MILK AND TUBERCULOSIS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 3130, 28 January 1911, Page 4

MILK AND TUBERCULOSIS.

■ AN INTERESTING DISCUSSION. Before the Australian Science Congress, Professor Stewart, in a paper mainly addressed to farmers on “The Repression of Tuberculosis in Dairy Herds,” had,some remarks bearing on the important subject of the public’s milk supply, as endangered by this disease—‘ ‘consumption. ’ ’ From a breeder’s point of view, he said, much is to be said in favor of every farmer running his own separator, and sanitarians are forced to lend support to the practice until better provision is generally made by public creameries for tiie pasteurisation of the separated milk. The momentary exposure of separated milk to a temperature of about 160 degrees Fahrenheit is not pastuorisation, but merely a commercial practice to keep the milk apparently sound for a longer period. The term pasteurisation means an exposure of 160 degrees Fahrenheit, and this procedure is necessary to destroy tubercle bacilli contained in the milk.

Untreated separated mixed milk received from public creameries is one of the most prolific sources of dissemination of tuberculosis, and it is a very unwise practice to feed calves and pigs w tli# it in the untreated condition, as the milk of one cow suffering from tuberculosis of the udder, supplied to a. public- creamery, may be responsible for the spread of the disease to many farms in the district. The pasteurisation of milk is undoubtedly a - troublesome procedure-, but the labor involved can be considerably reduced by the use of proper apparatus. Compulsory pasteurisation of separated milk priori to distribution by public creameries offers, the lecturer said, the most expeditious solution of the difficulty.

With regard to the farmer, it is generally admitted that the excessive drain on the system caused by heavy milk yield is one of the chief reasons for the I greater prevalence of tuberculosis among dairy cows, and as the disease is one of slow development the advisability l of keeping adult cows under close surveillance is manifest. Suspicious cows should be tested and immediately removed if they react. Cows bought at public sales offered risk of infection to a herd, and oven with cows from reputed clean herds it was necessary to apply the tuberculin test.. Tuberculosis is a disease of man, of cattle, of pigs, and of fowls, and is communicable from, one to the other. Consequently a tuberculous attendant should be debarred, and pigs and fowls should be kept within enclosures to prevent' contamination of pasturage. Of recent years veterinarians are inclined to regard infected pasturage as an important source of dissemination are inclined' to regard infected pasturage as an important source of dissemination of the disease, and the occasional cultivation of grazing lands may be advocated for sanitary reasons as well as for agricultural purposes. ,