Tuberculosis Crisis Strikes Richland Dairy Herds
A state veterinary inspection reveals widespread tuberculosis in local cattle, forcing a mandatory cull of diseased animals in the Richland district.
As a result of the visit of the state veterinary to the Richland district, several fine milk cows will have to be slaughtered, showing positive evidence of being tubercular. Prof. W. Holt of the high school will lose one valuable animal he had previously isolated. Other owners losing parts of their herds include Sam Ross and Fred Johnson. The veterinary will return to the district soon to inspect the remaining herds that were not reached during this visit.
“The veterinary found her diseased and ordered her killed, which will be done at some public place so that all interested may have an opportunity to see the operation.”
Public health in 1916 was inextricably linked to agricultural safety; the forced slaughter of diseased cattle was a standard, if brutal, method of disease control before modern pasteurization became universal. It highlights the high stakes of early 20th-century rural life.
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