
at least ten days so as to give them
the best Of conditions so that the sys-
tenn may counteract the virus that has
been given them.
For your benefit here are a few
symptoms which you may watch for
that are nearly sure symptoms of
cholera. To begin with we have two
forms of cholera, the acute form
/ fpnY i0Io ~ 49,
and in the morning you will find them
dead, and the chronic form, or less
/ severe type from which the hogs may
be sick for weeks or months before
they succumb The latter class men
toned we usually find in droves of
hogs that are not up to the best stand
ard of health due to improper feed,
tuberculosis, or worms. Some cases
after the cholera has got a footing, a
slight cough will be noticed, especially
| is this true when hogs are disturbed
and the eyes are usually infiamed and
show whitish discharge in the later
stage of the cholera. You may notice
constipation, but this is usually fol-
lowed by diarrhea. Usually you will
find on hogs that are pretty we'll
along with the disease red and purp-
fish blotches on the skin of the ears,
belly and inner surface of the legs
It is rather hard to determine wheth-
er it is cholera unless the temperature
is taken or that it is possible to di-
agnose by post-mortem, any animal
that is sick. Hogs that are affected
with hog cholera their temperature
will run from 104 to 107 degrees. One
of the surest symptoms that is most
noticeable in detecting cholera with
post-mortem is that the kidneys will
show dark red spots on them rang
ing in size from mere points to
5pecks of the size that you will find
on turkey eggs.
! If you notice any peculiar condition
in your herd of hogs we would suggest
that you Immediately get in touch
with the veterinarian and if you are
in an area where cholera is present
it would be we'll to vaccinate to pre-
vent against the disease. Hog cholera
is almost always deadly An ounce of
prevention is worth a pound of cure
This office is very anxious that ev-
cry precaution be taken to eliminate
any possible danger of loss to the
Grant county farmers due to this dis
ease. If you have hog cholera, won't
you warn your neighbors; put a sign
up to the effect that you have it and
see to it that your dog don't range
! the country and further that all dead