636 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



The sheath of the bull should be irrigated before aud after service with 

 borax solution and the lower surface of the belly cleansed with the 

 disinfectant used for disinfecting the external parts of the cow. To 

 irrigate the sheath use a fountain syringe attached to a pure gum horse 

 urinary catheter. (Have your veterinarian get it for you.) The end 

 of the catheter should be inserted three or four inches int6 the sheath, 

 grasping the skin around the catheter with the left hand so that the 

 solution may be held in the sheath. Allow the sheath to become mod- 

 erately distended with the solution and with the right hand gently 

 massage the sheath, forcing the solution into the folds of the sheath. 

 After two to three minutes release the left hand allowing the shealth to 

 empty itself. If this is repeated once or twice the sheath may be effec- 

 tively cleaned. Very few bulls will offer any resistance to this treatment 

 if gently handled. In the case of a bad bull a special stock should be con- 

 structed to hold him securely while being treated. 



Two to three weeks before the animal is due to calve, resume the 

 daily disinfecting of the external parts of the cow and a day or two 

 before calving, or if signs of abortion manifest themselves remove the 

 cow to a clean, well-lighted box stall, the floor of which has been pre- 

 viously disinfected and well supplied wdth clean bedding, and douche the 

 vagina daily with three ounces of borax to one gallon of clean, mod- 

 erately warm water. 



After abortion or calving the afterbirth should be burned or buried 

 out of the reach of dogs and the contaminated bedding either burned or 

 carried to fields not used by cattle. The bedding should be changed 

 and the stall disinfected as frequently as necessary to keep clean. As 

 far as practicable, the attendant should stay out of the stall and the 

 freshened cows should be the last milked to lessen the danger of carrying 

 the discharges to other cattle on the feet or hands of the attendant. 

 Contamination of the feed with the discharges on the feet of the attend- 

 ant is probably one of the most common ways of infecting animals. 



The udder and hind parts of the cow should be cleaned daily with 

 brush and disinfectant and the animal should not be returned to the 

 herd until the uterine discharges cease. We do not recommend douching 

 the vagina at this time, unless done under the recommendation and 

 instruction of your veterinarian, because there is considerable danger 

 of infecting the uterus by improper methods of vaginal douching, and 

 unless complications arise demanding the services of a competent veteri- 

 narian, vaginal douching, even in cases of abortion, is not necessary. 



In most herds affected with infectious abortion sterility, sooner or 

 later, causes considerable losses. Sterility in the cow is most often due to 

 disease of some one or more of the reproductive organs. In a few cases 

 the cause may be found in the bull but, when this trouble is associated 

 with abortion infection, the cause is to be looked for most often in the 

 cow. 



In most cases, diseases of the uterus or cervix (neck of uterus) is the 

 primary cause, but occasionally disease of the ovaries and less frequently 

 disease of the vagina is the cause. 



There are various grades of diseased conditions of the reproductive 

 organs causing sterility, ranging from slight affections, in which the 

 animal comes in heat regularly, and appears quite normal to the un- 



