FARMING NOTES.

Franklin Times, Volume 9, Issue 617, 18 March 1921, Page 3

FARMING NOTES.

COLD IN A HORSE. HOW TO TREAT IT. A cold in a horse is always started with rigor or a shivering fit. The hairs of the throat stand up and feel hard and sticky -instead of lying flat and feeling like silk. The back will be slightly arched, and the horse stand with' its fore feet and hind feet as close together as possible, as if trying to huddle itself up. This stage should always be regarded seriously. A proper drink given at this time will make all the difference in the future.

The best drink to give is either a prepared fever drink—says an English authority—or a home-made one. This can be prepared as follows:—A gill of whisky in a quart of water is the best tonic, or an ounce of sweet nitre, or half an ounce of tincture of ginger in a quantity of water will do nearly as well. Follow the medicine with a bran mash an hour later. After this the best treatment is rest and careful attention. Hot insanitary stables should be avoided as much as very cold ones, but if the horse can be turned into a nice airy loose box recovery should be rapid. Fresh air and exercise will do the patient good rather than harm, but the horse should not be put at too hard' work for a few weeks.

If complications set in, the only thing to do is to send for the “vet.” It is no use playing with fire, and a guinea spent on the doctor may save a hundred-guinea animal. A simple cold, attended to in its early stages, need cause no alarm, but if it is neglected it may lead on to trouble and ultimate loss. Taken at the beginning a cold can be cured easily enough by allowing the animal to rest for a few days away from draughts and cold atmosphere. Neglected colds lead on to roaring, thick wind, whistling and all manner of other unpleasant consequences, while if not attended to at an early stage will soon turn to catarrh, followed by pneumonia, pleurisy and congestion. DA6RYING.

CONTAMINATION OF MILK. At the annual meeting of the Natinal Veterinary Medical Association of Great Britain and Ireland, Mr A. Gofton, chief veterinary inspector of Edinburgh, gave an address on the bacterial contamination of milk. He said that while it had been demonstrated that milk could be collected direct from the udder in germ-free condition, the precautions necessary removed the procedure outside the region of practical commercial possibilities. The vast majority of the bacteria found in milk were harmless to the adult consumer, but the delicate digestive organs of infants were more susceptible to adverse influences. Much of the contamination which took place on the premises of producers and middlemen was attributable to lack of knowledge. After referring to the advantages of grooming the cow, but not immediately before milking'; of the wearing of overalls by the milkers; of the workers being trained to appreciate the value of clean working; of the use of smalltop milk pails; Mr Gofton said the clean collection of milk demanded neither highly specialised knowledge nor highly trained skill. He advocated the use of refrigerating vans for the conveyance of milk in summer and said that the consumer possessed a minimum knowledge and exhibited a maximum of indifference to the conditions under which milk was produced and under which it ought to be kept. After dealing with the nature of bacterial contamination and the chief of the hundred and fifty types of bacteria which had been described, Mr Gofton proceeded to deal with the methods of reducing the number of bacteria in milk. In order to limit bacterial contamination the only sound line of procedure consisted in reducing or eliminating the various contributing sources at all stages between the cow and the consumer, in excluding, as far as human care and foresight could accomplish it, the entrance of pathogenic organisms, and in retaining milk at a temperature and under conditions which prevented growth and multiplication. Improvement of transport and of the conditions of delivery were essential corollaries to the latter. Existing conditions offered little encouragement to dairymen to acquire the requisite knowledge or to make the effor't necessary to raise the hygenic standard of milk. The problem of tuberculosis in dairy herds must be boldly faced, and permanent and appreciable progress would be achieved only when tuberculosis was tackled in the breeding herds. The principle of affording practical assistance and advice from the public services and to breeders of dairy stock for the purpose of eradicating tuberculosis from their herds merited encouragement and extension.