Nov. 2, IQ20.] Agricultural Gazette of N.S.W. 811 



pasture in the early morning. Even a small amount of dry food given 

 previously will tend to counteract the likelihood of tympanites occurring, and 

 cattle may safely be put on to growing crops after the sun has been on them 

 for a few hours, even though the same crops might have caused trouble before 

 such exposure to the sun. It should also be remembered that cattle become 

 accustomed to a fogd, and that the first occasion on which they are put on to 

 tnese crops is likely to be the most dangerous. Consequently tbe first day 

 they should be allowed to feed for a few minutes only, and well watched, 

 the time being increased gradually each day. Should rain occur, however, 

 and afresh, quick shoot result, care will again be required. 



The same conditions may result when stock which have been for long on 

 dry food, are first given a quantity of green food of any description; this may ' 

 occur among travelling stock coming empty on to green, succulent food. 

 The reputation of some plants, such as pigweed [Portulaca oleraced), as 

 poisonous, has not improbably resulted from mortality from this cause. 



As each case must be dealt with according to local circumstances, the only 

 advice possible is that care should be taken when animals come on to succu- 

 lent food after a long spell on dry innutritions feed, or after a railway 

 journey during which they have been deprived of food and water. 



Impaction of the Rumen. — Many cases described under this heading 

 would be more correctly described as atony of the rumen, as the impacted 

 condition not infrequently results from a weakened state of the organ 

 itself. It occurs under two rather different sets of conditions. Cattle 

 which have been for long on a diet of innutritions food of a bulky 

 nature may become so lowered in health, although maintaining fair con- 

 dition, that what is known as the " tone" of the animal is not up to the 

 standard required for dealing with the food. The digestive tract appears to 

 be one of the first portions of the body to suflFer from this lack of tone — the 

 rumen consequently fails to deal properly with the mass of ingesta and it 

 accumulates. Naturally the more the weakened rumen is overloaded the less 

 capable it becomes, and the result is a stoppage of its movements and action. 

 Correction of the diet in the direction of replacing portion of the bulky food 

 with nutritious concentrates, such as grain, meal and bran, represents the 

 best method of relieving the condition, but it must be done in the early 

 stages. Once a weak rumen is heavily overloaded the provision of good food 

 is of small value as it will not be properly digested. 



Scrub fed cattle are particularly likely to suffer from a general impaction 

 of the digestive system, including the rumen, partly because of the very low 

 feeding value of any scrub — and this is so no matter how valuable such scrub 

 may be in keeping animals alive through time of drought— and partly on 

 account of the astringent character of many of the plants uircd in scrub 

 feeding. Scrub alone can only provide suflScient nutriment to keep stock 

 alive, and, as a rule, they steadily lose tone while fed on it. This condi- 

 tion may eventually lead to impaction which, however, may not show until 

 the stock are put to some strain such as travelling, when it may very quickly 

 become evident 



