10 xipRiL. 1918.] Mill- Fever. 253 



MILK FEVER. 



Writing to the young dairy farmers in the State of Wisconsin, 

 .Vnierica, the editor of Hoard's Dairyman asks : — " How many of you 

 juniors know what milk fever is, and can tell when a cow has it ? It is 

 the one disease which is liable to attack high-producing cows right after 

 calving, and unless the cow attacked is promptly treated, it is very apt 

 to prove fatal. Therefore, every junior dairyman should know some- 

 thing about this disease. In the first place, it attacks only high-pro- 

 ducing cows, and for that reason is especially liable to cause great loss. 

 The heifer with her first calf is very seldom attacked, and only once in 

 a while is one with the second. jSTeither are very old cows in much 

 danger. The well-fed cow that is in good flesh when she calves is more 

 liable to have the disease than a thin, underfed one, and for this reason 

 dairymen used to almost starve their cows as calving time approached, so 

 as to have them thin when they freshened. However, this is no longer 

 necessary. We can say then that milk fever is most liable to attack 

 well-fed cows four to ten years old that are heavy producers. jSTow, how 

 can you tell when a cow has the disease? In the first place, it usually 

 attacks the cow mthin a day or two after calving. The animal appears 

 to be nervous or excited, and may stamp with her hind feet or step as 

 if they were sore. If she walks around, you at once notice that her 

 gait is not natural, her hindquarters sway from side to side, she soon 

 staggers, and finally falls down. Sometimes she is able to get up again, 

 but even so, soon falls a second time. This is because the hindquarters, 

 and later the whole body, gradually become paralyzed. At this time 

 the cow usually lies in the position shown in the picture, on her right 

 side with her head around towards the left flank. Cows with milk fever 

 are almost always constipated, and this often is the cause of serious 

 trouble. The dairyman tries to give her a dose of Epsom salts to relieve 

 the constipation ; and if paralysis has already started, the animal cannot 

 swallow, because it has already affected the throat. The medicine then 

 passes down the windpipe to the lungs and causes mechanical pneumonia, 

 which may prove fatal even if the cow gets over the milk fever. There- 

 fore, never drench a cow showing sym]:)toms of milk fever. Notice that 

 this disease is called milk fever. From the name, we would expect the 

 affected cow to have a high temperature^ but this is not the case. The 

 normal tem]:)erature of a cow is usually about 102 deg. F. At the 

 beginning of the disease this may run up to 103 deg., but it soon drops 

 down to about 96 deg. or 97 deg. ; so that milk fever is really not a fever 

 at all, but quite the opposite. 



Treatment. — In spite of the fact that this disease is so serious, the 

 treatment for it is very simple. After you once understood it, any of 

 you juniors could use it if necessary. Practically all that it consists of 

 is pumping the cow's udder full of air with an instrument which works 

 like a bicycle pump. First, have the cow in a good, clean place on plenty 

 of clean straw. Wash her udder, teats, and especially the ends of the 

 teats, well with soap and water. Then wash the teats again with an 

 antiseptic solution like 5 per cent, carbolic acid or 3 per cent, creolin. 

 The milk fever outfit must also be cleaned. Boil the milking tube for 

 15 minutes in water, and clean the rest of the apparatus thoroughly. 

 Finally, put clean, absorbent cotton in the metal container, and have 



