Dairy stock, properly fed and managed, is liable to few diseases in this country, notwithstanding the sudden changes to which our climate is subject. If pure air, pure water, a dry barn or pasture, and a frequent but gradual change of diet, when kept in the stall, are provided for milch cows, nature will generally remedy any derangements of the system which may occur, far better than art. Common sense is especially requisite in the treatment of stock, and that will very rarely dictate a resort to bleeding, boring the horns, cutting off the tail, and a thousand other equally absurd practices, too common even within the memory of men still living.

The diseases most to be dreaded are garget, puerperal or milk fever, and idiopathic or common fever, commonly called “horn ail,” and often “tail ail.”

Garget

is an inflammation of the internal substance of the udder. One or more of the teats, or whole sections of the udder, become enlarged and thickened, hot, tender, and painful. The milk coÄgulates in the bag, and causes inflammation where it is deposited, which is accompanied by fever. It most commonly occurs in young cows after calving, especially when in too high condition. The secretion of milk is very much lessened, and, in very had cases, stopped altogether. Sometimes the milk is thick, and mixed with blood. Often, also, in severe cases, the hind extremities, as the hip-joint, hock, or fetlock, are swollen and inflamed to such an extent that the animal cannot rise. The simplest remedy, in mild cases, is to put the calf to its mother several times a day. This will remove the flow of milk, and often dispel the congestion.

Sometimes the udder is so much swollen that the cow will not permit the calf to suck. If the fever increases, the appetite declines, and rumination ceases. In this stage of the complaint, the advice of a scientific veterinary practitioner is required. A dose of purging medicine and frequent washing of the udder, in mild cases, are usually successful. The physic should consist of Epsom salts one pound, ginger half an ounce, nitrate of potassa half an ounce; dissolved in a quart of boiling water; then add a gill of molasses, and give to the cow lukewarm. Diet moderate; that is, on bran, or if in summer green food. There are various medicines for the different forms and stages of garget, which, if the above medicine fails, can be properly prescribed only by a skilful veterinary practitioner.

It is important that the udder should be frequently examined, as matter may be forming, which should be immediately released. Various causes are assigned for this disease, such as exposure to cold and wet, or the want of proper care or attention in parturition.

An able writer, Mr. Youatt, says that hasty drying up a cow often gives rise to inflammation and indurations of the udder, difficult of removal. Sometimes a cow lies down upon and bruises the udder, and this is another cause. But a very frequent source, and one for which there can be no excuse, is the failure to milk a cow clean. The calf should be allowed to suck often, and the cow should be milked at least twice a day as clean as possible, while suffering from this complaint.

If the udder is hot and feverish, a wash may be used, consisting of eight ounces of vinegar and two ounces of camphoretted spirit; the whole well and thoroughly mixed, and applied just after milking, to be washed off in warm water before milking again.

In very bad cases, iodine has often been found most effectual. An iodine ointment may be prepared by taking one drachm of hydriodate of potash and an ounce of lard, and mixing them well together. A small portion of the mixture, from the size of a pigeon’s egg, in limited inflammations, to twice that amount, is to be well rubbed into the swollen part, morning and night.

When milk forms in the bag before parturition, so as to cause a swelling of the udder, it should be milked away; and a neglect of this precaution often leads to violent attacks of garget.

Prevention is always better than cure. The reason most commonly given for letting the cow run dry for a month or two before calving is that after a long period of milking her system requires rest, and that she will give more milk and do better the coming season than if milked up to the time of calving.

This is all true, and a reason sufficient in itself for drying off the cow some weeks before parturition; but there is another important reason for the practice, which is that the mixture of the old milk with the new secretion is liable to end in an obstinate case of garget.

To prevent any ill effects from calving, the cow should not be suffered to get too fat, which high feeding after drying off might induce.

The period of gestation is about two hundred and eighty-four or two hundred and eighty-five days. But cows sometimes overrun their time, and have been known to go three hundred and thirteen days, and even more; while they now and then fall short of it, and have been known to calve in two hundred and twenty days. If they go much over the average time, the calf will generally be a male. But cows are sometimes liable to slink their calves; and this usually takes place about the middle of their pregnancy. To avoid the evil consequences, so far as possible, they should be watched; and, if a cow is found to be uneasy and feverish, or wandering about away from the rest of the herd, and apparently longing for something she cannot get, she ought to be taken away from the others.

If a cow slinks her calf while in the pasture with others, they will be liable to be affected in the same way.

In many cases, physicking will quiet the cow’s excitement in the condition above described, and prove of essential benefit. A dose of one pound of Epsom or Glauber’s salts, and one ounce of ginger, mixed in a pint of thick gruel, should be given first, to be immediately followed by the salts, in a little thinner gruel.

When a cow once slicks her calf, there is great risk in breeding from her. She is liable to do the same again. But when the slinking is caused by sudden fright or over-exertion, or any offensive matter, such as blood or the dead carcasses of animals, this result is not so much to be feared.

But the cow, when about to calve, ought not to be disturbed by too constant watching. The natural presentation of the foetus is with the head lying upon the fore legs. If in this position, nature will generally do all. But, if the presentation is unnatural, and the labor has been long and ineffectual, some assistance is required. The hand, well greased, may be introduced, and the position of the calf changed; and, when in a proper position, a cord should be tied round the fore legs, just above the hoofs; but no effort should be made to draw out the calf till the natural throes are repeated. If the nostril of the calf has protruded, and the position is then found to be unnatural, the head cannot be thrust back without destroying the life of the calf.

The false position most usually presented is that of the head first, with the legs doubled under the belly. A cord is then fixed around the lower jaw, when it is pushed back, to give an opportunity to adjust the fore legs, if possible. The object must now be to save the life of the cow.

But the cases of false presentation, though comparatively rare, are so varied that no directions could be given which would be applicable in all cases.

After calving the cow will require but little care, if she is in the barn, and protected from changes of weather. A warm bran mash is usually given, and the state of the udder examined.

Puerperal or Milk Fever.

—Calving is often attended with feverish excitement. The change of powerful action from the womb to the udder causes much constitutional disturbance and local inflammation. A cow is subject to nervousness in such circumstances, which sometimes extends to the whole system, and causes puerperal fever. This complaint is called dropping after calving, because it succeeds that process. The prominent symptom is a loss of power over the motion of the hind extremities, and inability to stand; sometimes loss of sensibility in these parts, so that a deep puncture with a pin, or other sharp instrument, is unfelt.

This disease is much to be dreaded by the farmer, on account of the high state of excitement and the local inflammation. Either from neglect or ignorance, the malady is not discovered until the manageable symptoms have passed, and extreme debility has appeared. The animal is often first seen lying down, unable to rise; prostration of strength and violent fever are brought on by inflammation of the womb. But soon a general inflammatory action succeeds, rapid and violent, with complete prostration of all the vital forces, bidding defiance to the best-selected remedies.

Cows in very high condition, and cattle removed from low keeping to high feeding, are the most liable to puerperal fever. It occurs most frequently during the hot weather of summer, and then it is most dangerous. When it occurs in winter, cows sometimes recover. In hot weather they usually die.

Milk fever may be induced by the hot drinks often given after calving. A young cow at her first calving is rarely attacked with it. Great milkers are most commonly subject to it; but all cows have generally more or less fever at calving. A little addition to it, by improper treatment or neglect, will prevent the secretion of milk; and thus the milk, being thrown back into the system, will increase the inflammation.

This disease sometimes shows itself in the short space of two or three hours after calving, but often not under two or three days. If four or five days have passed, the cow may generally be considered safe. The earliest symptoms of this disease are as follows:

The animal is restless, frequently shifting her position; occasionally pawing and heaving at the flanks. Muzzle hot and dry, the mouth open, and tongue out at one side; countenance wild; eyes staring. She moans often, and soon becomes very irritable. Delirium follows; she grates her teeth, foams at the mouth, tosses her head about, and frequently injures herself. From the first, the udder is hot, enlarged, and tender; and if this swelling is attended by a suspension of milk, the cause is clear. As the case is inflammatory, its treatment must be in accordance; and it is usually subdued without much difficulty. Mr. Youatt says, “The animal should be bled, and the quantity regulated by the impression made upon the circulation,—from six to ten quarts often before the desired effect is produced.” He wrote at a time when bleeding was adopted as the universal cure, and before the general reasoning and treatment of diseases of the human system was applied to similar diseases of animals. The cases are very rare, indeed, where the physician of the present day finds it necessary to bleed in diseases of the human subject; and they are equally rare, I apprehend, where it is really necessary or judicious to bleed for the diseases of animals. A more humane and equally effectual course will be the following:

A pound to one and a half pounds of Epsom or Glauber’s salts, according to the size and condition of the animal, should be given, dissolved in a quart of boiling water; and, when dissolved, add pulv. red pepper a quarter of an ounce, caraway do. do., ginger do. do.; mix, and add a gill of molasses, and give lukewarm. If this medicine does not act on the bowels, the quantity of ginger, capsicum, and caraway, must be doubled. The insensible stomach must be roused. When purging in an early stage is begun, the fever will more readily subside. After the operation of the medicine, sedatives may be given, if necessary.

The digestive function first fails, when the secondary or low state of fever comes on. The food undischarged ferments; the stomach and intestines are inflated with gas, and swell rapidly. The nervous system is also attacked, and the poor beast staggers. The hind extremities show the weakness; the cow falls, and cannot rise; her head is turned on one side, where it rests; her limbs are palsied. The treatment in this stage must depend on the existence and degree of fever. The pulse will be the only true guide. If it is weak, wavering, and irregular, we must avoid depleting, purgative agents. The blood flows through the arteries, impelled by the action of the heart, and its pulsations can be very distinctly felt by pressing the finger upon almost any of these arteries that is not too thickly covered by fat or the cellular tissues of the skin, especially where it can be pressed upon some hard or bony substance beneath it. The most convenient place is directly at the back part of the lower jaw, where a large artery passes over the edge of the jawbone to ramify on the face. The natural pulse of a full-grown ox will vary from about forty-eight to fifty-five beats a minute; that of a cow is rather quicker, especially near the time of calving; and that of a calf is quicker than that of a cow. But a very much quicker rate than that indicated will show a feverish state, or inflammation; and a much slower pulsation indicates debility of some kind.

Next in importance, as we have already stated, is the physic. The bowels must be opened, or the animal will fall a victim to the disease. All medicines should be of an active character, and in sufficient quantity; and stimulants should always be added to the purgative medicines, to insure their operation. Ginger, gentian, caraway, or red pepper in powder, may be given with each dose of physic. Some give a powerful purgative, by means of Epsom salts one pound, flour of sulphur four ounces, powdered ginger a quarter of an ounce, all dissolved in a quart of cold water, and one half given twice a day till the bowels are opened. The digestive organs are deranged in most forms of milk fever, and the third stomach is loaded with hard, indigestible food. When the medicine has operated, and the fever is subdued, little is required but good nursing to restore the patient.

No powerful medicines should be used without discretion; for in the milder forms of the disease, as the simple palsy of the hind extremities, the treatment, though of a similar character, should be less powerful, and every effort should be made for the comfort of the cow, by providing a thick bed of straw, and raising the fore quarters to assist the efforts of nature, while all filth should be promptly and carefully removed. She may be covered with a warm cloth, and warm gruel should be frequently offered to her, and light mashes. An attempt should be made several times a day to bring milk from the teats. The return of milk is an indication of speedy recovery.

Milch cows in too high condition appear to have a constitutional tendency to this complaint, and one attack of it predisposes them to another.

Simple Fever.

—This may be considered as increased arterial action, with or without any local affection; or it may be the consequence of the sympathy of the system with the morbid condition of some particular part. The first is pure or idiopathic fever; the other, symptomatic fever. Pure fever is of frequent occurrence in cattle. Symptoms as follows: muzzle dry; rumination slow or entirely suspended; respiration slightly accelerated; the horn at the root hot, and its other extremity frequently cold; pulse quick; bowels constipated; coat staring, and the cow is usually seen separated from the rest of the herd. In slight attacks, a cathartic of salts, sulphur, and ginger, is sufficient. But, if the common fever is neglected, or improperly treated, it may assume, after a time, a local determination, as pleurisy, or inflammation of the lungs or bowels. In such cases the above remedy would be insufficient, and a veterinary surgeon, to manage the case, would be necessary. Symptomatic fever is more dangerous, and is commonly the result of injury, the neighboring parts sympathizing with the injured part. Cattle become unwell, are stinted in their feed, have a dose of physic, and in a few days are well; still, a fever may terminate in some local affection. But in both cases pure fever is the primary disease.

A more dangerous form of fever is that known as symptomatic. As we have said, cattle are not only subject to fever of common intensity, but to symptomatic fever, and thousands die annually from its effects. But the young and the most thriving are its victims. There are few premonitory symptoms of symptomatic fever. It often appears without any previous indications of illness. The animal stands with her neck extended, her eyes protruding and red, muzzle dry, nostrils expanded, breath hot, base of the horn hot, mouth open, pulse full, breathing quick. She is often moaning; rumination and appetite are suspended; she soon becomes more uneasy; changes her position often. Unless these symptoms are speedily removed, she dies in a few hours. The name of the ailment, inflammatory or symptomatic fever, shows the treatment necessary, which must commence with purging. Salts here, as in most inflammatory diseases, are the most reliable. From a pound to a pound and a half, with ginger and sulphur, is a dose, dissolved in warm water or thin gruel. If this does not operate in twelve hours, give half the dose, and repeat once in twelve hours, until the bowels are freed. After the operation of the medicine the animal is relieved. Then sedative medicines may be given. Sal ammoniac one drachm, powdered nitre two drachms, should be administered in thin gruel, two or three times a day, if required.

Typhus fever, common in some countries, is little known here among cattle.

Typhoid Fever

sometimes follows intense inflammatory action, and is considered the second stage of it. This form of fever is usually attended with diarrhoea. It is a debilitating complaint, and is sometimes followed by diseases known as black tongue, black leg, or quarter evil. The cause of typhoid fever is involved in obscurity. It may be proper to say that copious drinks of oat-meal gruel, with tincture of red pepper, a diet of bran, warmth to the body, and pure air, are great essentials in the treatment of this disease.

The barbarous practices of boring the horns, cutting the tail, and others equally absurd, should at once and forever be discarded by every farmer and dairyman. Alternate heat or coldness of the horn is only a symptom of this and other fevers, and has nothing to do with their cause. The horns are not diseased any further than a determination of blood to the head causes a sympathetic heat, while an unnatural distribution of blood, from exposure or other cause, may make them cold.

In all cases of this kind, if anything is done, it should be an effort to assist nature to regulate the animal system, by rousing the digestive organs to their natural action, by a light food, or, if necessary, a mild purgative medicine, followed by light stimulants.

The principal purgative medicines in use for neat cattle are Epsom salts, linseed-oil, and sulphur. A pound of salts will ordinarily be sufficient to purge a full-grown cow.

A slight purgative drink is often very useful for cows soon after calving, particularly if feverish, and in cases of over-feeding, when the animal will often appear dull and feverish; but when the surfeiting is attended by loss of appetite, it can generally be cured by withholding food at first, and then feeding but slightly till the system is renovated by dieting.

Purgative drinks will often cure cases of red water, if taken in season.

A purgative is often necessary for cows after being turned into a fresh and luxuriant pasture, when they are apt to become bound from over-feeding; but constipation does not so often follow a change from dry to green food in spring, as from a poor pasture in summer to one where they obtain much better feed.

Hoove or Hoven

The Hoove or Hoven is brought on by a derangement of the digestive organs, occasioned by over-feeding on green and luxuriant clover, or other luxuriant food. It is simply the distension of the first stomach by carbonic acid gas. In later stages, after fermentation of the contents of the stomach has commenced, hydrogen gas is also found. The green food, being gathered very greedily after the animal has been kept on dry and perhaps unpalatable hay, is not sent forward so rapidly as it is received, and remains to overload and clog the stomach, till this organ ceases or loses the power to act upon it. Here it becomes moist and heated, begins to ferment, and produces a gas which distends the paunch of the animal, which often swells up enormously. The cow is in great pain, breathing with difficulty, as if nearly suffocating. Then the body grows cold, and, unless relief is at hand, the cow dies.

Prevention is both cheaper and safer than cure; but if by neglect, or want of proper precaution, the animal is found in this suffering condition, relief must be afforded as soon as possible, or the result will be fatal.

A hollow flexible tube, introduced into the gullet, will sometimes afford a temporary relief till other means can be had, by allowing a part of the gas to escape; but, the cause is not removed either by this means or by puncturing the paunch, which is often dangerous.

In the early stage of the disease the gas may be neutralized by ammonia, which is usually near at hand. Two ounces of liquid ammonia, in a quart of distilled or rain water, given every quarter of an hour, will prove beneficial. A little tincture of ginger, essence of anise-seed, or some other cordial, may be added, without lessening the effect of the ammonia.

If the case has assumed an alarming character, the flexible tube, or probang, may be introduced, and afterwards take three drachms either of the chloride of lime or the chloride of soda, dissolve in a pint of water, and pour it down the throat. Lime-water, potash, and sulphuric ether, are often used with effect.

In desperate cases it may be found necessary to make an incision through the paunch; but the chloride of lime will, in most cases, give relief at once, by neutralizing the gas.

Choking

is often produced by feeding on roots, particularly round and uncut roots, like the potato. The animal slavers at the mouth, tries to raise the obstruction from the throat, often groans, and appears to be in great pain. Then the belly begins to swell, from the amount of gases in the paunch.

The obstruction, if not too large, can sometimes be thrust forward by introducing a flexible rod, or tube, into the throat. This method, if adopted, should be attended with great care and patience, or the tender parts will be injured. If the obstruction is low down, and a tube is to be inserted, a pint of olive or linseed oil first turned down will so lubricate the parts as to aid the operation, and the power applied must be steady. If the gullet is torn by the carelessness of the operator, or the roughness of the instrument, a rupture generally results in serious consequences. A hollow tube is best, and if the object is passed on into the paunch, the tube should remain a short time, to permit the gas to escape. In case the animal is very badly swelled, the dose of chloride of lime, or ammonia, should be given, as for the hoove, after the obstruction is removed.

Care should be taken, after the obstruction is removed, to allow no solid food for some days.

Foul in the Foot.

—Cows and other stock, when fed in low, wet pastures, will often suffer from ulcers or sores, generally appearing first between the claws. This is commonly called foul in the foot, and is analogous to foot-rot in sheep. It is often very painful, causing severe lameness and loss of flesh, and discharges a putrid matter, or pus. Sometimes it first appears in the form of a swelling near the top of the hoof, which breaks and discharges foul matter.

The rough and common practice among farmers is to fasten the foot in the same manner as the foot of an ox is fastened in shoeing, and draw a rough rope back and forth over the ulcerated parts, so as to produce a clean, fresh wound, and then dress it with tar or other similar substance.

This is often an unnecessarily cruel operation. The loose matter may easily be removed by a knife, and then carefully wiped off with a moist sponge. The animal should then be removed at once to a warm, dry pasture, or kept in the barn.

If the case has been neglected till the pasterns become swollen and tender, the sore may be thoroughly cleansed out, and dressed with an ointment of sulphate of iron one ounce, molasses four ounces, simmered over a slow fire till well mixed. Apply on a piece of cotton batting, and secure upon the parts. If any morbid growth or fungus appear, use equal parts of powdered blood-root and alum sprinkled on the sore, and this will usually effect a cure.

Some also give a dose of flour of sulphur half an ounce, powdered sassafras-bark one ounce, and burdock two ounces, the whole steeped in a quart of boiling water, and strained when cool; and, if the matter still continues to flow from the sore, wash it morning and night with chloride of soda one ounce, or a tablespoonful of common salt dissolved in a pint of water.

Foul in the foot causes very serious trouble, if not taken in season. The health of cows is injured to a great extent. I have seen, during the present season, many instances of foul in the foot in dairy stock arising from the wetness of the pastures. No lameness in cattle should be neglected.

Red Water

is so called from the high color of the urine. It is rather a symptom of some derangement of the digestive organs than a disease of itself, and the cause is most frequently to be found in the quality of the food. It is peculiar to certain localities, and is of very rare occurrence in New England.

In the early stage of the difficulty the bowels are loose, but soon constipation ensues, and the appetite is affected, the milk decreases, and the urine becomes either very red or sometimes black.

The case demands treatment, for it is apt to prey upon the health of the cow. Purgatives are usually employed with most success. Take a pound of Epsom salts, half an ounce of ginger, and half an ounce of carbonate of ammonia. Pour a quart of boiling water on the salts and ginger, stir thoroughly, and, when cold, add the ammonia. If this fails to act on the bowels, repeat a quarter part of it every six or eight hours till it succeeds. Then a nutritious diet should be used till the appetite is fully restored.

If a cow is once affected in this way, the difficulty will be liable to return, and she had better be disposed of.

Hoose

is a cold or cough to which stock are subject when exposed to wet weather and damp pastures.

The cold may not be bad at first, or may be so slight as not to attract attention; but it often leads to worse complaints, and ought, when observed, to be attended to at once, by keeping the animal in a dry and warm barn a few days, and feeding with mashes, and, if it continues, take an ounce of sweet spirits of nitre in a pint of ginger tea; mix, and give in a quart of thick gruel.

No prudent farmer will neglect to observe approaching symptoms of disease in his stock. The cheapest way to keep animals healthy is to treat them properly in time, and before disease is seated upon them. Hoose often ends in consumption and death.

Inflammation of the Glands

often occurs in hoose, catarrh, etc., but they resume their natural state when these complaints are removed. The animal cannot swallow without pain sometimes, and soft feed should be given. Remove the cause, and the inflammation ceases. Some make a relaxing poultice of marsh-mallows, or similar substances; and rub the throat with a mixture of olive or goose oil one gill, spirit of camphor one ounce, oil of cedar one ounce, and half a gill of vinegar.

Inflammation of the Lungs.

—Common catarrh or hoose sometimes leads to inflammation of the lungs, which is indicated by dulness and sore cough. The ears, the roots of the horns, and legs, are sometimes cold. The breath is hot, as well as the mouth; and the animal rarely lies down, and is reluctant to move, or change its position. Warm water and mashes, or gruel, may be given, and the animal kept in a dry place. The cause of the complaint should be removed, and the trouble will generally soon cease. The treatment is much the same as for fever; but where the surface of the body is cold, as is generally the case, give sweet spirits of nitro two ounces, liquor acetate of ammonia four ounces, in a pint of water, two or three times a day.

Diarrhoea

is brought on by too sudden change of food, especially from dry to green and succulent food; sometimes by poisonous plants or bad water. If slight, the farmer may not be anxious to check it. It may show simply an effort of nature to throw off some injurious substances from the body, and so it may exist when the animal is quite healthy. But, if it continues too long, and is likely to debilitate the system, a mild purgative may be given to assist rather than check the operation of nature. Half a pound of Epsom salts, with a little ginger and gentian, will do for a medium-sized animal in this case; but a purgative may be followed in a day or two by an astringent medicine. Take prepared chalk two ounces, powdered oak-bark one ounce, powdered catechu two drachms, powdered opium one drachm, and four drachms powdered ginger. Mix these together, and give in a quart of warm gruel. Sometimes a few ounces of pulverized charcoal will arrest the diarrhoea. Common diarrhoea may be distinguished from dysentery by a too abundant discharge of dung in too fluid a form, or in a full, almost liquid stream, sometimes very offensive to the smell, and now and then bloody. In dysentery, the dung is often mixed with mucus and blood, and is not unfrequently attended by a hard straining. The quantity of dung is less than in diarrhoea, but more offensive.

Diarrhoea may occur at any season of the year, and sometimes leads to dysentery, which more frequently appears in the spring and fall.

Dysentery

, or scouring rot, is a dangerous and troublesome malady when it becomes seated.

The cow suffers from painful efforts to pass the dung, which is thin, slimy, olive-colored, and offensive, and after it falls rises up in little bubbles, with a slimy substance upon it. She is restless, lying down and soon rising again, and appears to be in great distress. The hair seems to stand out stiff from the body, and this stage of the malady indicates an obstinate and fatal disease.

It is often brought on by a simple cold at the time of calving, exposure to sudden changes, and by poor keeping, which exhausts the system, especially in winter. A dry, warm barn, and careful nursing, will do much; and dry, sweet food, as hay, oat-meal, boiled potatoes, gruel, &c. Some linseed-meal is also very good for cows with this complaint. A little gum-arabic or starch may be mixed with the medicine.

The treatment is much the same as for diarrhoea.

Mange

The Mange is commonly brought on by half starving in winter, and by keeping the cow in a filthy, ill-ventilated place. It is contagious, and if one cow of a herd has it, the rest will be apt to get it also. Blaine says, “Mange has three origins,—filth, debility, and contagion.” It is a disgrace to the farmer to suffer it to enter his herd from either of these causes, since it shows a culpable neglect of his stock. I am sorry to say it is too common in this country, especially in filthy barns.

The cow afflicted with the mange is hide-bound; the hair is dry and stiff, and comes off. She is constantly rubbing, and a kind of white scurfiness appears on the skin. It is most perceptible towards the latter part of winter and in spring, and thus too plainly tells the story of the winter’s neglect.

An ointment composed chiefly of sulphur has been found most effectual. Some mercurial ointment may be added, if the cows are kept housed; but, if let out during the day, the quantity must be very small, else salivation is produced by their licking themselves.

The ointment may be made of flour of sulphur one pound, strong mercurial ointment two ounces, common turpentine one half-pound, lard one and a quarter pounds. Melt the turpentine and lard together, and stir in the sulphur as they begin to cool off; then rub down the mercurial ointment on some hard substance with the other ingredients. Rub the whole in with the hand, and take care to leave no places untouched, once a day, for three days; and after this, if any places are left uncured, rub it in over them. There is no danger in this application, if the animal is not exposed to severe cold. This will be pretty sure to effect a speedy cure, if aided by cleanliness, pure air, and a nutritious diet.

Another wash for mange is the following: Pyroligneous acid four ounces, water a pint; mix and apply.

Lice

show unpardonable neglect of duty wherever they are suffered to exist. They crawl all over the stable-floor and the stalls, on the pastures, and a touch is sufficient to give them to other animals. They worry and trouble the poor animal constantly; and no thriftiness can be expected where they are found. If the mange ointment does not completely destroy them, as it often will, take bees-wax, tallow, and lard, in equal parts, and rub it into the hide in the most thorough manner, with the hand or a brush, two and a half pounds for a small cow, three pounds for a large one. The next day it may be washed off in soft soap, and the lice will have disappeared from the animal, but not always from the barn. Some use a wash of powdered lobelia-seeds two ounce; steeped in boiling water, and applied with a sponge. Others hang up tobacco-leaves over the stalls. This may do to keep them away; but, after the animal is covered with them, they are not so easily scared.

Warbles.

—The gad-fly is very troublesome to cattle towards the end of summer. The fly alights on the back of the cow, punctures the skin, and lays her eggs under it. A tumor is now formed, varying in size, which soon bursts and leaves a small hole for the grub already hatched to breathe through. Here the insect feeds on its surroundings, and grows up to considerable size. All this time the animal is probably suffering more or less pain, and often tries to lick or rub the part affected, if possible. Farmers often press them out with the finger and thumb. The best way is to puncture the skin with a common pen-knife, and then press out the grub. They injure the hide more than most people are aware of.

Loss of Cud

is a consequence of indigestion, and is often brought on by eating too greedily of food which the cow is not used to. Loss of cud and loss of appetite are synonymous. Gentle purgatives may be given, with such as salts, ginger, and sulphur. But when a cow is surfeited, as already said, I should prefer to withhold food entirely, or for the most part, till the system can regulate itself.

Diseases of Calves.

—The colostrum, or first milk of the cow after calving, contains medicinal qualities peculiarly adapted to cleanse the young calf, and free its bowels from the matter always existing in them at birth. This should, therefore, never be denied it. Bleeding at the navel, with which calves are sometimes seriously troubled, may generally and safely be stopped by tying a string around the cord which hangs suspended from it.

Diarrhoea, Purging, or Scours

But Diarrhoea, Purging, or Scours, is the most dangerous complaint with which calves are afflicted. This is caused often by neglect, or exposure to wet and cold, or insufficiency of food at one time and over-feeding at another. Stinting the calf in food or attention will often involve the loss of considerable profit on the cow for the year. When purging is once fully seated from several days’ neglect, it is often difficult to remove it.

The acidity on the stomach which always attends it must first be removed. A mild purgative medicine may be given. Rhubarb and magnesia is a very convenient article, and may easily be given in ounce doses along with the milk. Potash is also to be given in quarter-ounce doses in the same way. Two ounces of castor-oil, or two ounces of Epsom salts, might be given with the desired effect. After this, mild astringents may be given. Take prepared chalk two drachms, or magnesia one ounce, powdered opium ten grains, powdered catechu half a drachm, tincture of capsicum two drachms, essence of peppermint five drops. Mix together, and give twice a day in the milk or gruel.

After giving the above repeatedly without effect, which will rarely happen, take Dover’s powders two scruples, starch or arrow-root powdered one ounce, cinnamon powder one drachm, and powdered kino half a drachm. Boil the starch or arrow-root in water till it thickens, and when cold stir in the other ingredients. Give night and morning. This complaint is often attended by inflammation of the bowels and general fever.

It is a good plan to keep a lump of chalk constantly before calves after they are two or three weeks old. It corrects acidity on the stomach, and is otherwise useful to them.

Constipation or Costiveness

sometimes attacks calves a few days old, that have not been judiciously managed. It may be brought on by putting a calf to a cow whose milk is too old, or from feeding a calf from the milk of several cows mixed. It results from too heavy a mass of coÄgulated milk in the fourth stomach, which becomes very much swollen with hard curd. It is difficult to remedy. The best way is to pour down some Epsom salts, two ounces, dissolved in two quarts of warm water, by means of a horn or bottle, and follow this by half the dose every six hours.

Constipation sometimes appears in calves from two to four months old, when their food is too suddenly changed. The bowels must be opened and the hardened mass in the stomach softened very soon, or it will lead to fatal consequences.

Farmers are generally very careless about observing these things till it is too late. As already said, prevention is cheaper than cure; but, if the complaint once appears, no time should be lost to administer a purge of salts in proportion to the size of the animal or the severity of the attack. Many a valuable animal will be saved by it.

Hoove

The Hoove often appears among calves after being turned out to pasture. The young animal coughs violently, and appears in pain. It should be removed at once to a dry place, and physicked. If taken in season, it is easily cured. If neglected, it will often prove fatal. This complaint assumes the form of an epidemic at times, and becomes very prevalent and troublesome.

Canker in the Mouth

Calves sometimes suffer from Canker in the Mouth, especially at the time of teething. The gums swell, and fever sets in. Common alum or borax, dissolved in water, may be applied, and a mild purgative administered, in the shape of one or two ounce doses of Epsom salts.

The diseases and complaints mentioned above are nearly all that afflict our dairy stock; and the list at least includes all the common diseases and their treatment. Some of the diseases and epidemics from which the cattle of Great Britain and other countries suffer are not known at all here, or are of so very rare occurrence as not to have attracted attention; and among these may be named pleuro-pneumonia, typhus fever, cow-pox, and various epidemics which have from time to time decimated the cattle of all Europe. To accidents of various kinds, to wounds, trouble with the eyes, and to lameness from other causes than those named, they are, indeed, more or less subject; but no work could anticipate or cover the treatment best in every case, and much must be left to the judgment of the owner.

I have tried to make this chapter, which I consider one of the most important of any to the dairy farmer, of practical value to every one who owns or has the care of a cow. But, lest a want of familiarity with some of the medicines recommended for particular diseases, or the fear of the expense of procuring and keeping them on hand, should deter some one from providing himself with a good medicine-chest, I wish to remind the reader that no small portion of them are always to be found in every well-regulated household, and that the others are obtained at so little expense that no one need be without them for a single day.

Let us see, for instance, how many of them are at hand. But few families are destitute of a supply of ginger, camphor, red pepper, lard, molasses, cinnamon, peppermint, starch, turpentine, tallow, bees-wax, burdock, and caraway-seed. The farmer’s wife or daughter will generally have a supply of ammonia or hartshorn.

Now, I wish to suggest to the farmer or dairyman who happens to live at a distance from the apothecary to provide himself with a convenient little medicine-chest, and put into it say four times the quantities of the various medicines which are mentioned in the preceding pages, carefully bottled and labelled for use. To aid in this simple plan, which might be the means of saving an animal worth twenty times its cost, I have obtained, from a wholesale druggist, about the average cost of the following quantities and kinds of medicines, which include all, or nearly all, that would be likely to be needed: Five pounds of Epsom salts, .18; one pint of castor-oil, .25; one pint of sweet spirits of nitre, .19; one pound of powdered nitrate of potash, .20; one pound carbonate of ammonia, .23; one half-pound sal ammoniac, .08; one pint of tincture of red pepper (hot drops), .31; one ounce of hydriodate of potash, .30; one pound chloride of lime, .10; one pound sulphate of iron, .10; 2 pounds powdered sulphur, .16; one pint of tincture of ginger, 37; one quart of essence of anise-seed, .50; one half-pound sulphuric ether, .20; one half-pound powdered sassafras-bark, .20; one quarter-pound magnesia, .06; one quarter-pound rhubarb, 30 (the common will answer instead of prepared); one ounce powdered opium, .43; One quarter-pound catechu, .06; one ounce Dover’s powders, .25; 2 ounces gum kino, .05; one half-pound mercurial ointment, .37¹/₂; and one pound aloes, .25. Then keep in the chest a good probang, which is a flexible tube made for the purpose, and is much safer and better for introducing into the throat or gullet of an animal than a common whip-stick, which some use. This costs about $3.50, and can be procured at almost any veterinary surgeon’s. This whole chest and contents will cost less than ten dollars.

Let the farmer also become familiar with the structure and anatomy of his animals. It will open a wide field of useful and interesting investigation.