638 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



or even weeks, if necessary, though that is rarely required, as the trouble 

 either subsides or abortion occurs. If the laudanum seems to lack per- 

 manency of action, use bromide of potassium, or, better, extract of 

 Vibu7-num prunifolium (40 grains), at intervals of two or three hours 

 until five or six doses have been given. 



PREVEXTION AND TREATMENT OF CONTAGIOUS ABOETIOX. 



So far as this differs from the treatment of sporadic abortion, it con- 

 sists in separation and the free use of germicides or disinfectants. 



(1) Separate all aborting cows in isolated building, yards, and pas- 

 ture, allowing no other cows to have access even to their manure, liquid 

 or solid. Not even breeding ewes, goats, sows, rabbits, or mares should 

 be allowed to go from the isolated to the noninfected premises. Separate 

 attendants and utensils are desirable. 



(2) Scrape and wash the back part of the stall and gutter and water 

 it with a solution of 5 ounces sulphate of copper (bluestone) in 1 gallon 

 pure water. Repeat this cleaning and watering at least once a week. 

 This should in all cases be applied to every stall where an aborting cow 

 has stood and to those adjacent. To treat the whole in the same way 

 would be even better, as it is impossible to say how many of the cows 

 harbor the germ. This is the more needful as that in one to three years, 

 if the aborting cow is kept on, she becomes insusceptible and carries her 

 calf to full time. A cow may therefore be infecting to others though she 

 herself no longer aborts. 



(3) Dissolve 1 dram corrosive sublimate, 1 ounce each of alcohol 

 and glycerine, and shake this up in a gallon of water, to use as an injec- 

 tion into the vagina and a wash for the parts about the vulva and root 

 of the tail. Being very poisonous, it should be kept in a wooden barrel 

 out of the way of animals or children. Every morning the vulva, anus, 

 back of the hips, and root of the tail should be sponged with this liquid, 

 and this is best applied to the whole herd. A 1 per cent solution of car- 

 bolic acid is a good substitute. 



(4). When any case of abortion has occurred the fetal membranes 

 must be removed by the hand without delay, and, together with the 

 fetus, destroyed by burning or boiling, or buried deeply, and the stall 

 should be cleansed and watered freely with the copper solution. Then 

 the womb should be washed out with 1 1-2 gallons of the corrosive sub- 

 limate solution injected through a rubber tube introduced to the depth of 

 the womb and with a funnel in its outer elevated end. This should be 

 repeated daily for a week. In the case of the other non-pregnant cows 

 of the herd one injection of the same kind should be made into the 

 vagina, after which they need only have their external and tail wash- 

 ed with the solution daily. 



(5) Do not breed aborting cows for two or three months, then 

 use a separate bull, injecting his sheath and washing his belly before 



