Show 7 t DANKS SAYS COWS NEED BLOOD TEST efficient method to find contagious abortion tile lack of isolation stables and proper quarantine facilities Is the most serious in getting rid of abortion disease from da dairy try farms said J II 11 danks superintendent of the winterthur hinterthur Winter thur fornis farms thur del at tho the new york state college of agriculture nt ithaca when as many manyas as 15 or 20 per cent of the lierd herd Is infected with contagious abortion it Is advisable to separate the positive reactors from the negative ones and tills separation should be complete it la Is not enough to place the infected animals in one end of the barn and the in the other end nal e nfl where only a relatively small proportion pio portion Is infected a system whereby the positive reactors are removed from tile tha herd at calving time has proved satisfactory blood testing appears to be the most method of determining which animals a are infects says sir air danks but n knowledge of the limitations of tills this method is needed to obtain best results the typical veterinarian Is not yet sufficiently posted about the details of the blood testing plan to advise his clients so BO great progress in eliminating abortion by the blood test method will not he be made until the veterinarian and through him the I 1 stockman Is better informed on tile the subject in most herds where blood tests have been made and the best known principles of segregation and quarantine have been followed the abortion rate has rapidly declined to approximately 5 per cent or less although in a few herds abortion has not declined much below 10 per cent the cause of abortions in animals free from the bang bacillus Is not fully understood and should be made the subject of further investigation it is generally considered that a variety of cau s are responsible such as improperly developed reproductive organs and accidents |