A CAUSE OF MANY DEATHS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 962, 1 November 1910, Page 8

A CAUSE OF MANY DEATHS.

! ■ SEPTIC METRITIS. . 'Among the'diseases before which cattle go down, one of tho most , serious and common is septic metritis. '•■ Until''lately not a'great deal was known, of the dis"ease, and naturally there was a dearth :'of . information as to how it should bo. treated. The experts of the Department of Agriculture, however, have given the trouble a great deal of attention. ' Septic metritis has been so disastrous . in the* dairying districts that an estimate of the loss in £ s. d. would be very interesting, and would illustrate the necessity of circulating information regarding its treatment. .' Mr.:' David Buchanan, of Longburn,' near .Palmerston North, one of tho bestinown Ayrshire breeders in the island, laas had a good deal of experience of the disease, and gave a Dominion representative an interesting account of his observations and of his method of treating the cows afflicted. He has only had one case this season, but last year he had to deal with several cases. .In describing what has come under 1 his notice, Mr. Buchanan says that it is the suddenness of tho attack which'is so terrible. - The agony is more violent than . that of milk fever, and then consciousness goes. He likens the case to a.man in. a fit. He disagrees with the opinion •that the tiouble is developing for weeks, and holds that it comes on suddenly, : The, cows do not. milk .well afterwards, 1 ibut there is no observable .difference in their yield beforehand. j As.to treatment, says Mr. Buchanan,. he first washes,out the uteris with disinfectant, douses "the head with cold water, and applies the milk fever treatment , '(air) to the udder. He -keeps pouring cold ' --water on the head until the cow recovers consciousness. He does not believe in raving medicine while the animal is jdown;' but thinks a good drench should ibe administered as soon as she gets up. St is not a bad plan to cut an ear or Heed from the tail a little. He considers that:metritis is really brain and womb trouble, and that it is sometimes caused through cows eating the cleaning after calving. They should not lie allowed to, go through cold water, and he attributes to their standing", in water the develop-ment-:of many cases. .Cows will commence eating as-soon as they:get up, and some feed up till the time'they are stricken down. An exception to the general rule was a cow which had'been in milk about a fortnrjht.-One' morning Mr. Buchanan noticed mat' she ■was bellowing a great deal. Later, in the day she was still bellowing, and then he saw her stagger, whereupon he drove her to the yard. Before reaching the yard ihe went through some water, and immediately appeared to become much worse; In the yard she collapsed, and a farmer who was present said she was dead. Mr. ißuch'anan says that ho had her up in !e very short before the visiting farmer departed she : was eating hay. • He;;says that he has not noticed that any- particular kind, age, or condition of icow is especially subject to the trouble. He is! 1 emphatic, though, in saying that St is .unwise to bother with them afterwards';, Fatten them and. send them to the butcher, is his advice. Ho has also moticed_that cows which were good tempered before the disease attacked them are sometimes of rile temper afterwards, wnich probably results from them.belioy-. Sag that tho person who attends on them causes them the pain.