328 DAIRYING COWS AND THEIR MANAGEMENT 



moderate quantities, to cows under high-pressure feeding. 1 

 Meals made from leguminous seeds, when consumed in 

 large quantity by animals, have a binding or costive tendency, 

 being deficient in oil. Bran counteracts this tendency, and is 

 itself excellent for encouraging milk-production. Treacle is 

 now increasingly used to fulfil the function of bran. Brewers' 

 and distillers' grains are also " opening " or loosening to the 

 bowels, and greatly increase the flow of milk. When used 

 freely, grains injure the breeding-powers of cows, and are in 

 consequence of most service in town dairies, where the fatten- 

 ing-off process is associated with milk-production (p. 306). A 

 small quantity of malt dust in a mixture gives it relish, and 

 as a food it is also a good milk-producer. Clover, green and 

 wet, is a most dangerous food to give to cattle not accustomed 

 to eat it, as it produces hoven, especially in the case of cows 

 which are ravenous feeders. Clover should consequently be 

 given dry, and at first only in small quantity. 



Hoven is the disorder which is induced on the suspension 

 or retardation of the function of digestion. It may be acute, 

 due to some sudden ailment, and danger- 

 ous to life ; or chronic, the result of a 

 FIG. 17. TROCAR AND derangement of long standing. In the 

 CANNULA. acute form digestion stops, and gases are 



evolved in the process of fermentation which sets up in the food 

 contained in the stomach of the animal, more especially if the 

 food be of a green and succulent nature. Pressure is thus 

 brought to bear upon the diaphragm, which is unable to act, 

 and ultimately the animal, if not relieved, dies of suffocation. 

 Treatment. In the case of "eild" cattle, I oz. of turpentine 

 soaked into dry meal, and administered in cold gruel or cold 

 water, may overcome the disorder if given in good time. As 

 turpentine permeates the whole system and flavours the milk, 

 cows " in profit " should be drenched with 2 quarts of hot 

 beer, or a pint or more of whisky made into hot "toddy." 

 In a case of urgency, instant relief is secured by puncturing 

 the rumen with a trocar and cannula, at a point on the left 

 side equally distant from the anterior spine of the ilium, the 

 transverse processes of the lumbar vertebrae, and the last rib. 

 The cannula is left in the wound for a little to form a free vent 



1 Bean-meal has also been given with satisfactory results, when, for 

 some unknown cause, the curd would not adhere in the cheese-press. 



