Part 19 (2/2)

Ticks are very difficult to kill, on account of their protected location, as ear ticks are not affected by dipping, and remedies strong enough for this purpose are liable to injure the animal, but these parasites may be expelled by pouring into the ear Carbolated Sweet or Cottonseed Oil with favorable results.

TUBERCULOSIS

CAUSE: The bacilli of Tuberculosis thrive in animals, especially those in a weakened condition, or when exposed to atmospheric changes, unwholesome food, dark and poorly ventilated stables. They gain entrance into the body through the lungs or the intestinal ca.n.a.l. They lodge in various portions of the lungs or intestines, and multiply very rapidly, causing irritations and formations, nodules, cysts or abscesses. They are the means of the bacillus entering the blood, which carries the infection to other parts of the body, as the spleen, liver, udder, womb, etc. Cows affected with generalized tuberculosis, that is to say, the infection is confined to not only a small portion of the lungs, but also to any of the above mentioned organs, etc., may give birth to a calf having general tuberculosis at birth, or shortly after, due to the cow's blood circulating through the body of the calf before birth.

SYMPTOMS: This disease may pa.s.s a casual observer unnoticed, although in some instances we notice a slight cough, unthriftiness, dullness. The coughing is best marked after taking a drink of water in the morning and then being exercised. Some animals keep up in good condition and look perfectly healthy while some get emaciated, have constipation, variable appet.i.te, and sometimes growths or abscesses can be felt or seen in the udder or glands of the body and neck.

However, cattle showing any weakness, or the above symptoms, should be tested for tuberculosis by a competent veterinarian who has had the privileges of a veterinary education and experience in the administration of tuberculin.

TREATMENT: It is not advisable to treat tuberculosis. Thus far, medicine has failed to relieve the affected animal, or kill the bacillus of tuberculosis in a living animal. The infected animals should be disposed of on account of tubercular cows giving birth to tubercular calves, the milk being unfit for human consumption, unless it is thoroughly pasteurized. Infected cattle should be separated from healthy ones, as the disease spreads very rapidly. Drinking and feeding troughs are a means of spreading the infection, therefore, suspected cases of tuberculosis should be tested and if the animals react, they should be slaughtered, and if the disease is localized, pa.s.sed for human consumption. The meat of animals suspected of having tuberculosis, or reacting from tuberculin test, should be well cooked.

TWISTED STOMACH WORM

CAUSE: Cattle become affected with this worm by grazing in pastures in which infested cattle have grazed and scattered their droppings. The worms in the stomach produce a mult.i.tude of eggs of microscopic size, which pa.s.s out of the body with the feces. In warm weather, these eggs hatch in a few hours; if the temperature remains about freezing point, they soon die. The eggs are also destroyed, by dryness, but, on the other hand, moisture, if the weather is warm, favors their development.

The twisted worm measures one-half inch to one and one-half inches in length.

SYMPTOMS: General weakness, loss of flesh, anemia, dullness, capricious appet.i.te, excessive thirst, paleness of the skin and mucous membranes of the mouth and eyes, and dropsical swelling, especially that of the lower jaw. Diarrhoea always accompanies this condition and if the feces is carefully examined the small worms may be seen wriggling about like little snakes, or when an animal dies; and the fourth stomach is opened, these worms can be seen in large quant.i.ties.

TREATMENT: Preventive measures are important, as damp, marshy soil favors the development of the embryos. High sloping ground is preferable for pasture. If low ground is used it should be properly drained; burning over the pasture will destroy most of the young worms on the gra.s.s and on the ground. Cattle should be supplied with water from flowing streams or wells and not stagnant ponds.

MEDICAL TREATMENT: Withhold all food for twenty-four hours; then administer Oil of Turpentine, placing it in an ounce capsule and give with capsule gun. Follow in six hours with a physic consisting of Aloin, two drams; ginger, two drams. Place in capsule and give with capsule gun. When this worm develops in calves, give as follows: One dram of Turpentine to a calf three months old, four drams to a calf six months old, six drams to a yearling. To cattle two years and over, give equivalent dose, or an ounce. The physic should be reduced in the same proportions as that of Turpentine.

VERMINOUS BRONCHITIS

(Lung Worms)

CAUSE: Due to worm or parasite called Strongylus Micrurus, a small thread-like worm two to four inches in length, found in the bronchial tubes, a portion of the lungs. The life history of this parasite is not known, but infection is apparently derived through the medium of pastures where infested cattle have grazed. Young cattle are more seriously affected than old animals, especially common in low marshy pastures.

SYMPTOMS: This form of bronchitis usually affects the entire herd; the animals become poor, unthrifty, hacking, coughing, especially at night, and sometimes animals actually cough up worms.

TREATMENT: Various treatments have been recommended for Verminous Bronchitis, or Lung Worm, as injecting Turpentine into the windpipe or fumigating animals by placing them in a closed shed or barn and burning sulphur, compelling the affected animals to inhale the fumes. This treatment perhaps is the safest and the most effective. A person should remain in the enclosed shed and when the fumes become so strong that there is danger of suffocation, open the doors and windows. This treatment should be repeated every week until coughing ceases.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Photograph of cow.]

HOLSTEIN COW FINDERNE PRIDE JOHANA RUE 121083.

28,403.7 lbs. Milk; 1,176.47 lbs. b.u.t.ter Fat.

Somerset Holstein Breeders Co., Somerville, N. J. World's Record Cow.

<script>