138 



or happens only as a casual affair not preceded or fol- 

 lowed bv miscarri;ifi;'e in the same individual or other 

 members of the herd. Not only should the home herd 

 l»e excluded as a sourse of the disease, but the mishap 

 should be free from any relationship whatever with a 

 similar accident anions: cows which the attendins: bull 

 may have served. 



Causes : The causes of non-infectious abortion are too 

 numerous to discuss in detail. Frequently it is to be 

 ascribed to the poor condition of the pregnant animal. 

 This may result from insufficient or improper food and 

 irregular feeding. The foetus dies for the want of nour- 

 ishment, and is expelled as a consequence. Chronic 

 wasting diseases may have a like effect by deranging di- 

 gestion impairing assimilation and impoverishing the 

 blood. 



According to some authors an extremely fat condition 

 predisposes an animal to abortion. This is said to oc- 

 cur most frequently in old cows of improved beef breeds 

 suffering with fatty degeneration of the heart, the cir- 

 culation being weak and irregular and insufficient to 

 supply the foetus. 



Drinking ice-cold water and feeding upon pastures 

 covered by frost, or eating herbage which has been in- 

 iured bv frost, have caused abortion. One writer re- 

 ports an instance where one- fifth of the pregnant ewes in 

 a flock of sheep aborted immediately after drinking from 

 a hole made through ice. 



Overloading the paunch (rumen) with succulent 

 foods, like green sorghum, clover and cow-peas, espec- 

 ially when covered by dew; apples, sweet potatoe vines 

 or tubers, etc., and gorging the animal with stimulat- 

 ing foods like corn, wheat, peas, beans, cotton-seed 

 and cotton-seed meal are exciting causes. 



Foods improperly harvested and improperh^ cured, 

 musty, molded and partially decayed foods may set 



