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Show CATTLE IN INTERSTATE COMMERCE MUST , V BE SHOWN FREE FROM TUBERCULOSIS Y" fe V - r . x Si v V & j V A Splendid Herd of Good Quality Herefords. (Prepared by the United States Depart- I ment of Agriculture.) Beginning July 1, 1919, the shipment ship-ment of cattle interstate without having hav-ing them properly tuberculin tested will be prohibited with a few exceptions excep-tions by a regulation issued by the secretary of agriculture. The enforcement enforce-ment of this new regulation will, if is believed, be of great assistance in j preventing the further spread of tuberculosis' tuber-culosis' among live stock, and having the work practically under state and federal supervision at all times will serve to bring about uniformity. The department of agriculture, through its bureau of animal industry, indus-try, is now actively co-operating with the state live stock sanitary officials and cattle owners of 42 states in the eradication of tuberculosis from live stock. Recent legislation in several of the states has made it possible to proceed with the work where heretofore it has been impossible to do so. Federal funds available for the work are insufficient in-sufficient to meet present demands, and now that the cattle owners are finding the work to be of such advantage advan-tage and importance the demands will increase rapidly. Most activities are in the "accredited-herd" work with the owners and breeders of pure-bred herds of cattle who wish to free their herds front tuberculosis and have them placed on the list as "accredited." Full Co-operation Essential. Some "area work" is being conducted. conduct-ed. Under this plan a community or county or some other unit decides to have all the cattle in the area tuberculin tuber-culin tested with a view of complete- 9,800, containing about 200,000 cattle, and since that time a large number . have been added to the list. Those cattle owners have realized the great importance of trying to maintain a healthy herd, and have pledged themselves to co-operate with the stale and federal officials In every possible way to free their cattle from tire disease. Must Guard Against Infection. Experience covering a period of several sev-eral years has proved beyond a doubt that a herd can be freed of tuberculosis tuber-culosis and kept free, and that the procedure is entirely practical and within the power of a large percentage of cattle owner's. Hut to accomplish the desired results everyone connected connect-ed with the project must do his best to follow plans, in every detail, that will bring it about. The fullest cooperation co-operation on the part of the herd owner own-er is very important. A herd of cattle may be declared to be free from tuberculosis tuber-culosis by tire officials in charge of the work, and then, through some oversight over-sight or by carelessness, diseased animals ani-mals may he added to the herd or members of the herd may be allowed to associate with tuberculous cattle. In such case, infection may iigain be Introduced and cause further losses and much trouble. Since the inauguration of co operative opera-tive tuberculosis eradication work the number of cattle tested with tuberculin tubercu-lin each month has increased. A total to-tal of 2,")2,114 cattle were tes'ved from July 1, 1918, to May 1, 1919. Minnesota Minne-sota leads among the northern states with about 2",000. Virginia leads the southern states with 15.7015, followed closely by Alabama with 15,094. ly eradicating the disease as soon as possible. In order that the "area work" may be successfully carried on, the fullest co-operation of the cattle owners in the territory must be obtained, obtain-ed, and any attempt to proceed with the work without the good will and hearty co-operation of the people will fail. Appropriations by the states for the coming fiscal year for live stock tuberculosis tuber-culosis eradication aggregate about two million dollars. Part of this sum will be used to indemnify partially the owners of cattle found to be tuberculous. tuber-culous. Most of the states now have laws permitting the payment of indemnity in-demnity and the federal department also pays some indemnity when funds are available. With the exception of valuable breeding animals, it is found most advisable to consign the tuberculous tuber-culous cattle for slaughter and thereby there-by dispose of them to the best advantage. advan-tage. In the greater portion of "reactors" "re-actors" the disease is found to exist to but a slight extent, making the meat fit for food thereby causing a great saving. The carcasses of such cattle, after being passed for food by trained inspectors, usually bring about the market price, which sum, deducted deduct-ed from the appraised value of the live animal, leaves the amount of loss. Under the most recent laws, this loss Is divided between the owner, the state and the United States each standing one-third except that in most, cases the state is limited in the amount that it can pay and the United States is always limited to the payment pay-ment of !?50 for a pure-bred animal and $-" for a grade. Healthy Cattle Worth More. Owners realize that these slightly diseased cattle may at any time become be-come n source of danger to the healthy animals of the herd and that they themselves may break down from the disease and die or become of little or no value. The value of healthy cattle in any herd, after the tuberculous ones are taken out, always flicreases, and it is a source of great satisfaction to the owner that he has a healthy herd or that he is doing everything in his power pow-er to make it so. Cattle from accredited accred-ited herds are commanding Increased prices over those that tire not, and those from herds that are in the process proc-ess of being accredited nre also be-li;g be-li;g sold at advanced prices. The second list of accredited herds arid those that have successfully passed pass-ed one tuberculin test in preparation for t) e accredited list Is expected to be ready for distribution July L Ite-qneMs Ite-qneMs now received indicate that 1(KI,000 copies will be required to meet demands. This pamphlet of about 100 pages will contain the names and addresses of about 400 cattle owners, representing about 01,000 cattle, cat-tle, whose herds have passed one or more successful official tuberculin tests applied under the co-operative plan for accrediting herds of tuberculosis-free cattle. Up to April 1, 101!), the total number num-ber of herds under supervision for the eradication of tuberculosis was about |