FARM NOTES.

Franklin Times, Volume 9, Issue 781, 3 November 1922, Page 3

FARM NOTES.

COW’S UDDER INFLAMED. Inflammation of the udder may be caused either by injury, from achill, or by improper milking. If proper treatment is adopted and persevered with, the rmdk' should eturn to its normal condition, providinig there is no old 1 standing- disease present. The treatment (says an- English veterinarian) consists of a .full dose of Epsom salts being given and followed with hyposulphite of soda 2 ozs ; extract of belladonna 1 drachm ; sweet spirits of nitre given in a quart of water daily for three or four days, and then give loz of bicarbonate of soda and 6ozs of powdered belladonna in the food daily as long as necessary. Bathe the udder with warm water night and morning, and rub ono a liniment made as follows : —Soap liniment 6oz, laudanum! loz, tvater 3oz. Give bran,' oats, bay, chaff and! add a little grass to eat and protect the animal from very hot sun and wet DON’T FOOL WITH PHYSIC. When a sow looks sick or acts as if in pain, many a man thinks he is practising “first aid” by giving- her a dose of physic. And such pnysic as some poor cows have to swallow ! No wonder some of them die before the veterinary doctor arrives; • and it is not surprising to be told that some of them would have recovered if they had not been experimented upon with concoctions that only aggravated the trouble. It is becoming less usual, we are tolcU to give these nondescript doses and strongpatented purgatives to sick animals than it used to be, for which every cow that is aware of the fact will be tru'iy thankful. Many readers remember when the first treatment in practically all attacks of sickness , was to give the animal a pound or more of Epsom salts or Glauber salts, adding common salt and other drugs. One old “cow doctor” went further than the average man for he added a pint of melted lard, a quart of vinegar and “one package of scrubinef’’ the latter being a washing powder. That sort of treatment is absurd; unnecessary, and very (liable to do more harm than good. Let us hope that tne day of strong purgatives of doubtful or unknown value has gone for ever ! Much of the promiscuous physicking of cattle might be made unnecessary by carefully noting the condition o-f the feces of each cow daily, when the cattle are feeing fed ini the stable. When on grass Nature regulates the bowels by succulent, laxative fe.ed. The good feeder is always .a close watcher of the feces. Its condition varies and each departure .from the normal indicates derangement, great ro small. Needless to say thaft when the' animal scours the digestive organs are badly out -off condition! and that when the opposite is the case the liver is sluggish or torpid vfh'Ue impaction or stoppage, when not, du,e to stranguylation of an intestine, always suggests paralysis, ' Normal: motions of the bb'wels are dependent upoon muscular dr peristaltic motions of the muscular middle layer of the intestinal walls and activity of the liver, for bile is a natural laxative ini effect. In diarrhea the peristaltic .action of the bowels is excessive ; in constipation it is impaired and the' liver is inactive ; in impaction pefjstaUs may absolutely cease. Judicious changes in the amount and quality of the feed may entirely obyiate' -the necessity qf giving k physic to the affected animal. The physic acts quickly and temporarily. Administration of one dose often makes the giving of another necessary. A person who takes purgatives occasionally tends to become a habitual user of liver pflls andi evnetually has entirely to depend upono their action. Cattle may be similarly injured by too frequent and too lavish treatment with purgatives.