328 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Isolation and treatment of parturient cows. Each case of partur- 

 ition, whether premature or normal, should be separated from the herd 

 and kept isolated until all uterine discharges have ceased. The after- 

 birth and all litter contaminated with the discharges should be burned 

 or buried deeply. Should the cow not clean within twenty-four hours 

 after delivery, an attempt should be made by a qualified person to re- 

 move the afterbirth. The floor of the stable or maternity stall and gut- 

 ter should be disinfected. Such a cow should receive once daily, uterine 

 irrigations of some mild, non-toxic antiseptic until the uterus can no 

 longer be entered by ordinary methods and then vaginal injections once 

 every two or three days or oftener until the discharges have ceased. The 

 external parts that are likely to become soiled with the discharges 

 should be cleaned with a disinfectant. Not until the discharges have 

 ceased should the animal be returned to the herd and if the case is an 

 abortion, breeding should be deferred until there is reason to feel that 

 no infection of the reproductive organs exists. 



Non-breeders and persistent cases. Keceutly there has been intro- 

 duced into this country, largely through the efforts of Prof. W. L. Wil- 

 liams of Cornell, a more or less systematic plan of procedure in the 

 handling of cases that persistently fail to breed or to carry their calves 

 to full term. It appears that the cause of these troubles is referable to 

 a diseased condition of the mucous membrane of the vulva, vagina or 

 uterus or to diseased ovaries. The treatment of the ovaries consists in 

 manipulating them after a manual exploration through the rectum and 

 vagina, with the object in view of rupturing cysts which vary in size 

 from very small to the size of a hen's egg and of expressing from the 

 ovary persistent corpora lutea (yellow bodies) which should disappear 

 normally. The treatment of a diseased mucous membrane of the uterus 

 requires the use of special instruments. The lips of the os are seized 

 on either side by long forceps and the uterus is drawn back until the 

 OS is easily seen from the vulva. An entrance is then carefully made 

 with dilator forceps followed by a special tube so constructed as to per- 

 mit of the introduction of an antiseptic fluid and its return without its 

 contact with the vaginal mucous membrane. It appears that the mucous 

 membrane of the uterus is capable of withstanding a much stronger an- 

 tiseptic solution than is that of the vagina. The presence of even a very 

 minute quantity of pus or the existence of a very mild inflammation may 

 prevent conception and this treatment helps to overcome such conditions. 

 Both ovarian manipulations and uterine irrigations need to be repeated 

 in most cases. It is needless to say that this phase of the treatment re- 

 quires the services of a carefully trained and experienced man; but its 

 application is attended by a goodly percentage of favorable results and 

 its value to the pure bred cattle industry is far beyond the apparently 

 high cost of application. 



All cattle. In the aborting herd vaginal irrigations should be given 

 to all non-pregnant females two or three times a week and the tail, and 

 the buttocks and thighs of all the cattle should be frequently cleaned 

 with a disinfectant. Only a slight amount of discharge may collect on 

 these parts but due to its salty taste cattle will frequently lick the soiled 

 parts of other cattle and it is claimed by the English investigators that 

 cattle may acquire this disease through the alimentary canal. At the 



