Choked Cattle Cured.

Clutha Leader, Volume I, Issue 7, 20 August 1874, Page 1 (Supplement)

Choked Cattle Cured.

Some 35 years ago I had a cow choked with a small potato. When I discovered her she was badly bloated and in great pain. 1 had some*bound volumes of the the Genesee Farmer. I referred to them, and under the head of cattle I found a description of a probang made thus: Take a piece of tough Hickory, Elm or White Oak 5 feet long If inches at one end, taper to % inch at the other, make it round and smooth, Take a piece of fine-grained hard wood, turn it to the shape and size of a hen's egg 9 a little longer at the small end, cut off the large end to the size of the diameter, make it a little concave, bore a jf hole lengthwise, insert the handle, bore a small hole through the ball and handle, •insert a small wire rivet to keep it in Elace. Ndt having such a thing on and I picked up a green beech whipstock, fastened a ball of tow on the end, had a man to hold the cow by the horn with one hand and the other by the nose, put a common plow clevis of stirrup from a saddle between her jaws, have a man hold it in place with onehand and her tongue with the other. Insert the probang in her throat, plunge it down four or live feet, and the obstruction was removed, but the cow was so badly bloated she could hardly stand. I took a sharp-pointed jack-knife, putmy thumb and forefinger about two inches from the point, placed my middle finger on the point of the hip-bone on the off side, and spanned off horizontal with backbone to the place my thumb reached about six inches, plunged in the knife and a gust of wind followed. In two minutes the cow went to eating hay and was well. Since that time I have not been without a probang. I have used it often and lent it to neighbors, always with good success, except once, when they only run it down about three feet. Such an instrument, made of tough timber, well oiled with boiled oil, Will last a lifetime and retain its elasticity. There is no danger of injuring the animal, let her struggle and twist round as she may.