242 BREEDING AND MANAGEMENT OF CALVES 



allowed to become too lean, be kept too hot in a close house, 

 or fed for a time on insufficient food, as barley-straw or 

 flying-bent (Molinia], or any other inferior hay, they are 

 liable to become infested with lice (usually both varieties 

 together), most abundantly about the rump, head, neck, and 

 shoulder tops. Lice may be destroyed by one or two dress- 

 ings, well rubbed in, of train oil, sour butter-milk, black soap, 

 or any of the various carbolic dressings. Paraffin oil is 

 effectual, but requires care in application. Anything 

 which would injure the cuticle or poison the animal (see 

 p. 262) in the event of its licking the skin, which it should do 

 regularly, must be avoided. Tobacco and the seeds of 

 stavesacre are used in decoctions as dressings for lice. They 

 cause poisoning if taken in by the animal licking. " The 

 symptoms are those of nausea, attempts to vomit, diarrhoea, 

 and convulsions, and the treatment is to give stimulants." 

 Serious losses have at various times occurred among stock 

 through poisonous dressing, such as blue mercurial ointment, 

 being applied to the skin. All dangerous remedies should 

 be discarded in favour of the safe and simple ones. 



Weak cattle, or those of a soft temperament (usually kept 

 back from feeding by their neighbours and thriving badly), 

 should be removed and placed apart. 



In the case of young cattle, a moderate amount of cake 

 may be continued, say 2 or 3 Ibs. daily, during the first 

 winter, if straw be the fodder used. If plenty of good roots 

 be given, the cake can be reduced or omitted. 



Young cattle, while casting their temporary molars, are 

 put off their food when a loose molar gets displaced so that it 

 lacerates the tongue or the side of the jaw during the act of 

 chewing. With a gag to hold the jaws apart the tooth may 

 often be removed by the fingers, or, if too firm, by forceps. 



Warts, or angleberries, on the udders, teats, and bellies 

 of cattle are, if pedunculated, easily strangled by a ligature of 

 catgut or thin twine tied round the neck ; but when they 

 grow on a broad base, the animal has to be cast, the warts 

 removed by the knife, and the parts seared with a hot iron. 



Spaying of heifers that are not to be kept for breeding is 

 best done between the ages of one and nine months. Old 

 cows may be operated on with safety, even to within three 

 weeks of calving. Cold, wet weather should be avoided, as 



