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FEEDING OF COWS.

Most of the farmers are feeding.cows intelligently and well. Only one application was rejected for improper feeding.

The only questionable food we have found is brewers' grains. Authorities are divided as to its use. While we do not favor the use of such sloppy alcoholic grains, yet it is difficult to prevent their proper use.

The inspector should have authority to suppress the use of such grains on some farms on account of the unhygienic methods of storing, whereby these grains become a sour, foul-smelling, and filthy food.

Corn meal, bran, middlings, clover hay, green and dried fodder, together with rye (green) and oats and pease (green) form the bases of most of the feeding rations.

Ensilage is being fed on many farms with great success. The question is not whether or not ensilage shall be fed, but rather, Shall we prohibit the use of sour, decomposed ensilage which has been poorly made and stored in an improperly constructed silo?

A few farmers fed cotton-seed meal too plentifully, often causing "garget" of the udder.

WATER SUPPLY OF DAIRY FARMS.

The water supply of all dairy farms should be given a systematic inspection and chemical analysis, especially the water used in washing dairy appurtenances.

Recently several samples have been secured from wells and springs on dairy farms which were proven by chemical analysis to be unfit for such use.

On some farms wells have been condemned and are yet in use, save on such occasions as a visit by the inspector. The law should require the closing and filling in of such wells.

The presence of typhoid bacilli can be seldom, if ever, proven in milk or water, but it has been proven that they may carry many diseases. That milk can carry the infection of such diseases as typhoid fever, diphtheria, scarlet fever, foot and mouth disease, Asiatic cholera, and sore throat has been proven in 170 epidemics, in which there were 10,856 cases, mostly due to washing cans and bottles with infected water.

INSPECTION OF DAIRY COWS.

The most important feature of the dairy-farm inspection of the District of Columbia is the actual inspection of the cows supplying the milk. Too frequently cities employ a large inspection force without paying the slightest attention to the actual source of the milk.

The mode of inspection is that of a thorough physical examination of the cow to determine if any disease is present which may affect the milk in a detrimental manner, paying particular attention to the udder and milking of each cow, for only in such an inspection can we determine the presence of cows having chronic diseases of the udder. On two farms supplying milk to this city 10 cows were found with diseased udders out of a total of 80, or 12 per cent diseased. On four other farms which had not been inspected for one year 11 cows with diseased udders were found.

That diseased udders (mammitis) may transmit disease to the human family is shown in an epidemic resembling scarlet fever which occurred near London, England, which was traced to the milk of a farm near Hendon. Examination showed a micrococcus as the probable cause of the disease.

Attention is given to the proper cleaning of cows and their udders before milking, and to the hands and apparel of the milker.

While the conditions have greatly improved under this inspection, and while cows honeycombed with manure are rarely found, yet much improvement is to be desired in the milking process.

It is most difficult to impress upon the milkers that milking should be a clean process and not the dirtiest work on the farm. Many farmers require brushing of the udder and grooming of the cow, which is greatly appreciated by this office, but they counteract this good work by permitting the milker to have dirty hands and vile, foul-smelling, greasy clothing.

Cows should have their udders clipped, also the belly around the udder, and the long hairs from the tail removed in cold weather, and before milking these parts should be moistened, as bacteria do not rise from a moistened surface. Each milker should have two suits of cotton overalls (white), and these could be washed every day with little trouble. Each cow stable should have a bucket, basin, soap, and towel for each milker.

CONDEMNATION OF COWS.

Fewer cows were condemned than in the previous fiscal year, showing that in the inspected sections farmers are more careful in their selections and often dispose of diseased cows before ordered to do so by this office.

TUBERCULOSIS AND THE TUBERCULIN TEST.

Of the 120 cows condemned as unfit for dairy purposes during the year, 68, or over 50 per cent, were condemned as tuberculous. Of this number 48 were detected by physical examination in 249 herds, and 20 by the use of the tuberculin test in 3 herds, which shows the fallacy of a physical examination and the necessity of applying the tuberculin test to all herds supplying milk to this city. In these 3 herds we did not test them, because they were considered as worse than any other herds, and it was done at the request of their owners to satisfy a demand for healthy milk.

One herd of 20 cows failed to show any disease. Another of 35 cows showed 7, or 20 per cent, diseased. The worst herd tested consisted of 27 cows, 13 of them being tuberculous, or nearly 50 per cent. A study of tuberculosis and the tuberculin test will show the necessity of the latter to protect in one way the thousands of children who subsist entirely on milk.

It has been proven during the last year that milk from cows which reacted to the tuberculin test, and which showed no signs of tuberculosis of the udder, contained tubercle bacilli in from 5 to 66 per cent of the cows reacting to the test.

In one herd in which 15 cows reacted to the test, the milk of 10 showed tubercle bacilli both microscopically and by intra-abdominal

inoculation of guinea pigs, causing tuberculosis of the liver and other abdominal organs in these animals. Of these 15 cows but 2 showed tuberculosis of the udder post mortem. (Rabinowitch and Kempner Veterinary High School, Berlin, Germany.)

Opinions have differed as regards the infectiousness of milk from cows which showed so few, if any, symptoms of tuberculosis that the tuberculin test was required to prove its existence. From experiments made recently we are compelled to believe that the milk of all cows reacting to tuberculin must be regarded as infectious.

In connection with this, the article of S. B. Willard, V. M. D. (Journal Comp. Med. and Vet. Archives, May, 1899), throws some light on the infectiousness of tuberculous milk and the weakness of a physical examination compared with the tuberculin test.

A cow in good condition and apparent health, on account of the trouble required to milk her, as she was a bad kicker, was used to raise the calves of other cows. She raised 32 calves in 1898. When this herd was tested in December, 1898, this cow gave a typical reaction to tuberculin. When the calves nursed on this cow were from 3 to 6 months old all of them were tested, and 7 out of 32 gave a tuberculous reaction.

We are told by those who have studied this question that we can not prove that tuberculosis of the human has ever been contracted from drinking milk, but the number of autopsies of tuberculous children, showing the initial lesions in the mesenteric glands and born of families free of tuberculosis, is very strong circumstantial evidence. It has never been proven that the expectoration of consumptives in public conveyances has ever caused tuberculosis, but stringent laws have been passed preventing expectorating in such vehicles.

Neither case has been proven, but it is the duty of the sanitarian to remove a probable cause. The value and accuracy of the tuberculin test is now conceded generally in America and Europe by all veterinarians, who have used it thousands of times and held as many autopsies to prove its value. The test is combated by those who are ignorant of the manufacture of tuberculin, and have never had the opportunity of actually seeing it used and its value proven.

It is a test which can be used most successfully in a fraudulent manner, and it is recommended that if applied to the cows under the jurisdiction of this office its use be limited to veterinarians who are deputized to act for this office.

The value of the tuberculin test is not only that of a diagnostic agent, but, from the standpoint of dairy inspection, it is the most valuable measure we now possess to insure the production of milk free of tubercle bacilli.

The tuberculin test is in general use in Denmark. Badly diseased cows are killed. Cows reaching, but in a good physical condition, are isolated and the milk sterilized before using. The calves from these cows are removed at birth and given to healthy cows. This system would be impracticable here, owing to the size of our country and the lack of proper official supervision.

The State of New York started to eradicate tuberculosis from its herds, and the start was very auspicious; but the work soon caused the formation of a commission and the work practically ceased.

In Massachusetts all cities and towns have dairy inspection and the State makes a yearly inspection of all cows. The State board of cattle commissioners expended $300,000 in 1896, $250,000 in 1897, and

$150,000 in 1898 in reimbursing owners for cows destroyed as tuberculous by the tuberculin test. The number destroyed in 1898 was 5,400 cows and cattle.

Before spending these large sums of money the State passed a law preventing the importation of any cows unless they had passed the tuberculin test. Pennsylvania also had such an importation law, but in this State the testing is voluntary; but so many farmers take advantage of the opportunity of cleaning out their herds that the amount of money appropriated is never sufficient.

A great loss occurs in Massachusetts, as none of the meat of these cattle is used for food, inasmuch as the great percentage of animals reacting to tuberculin can be used for food if the disease is but local and the invasion not great, provided, of course, the animal is in a marketable condition.

The city of Minneapolis, Minn., has been using this test on all cows supplying milk to the city for three years. Antagonism was aroused, of course, but the supreme court of Minnesota decided the right of the city to thus protect itself. Since then public sentiment has changed and farmers demand the test; since the value of their animals has increased and as public confidence is restored to the more general use of milk, the market gets better. The first test in Minneapolis practically drove out the disease, as last year in 1,790 cows tested only 69, or 34 per cent, were condemned.

The testing of cows in the District would be practicable, and, with extra legislation, also in Virginia and Maryland. There would be from 900 to 1,000 cows to test in the District. A board of appraisers should set a value on each cow in each herd, with a maximum price to be established. All condemned animals should be killed at the abattoir, and the value of the meat, if passed as wholesome, and that of the hides and fat should be deducted from the assessed price of the animal. It is impossible to determine in advance the number of cows which would be condemned, but $10,000 would probably cover the cost of the first test, not including salaries of any extra officials. A sum should then be set aside each year for reimbursement for cows killed as diseased, and this would be but a small sum.

If such a test is ordered, a law should require the testing of all cows brought into the District for sale, or that the test should be made in this city before selling. This test should be free in the city, and could be very well conducted at the District cow market on Market space, provided a small sum was expended in making repairs and alterations. One day each week dealers and dairymen could bring their cows to this market, and a large number of cows could be tested at a single testing.

All cows successfully passing this test should have a numerical earmark or tag and be branded "D. C.," and if condemned should be branded "I. C."

Reports show that in 11,394 cattle tested in this country 5,737 reacted to the test. Post-mortem revealed the disease in 5,746 cattle, as 9 did not react to the test, but were tuberculous, and 2 reacted to the test, but were not tuberculous post-mortem. Thus there were 11 errors in 11,394 cattle, or about 1 error to 1,000 cattle tested.

Considering the number of operators and the various conditions under which the test was made, the results are very gratifying as showing the accuracy of the tuberculin test in the diagnosis of tuberculosis in cattle.

BACTERIOLOGICAL EXAMINATION OF MILK.

During the winter, when the country roads of Virginia and Maryland at times almost preclude the inspection of many dairy farms in those States, a bacteriological examination of the milk was begun, largely to determine the number of bacteria found in milk, and to ascertain if the results would correspond closely with the known cleanly or otherwise condition which usually existed on the dairy farm from which the samples were taken. The results showed conclusively that the milk from those farms on which modern dairy rules were adhered to, both as to cleanliness and storage of milk, contained but a relatively small number of bacteria.

The cleanliness of the process of milking and of the cans in which it is kept, together with the rapid cooling immediately after milking, and the maintenance of a low temperature, have to do entirely with the number of bacteria in milk, and therefore as to its value as a food, for any sample of milk containing millions of bacteria to each cubic centimeter is not fit for the feeding of infants; not that these bacteria are altogether harmful, and many of them are harmless, yet in the multiplication of millions of bacteria in every pint of milk certain changes take place which destroy its keeping qualities, and therefore its value as a food.

over.

Some samples of milk showed a higher number of bacteria than the sewage water of this city, which statement is not pleasant to ponder Most of the bacteria in milk enter at the time of milking, and then multiply, if the surroundings are favorable-that is, warmth. They come from fecal matter, which drops into the bucket from the legs, udder, tail, and belly, from the dust of the stable, and the dirty hands of the milker. A few bacteria exist normally in the udder, probably entering through the teats.

With clean, healthy cows, milked by clean, healthy milkers, with clean cans and bottles, and the immediate straining and cooling of milk to 50° F., and held at or below this point, we would have a perfect milk supply. When it is considered that two-thirds of the milk for this city is shipped by the railroads, and that one-half of it is thirty-six hours old and the other half is twenty-four hours old before it reaches the consumer, this matter of cleanliness and cooling is selfevident.

But if this old milk is properly handled and cooled, it is better than milk which reaches the consumer when it is four hours old, if the latter milk is dirty and improperly cooled. Milk is now produced at some dairy farms in this country and put up in ice boxes for shipment to Europe for tourists having infants to feed, and keeps sweet and fresh ten days without the use of any preservative save cleanliness, pasteurizing, and proper cooling.

Occasionally a dairy farmer lives up to the spirit as well as the letter of the law. If the consumer is not absolutely certain that his milk dealer is under the latter class, he should invariably buy his milk in pint bottles and heat it to 158° F. for twenty minutes, as soon as it is received, gradually cool, and then place on ice until wanted. Pasteurization will not make bad milk good, but it will largely destroy its infectiousness.

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