The Prevention of Contagious Abortion in Cattle. U 



than the cow's hack, the Huid will ruu into the womb easily and will 

 siphon out again when the funnel is lowered, a distinct advantage 

 eve]' syringing. All the fluid should be removed if possible, and what 

 does not siphon out shouhl l)e nio})})ed up with pieces of cotton wool. 

 The removal of a retained after])irth presents some difficulty to the 

 inexperienced, and a good deal of i)ractice is necessary before one 

 can be removed properly. In removing- it, the hand should l)e passed 

 through the mouth of the womb and the afterbirth peeled off the 

 cotyledons or button-like bodies on the uterine wall. Gentle traction 

 should be exerted on the afterbirth to assist in the loosening process, 

 but great care should be taken not to break it, as in that case bits 

 may stay in the Avomb and not l)e found. When removed, the after- 

 birth should be very effectively destroyed, if possible by fire. If the 

 cow has a discharge from the womb it should be waslied out every 

 day with normal salt solution till the discharge stops. A solution of 

 hypochlorite of soda in the i)ro])ortion of 1 i)art to 200 of water may 

 be used before the salt solution, and will often remove bits of dead 

 tissue which would not otherwise come away. After the discharge 

 has stopped the cow should not be returned to the herd, but kept apait 

 and, if the first case in the herd, it would probably pay to send her 

 to the butcher. If several abortions occur, a separate herd of infected 

 cows must be made and a si)ecial luill kept for it alone. The size of 

 the herd determines the policy to l)e adoi)ted when introducing 

 measures for the control t)f the disease. Hn some of the large ranches 

 with nioie than 1000 cattle tiie disease lias got out of hand so quickly 

 that it was decided to allow it to spread through the whole ranch as 

 ([uickly as possible, as it is known that most cows (hi not abort twice, 

 and a small proportion only more than twice. In lliis way the heavy 

 loss occurs only in a period of about two years an<l is not a constant 

 annual loss. This method is only to be lecommended where control 

 b7v- isolation of infected animals is impossible and nntil protective 

 vaccination can be introduced on a large scale. In tjie case of a 

 small herd m which several abortions occur, it is a good plan to 

 is(date the infected cows and have the sera of the remaining aiJparently 

 normal cows subjected to the serological test at intervals of two 

 months. Although troublesome, this method of cleaning a herd from 

 infected cattle can be carried out effectively on a small scale, and is 

 applicable to valuable herds. AVheu a herd of infected cows is 

 maintained, it must have a separate attendant, as even milking of an 

 uninfected cow by any one who has recently milked an infected cow 

 should not be allowed. 



Preventive vaccination seems to be the most hopeful method of 

 dealing with the disease in the future. It has been carried out on 

 a large scale in the British Isles during the past few years with 

 success, and a few herds have been inoculated recently in South Africa 

 with promising results, but it has not yet been introduced generally 

 ill this country. The method of vaccination consists in inoculating 

 heifers about two months before they are put to the bull for the first 

 time with a large dose of living abortion bacilli subcutaneously. 

 Uninfected cows can be inoculated before being again put to the 

 b.ull. AVhen vaccinated in this way. about 90 to 95 per cent, of the 

 animals w411 calve normally though exposed to natural infection. 

 Dead cultures gave disappointing lesults both as preventive and 

 curative agents. The introduction of vaccination means an admission 

 that the disease cannot be checked in any other way, and will mean 



