Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1925-08-12
WISCONSIN HOG
CHOLERA LOSS IS
100000 A YEAR
Seventeen Out of 1000 Pork
ers Sacrificed to Dread
Malady.

Hog cholera robbed Wisconsin farm
ers of 22,774 hogs in the year ending
May /, according to the Blue Valley
Creamery Institute. This means that
II out of each thousand hogs on the
farms Of this state were sacrificed to
this disease and, at $500 the head
took S296,062 out of the pockets of
their owners.
Compared to the year before, how
ever, the losses from this dread dis
ease are somewhat lower. The num-
Der Of hogs claimed by this malady for
1923 was 81 $50, or at the rate Of 21.8
hogs out Of each thousand 4 better
showing than the average for the Unit
ed States which is 30.8 out Of a thou
sand hogs or a hotel Of / STA, 746 for
the country This is the new low rec
ord touched last year compared to
the 40 to 80 per thousand that was
considered usual before In The cpl
demic of 1914 the death rate reached
106 per thousand ana in the severe
outbreak which reached its peak in
1897 the rate was 100 per thousand
with the industry practically wiped
out in some sections. The total loss
sustained in the country last year was
somewhat above $4,000, 600 as COM
pared to S65000, 600 in one previous
single year and an average annual loss
for the past forty years of not less
than $30,000,000
Preventive Methods Best,
Despite the excellent record of last
year Wisconsin farmers are urged by
the Institute TO take all possible pre-
cautions and to be constantly on the
alert to prevent infection of their
hogs Greater precaution at the yards
and the wide use Of protective serum
will tend toward improvement in the
future as they were effective last year.
Once the disease is discovered in a
herd, serum treatment should me i'm
mediately applied, and the hogs kept
on a light diet in sanitary quarters
with plentiful supply of pure drink
ing water on hand. Hogs having a
temperature of 104 in ordinary wealth
err should be given an increased dose
of the serum.
,DiSinfect Premises.
Too, the premises should be rid of
all piles, litter and rubbish, wallOw
holes, and old straw stacks out of the
reach of the hogs. Walls, floors and
all surfaces should be sprayed with
disinfectant and where possible the
interior of hog houses exposed to the
sunlight. Hogs that do not fully re-
cover should be destroyed for they
may be carriers of the infection.
TWENTY-FIVE percent of the hens on
Grant county farms are not paying
their board and should not be carried
over for next years layers. This con-
clusion by the Blue Valley Creamery
Institute is based on a summary OF re-
ports of hen-culling campaigns IN
areas where poultry conditions are
similar 10 those prevailing in this
county.
It is easier to detect a Stacker hen
than poor producing cow, according
to the Institute The poultryman need
but step into the poultry house at
night and by feeling the ends of the
hens pelvis bones, convince himself
absolutely whether that particular
hen is a layer or a liar. In an unde-
yeloped pullet these bones are very
close together, but as she approaches
the laying period they gradually
spread further apart to permit the
egg TO pass between the pelvic bones
in leaving the body. When laying
stops the bones tend to draw closer
and closer together. Since an egg
measures two to two and one-half
fingers in width, it is readily seen that
the hen with bones not spread the
width of an egg is not laying while
those with bones extended are pro-
ducers.
This is the best time of year to start
going through ones flock to Gull out
fhe non-layers and early Noting hens,
the Institute states. Hens that stop
laying in July and August are general
ly the poorest layers and 1t IS mis-
take to assume that they VIII lay
more eggs this winter because they
ceased laying early.