A CAUSE OF MANY DEATHS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10133, 2 November 1910, Page 6

A CAUSE OF MANY DEATHS.

SEPIIC METRITIS

Among the diseases before which ] cattle go down, one of the most sen- \ ous and eommon is septic metritis. Until lately not a great deal was known of the disease, and naturally there was a dearth of information as to how it should be 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 tha £ 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 the best known Ayrshire breeders in the Island, has had a good deal of experience of the disease and gave the representative of a Wellington paper an interesting account of his observations and of his methods of treating the cows afflicted. He has only had one this season, but last year he had to deal with several S eases.

In describing what has come under his notice Mr Buchanan says that it is the suddenness of the 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 trouble is developing for weeks, and holds that it comes on suddenly.

The cows do not milk we' I afterwards, but there is no observable difference in their yield beforehand. 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 giving medicine while the animal is down, but thinks a good drench should be administered as soon as she gets up. It is not a bad plan to cut an ear or bleed 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 be allowed to go through cold water, and he attributes to their standing in water, the development of many cases. Cows will commence eating as soon as they get up.and some feed till the time they are stricken down. An exception to the general rule was a cow which had been in milk about a fortnight. One morning Mr Buchanan noticed that 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 she 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 Buchanan says that he had her up in a very short time, and before tne visiting farmer departed she wjs eating hay. He says that he has not noticed that any particular kind, age, or condition of cow is especially subject to the trouble. '.: He is emphatic, though, in saying that it is unwise to bother with them afterwards. Fatten them and send them to the butcher, is his advice. He has also noticed that cows which were gnod tempered before the disease attacked them are [sometimes of vile temper afterwards, which probably results from them believing that the person who attends on them causes them the pain.