1/4 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



species of bacteria. This trouble manifests itself first as a 

 hard, hot. painful swelling at the end of one teat. If it is not 

 checked at this stage the bacteria are carried up into the udder 

 and as a result you have a hard, sore udder with little milk but 

 in its place foul smelling, bloody matter. It is practically 

 impossible to cure the disease at this stage. A loss of one 

 quarter of the udder always results. Taken at the very begin- 

 ning by the free use of disinfectants on the outside and in the 

 milk duct of the teat it is possible to cure this trouble within a 

 day or two. 



Ques. Are there not sometimes bunches in the udder when 

 the disease is not tuberculosis? 



Ans. Sometimes bunches in tlie udder are simply the relics 

 of previous attacks of garget. We have cows with the udders 

 in bad shape who have no trace of tuberculosis. Where tuber- 

 culosis is present we may e.xpect a more or less constant increase 

 in these growths, not that they will remain stationary or 

 decrease, but will constantly increase. I have known cases 

 where in drying a cow off, the milk was not milked out quite 

 freely enough and the udder would bunch up. That is not a 

 symptom of tuberculosis. 



Ques. In relation to the second phase of garget, is that con- 

 tagious? 



Ans. I want to say a word in relation to contagious garget. 

 Sometimes we have a very serious condition that is due not to 

 mistakes in feeding or handling but that is due solely and 

 entirely to the presence of certain bacteria in the udder. This 

 trouble always begins at the end of the teat, and we get a sore, 

 swollen condition there. The milk comes hard and we may get 

 a drop or two of blood. The cow was all right at the previous 

 milking but at this milking we find at the end of the teat a sore, 

 hard bunch. If nothing is done about it gradually the infec- 

 tion extends up into the udder and we get the whole quarter 

 permeated with these organisms, and instead of milk we get a 

 foul smelling fluid discharged. When it gets up into the udder 

 there does not seem to be any hope for the cow, but in the early 

 stages when it is simply at the end of the teat, by washing out 

 the milk duct with a disinfectant and soaking the outside of the 

 teat, we sometimes stop it. It is infectious because we may 



