KEEPING HEALTHY DAIRY COWS

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 142, 5 March 1918, Page 8

KEEPING HEALTHY DAIRY COWS

Mr. Clement Elphick, JLR.C.V.S., at the annual meeting of the Armstrong College Agricultural Students' Association, delivered .in instructive address on "The Abnormalities of Milk Met With in Veterinary Practice" Hygienic principles, he declared, must be applied to the dairying industry'. Cleanly byres, with ample fresh air and- daylight, wellgroomed and clean cows, cattlemen clad in clean overalls, thorouglijy scalded milking utensils, and tuberculin-tested cattle, would ensure the production of the best milk. ■ -

Abnormalities in milk were due to many causes, such as food or disease. Cows anatomically incapable of yielding milk should be discarded, as there was such a thing as heredity in animals. Watery milk was most common where tho owner's' purse was a short one, although watery''food,' bowel and stomach disorders, and tuberculosis .told their talo. Treatment consisted of radical •changes in'diet and dosing with Epsom salts. However, magnesium sulphate was really a. poison, and "should only be given in small but continuous doses until bowels were relieved. Curdled milk was one of the commonest abnormalities the veterinary surgeon , had to deal with, but the. season . was most responsible for this. In connection with thismammitis was a trouble which often arose.- In one fortnight Mr. Elphick had twenty-four calls to cows said to be down in milk fever and showing usual symptoms, except ihey were not recently calved, and they proved to be suffering from septic inflammation of tlie udderi Sore udder was a trouble which gave rise to much anxiety, and after the farmer had tried his home remedies the vet. was often called into attend the ..semi-chronic conditions. In the treatment of sore udder'it was necessary to poultice, preferably with a turnip poultice, made by taking three or four medium-sized turnips, boiling and mashing them thoroughly. If the heat could be conveniently borne by the. elbow, this was the right heat to apply to it. Poulticing must be done continuously-and conscientiously every hour in winter and every three hours in summer. Each quarter should be massaged and stripped before poulticing, and syphons should not be inserted into teat in first stage on account of danger-of introducing germs. A non-drying oil rubbed on the udder prior to applying the poultice was desirable. An attack usually subsided in from four to six days.

Hygienic methods applied to the dairying industry decreased the abnormalities met with'in milk, and if it seemed to" cause too much trouble this must be overlooked, Because in the long run it recompensed one hunureurold.