CATTLE. 133 



tions are always accompanied by a soft rustling sound caused by the air rushing through the 

 air cells of the lungs, which may be distinctly heard by placing the ear to the chest of the 

 animal. A change caused by any inflammation or disease of the lungs or air passages can 

 readily be detected by the sound of respiration. 



The temperature of the body can be determined with considerable accuracy by feeling 

 the horns at their roots, the skin, ears, and legs. When the exact temperature is desired, 

 a clinical thermometer is used, which is a thermometer so formed that its bulb can be 

 inserted in the rectum of the animal, where, after remaining three or four minutes, the exact 

 temperature will be indicated. The use of this instrument has established several important 

 facts relative to diseases in connection with the temperature, viz., that different diseases have 

 different ranges of temperature beyond which recovery is impossible; for instance, it has 

 been ascertained that a horse may recover in case of pneumonia, at or even beyond a tempera 

 ture of 109; but with cerebro-spinal meningitis, the disease has always been found to 

 prove fatal soon after reaching a temperature of 104. 



General Indications of Disease in Cattle. The coat of an animal is a good 

 indication of the state of health. What is termed a &quot;staring coat,&quot; or a coat in which the 

 hairs stand out straight from the skin, is a symptom of a low condition of health. Isolation 

 from the rest of the herd, the ceasing to chew the cud, shivering at slight exposure to cold, 

 or to none at all, generally indicate an attack of some disease. The peculiar position when 

 standing, the manner of lying down, getting up, or of moving about are also significant. The 

 muzzle of the healthy ox or cow is moist, or covered with beaded drops. In disease, and 

 more especially in fever, it becomes either hot and dry or unnaturally cold, and sometimes 

 changes to a pale shade in color; but more frequently it becomes overcharged with blood. 

 In cows a low condition or attack of disease is also usually accompanied with a drying up of 

 the milk. 



DISEASES OF CATTLE. 



WHEN properly managed, cattle are not subject to many diseases. A few things 

 are essential to the perfect health of any animal, and these may be comprised in 

 a sufficient supply of pure air, pure water, nutritious food, and shelter from the 

 inclemency of the weather. If, when stabled, proper attention be paid to ventilation, clean 

 liness, and warmth, with a liberal supply of pure water, proper food, and a frequent but 

 gradual change of diet, there will be but few, if any, derangements of the system which 

 nature will not remedy far better than nostrums or drugs of any kind. Cattle that are neg 

 lected and kept in a half -starved condition, or those that are managed according to an 

 extremely opposite method, being pampered and forced with a surplus of highly stimulating 

 food, are much more liable to disease than those that are well fed and judiciously managed. 

 Common sense is fully as requisite in the treatment of stock as in the management of 

 any other department of the farmer s avocation, and if good judgment be exercised in the 

 use of preventive measures, there will be but rare necessity of resorting to the curative 

 properties of remedies, since the large majority of diseases are caused by improper manage- 

 ment, or want of care. Prevention of disease is in all cases much more easy, and attended 

 with less trouble and expense than the curing process; in fact there are some diseases that 

 can only be successfully treated by an educated veterinarian. The farmer who doses and 

 drugs his cattle for every slight or imaginary ailment commits a great error, and will be 

 liable to bring on more difficulties than he relieves. In all cases the symptoms should be 



