34 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS I 



tie measuring less than 3 feet in girth, makes 44 pounds ; which, divided by 14, 

 to bring it to stones, is 3 stone 2 pounds. Again, suppose a calf, a sheep, &c. 

 should measure 4 feet 6 inches in girth, and 3 feet 9 inches in length, which, 

 multiplied together, make 16| square feet ; that multiplied by 16, the number of 

 pounds allowed to all cattle measuring less than 5 feet, and more than 3 in girth, 

 makes 264 pounds ; which, divided by 14, to bring it into stones, is 18 stone 12 

 pounds. The dimensions of the girth and length of black cattle, sheep, calves, 

 or hogs, may be as exactly taken this way as is at all necessary for any computa 

 tion or valuation of stock, and will answer exactly to the four quarters, sinking 

 the offal ; and which every man, wha can get even a bit of chalk, can easily per 

 form. A deduction must be made for a half-fatted beast, of 1 stone in 20,&quot; from 

 that of a fat one ; and, for a Cow that has had calves, 1 stone must be allowed, 

 and another for not being properly fat. 



Diseases and their Treatment. 



Cattle are subject to various diseases, the result of improper treatment or of 

 causes connected with climate which it is difficult to avert. By attention to feed 

 ing, housing, and cleaning, much may be done to prevent some of the more fatal 

 distempers. Cattle that have passed their lives, both day and night, in the open 

 air, are generally so hardy that they are not injured by a wetting of the skin, 

 and are liable to few of the complaints of dairy or stall-fed animals. Cows be 

 ing compelled to lead an artificial mode of life, are the most delicate in every re 

 spect, and require the most careful treatment. They should not be left out all 

 night ; and, when they return from the field wet, it is always a safe and humane 

 plan to dry them with a wisp of straw. The diseases to which they are most 

 liable are of an inflammatory kind, and for these the veterinary surgeon prescribes 

 bleeding, and perhaps some medicines to be taken internally. 



Though it is by no means our design to offer, in this work on Milch Cows, any 

 thing like a general work on cattle, it is deemed well enough, besides the gen 

 eral description of the breeds most in use, to give a few recipes for the most i 

 common diseases of Coics and Calves. 



Of Calves, the maladies which most frequently occur are diarrhoea, and its op 

 posite, costive-ness. The common diarrhosa, or scouring, in Calves, arises gener 

 ally from irregular feeding, or other bad management. 



Nothing is more apt to disorder the bowels of the young Calf than the too 

 common practice of attempting to substitute other diet for that of milk, or milk 

 diet at an unnatural temperature. The young ruminant (says that high authori 

 ty, C. W. Johnson), subsisting on the milk of its mother, does not require that 

 complicated system of stomachs which afterward becomes necessary for the prop 

 er comminution of its food. Accordingly we find that the aperture of the first 

 and second stomach is, in the Calf, entirely closed, and the folds of the third ad 

 here together so as to form a narrow tube. The milk passes at once into the 

 fourth stomach, which is the seat of true digestion. This arrangement of itself 

 indicates that the food of the young animal ought to be liquid, even when it is 

 deprived of the milk of its parent. It is for this reason that the weaning of the 

 Calf must take place very gradually. 



For SCOURING, the same author recommends the following as an excellent 



remedy: Prepared chalk, 4 ounces; Laudanum, 1 ounce; 



Powdered canella bark, 1 ounce; Water, 1 pint. 



Mix these together, and give two or three table-spoonsful, according to the size of the Calf, twice 

 or three times a day 



COSTIVENESS IN CALVES. For this complaint dissolve from two to four 



ounces, according to age, of Epsom salts in two quarts of water, and inject into the stomach by 

 means of the stomach pump, and, in need, repeat in half doses every four hours. 



CATARRH (common), or HOOSE (common cold). This is a common com- 



plaint, much too often neglected till it degenerates into worse disorders. 



For Cattle. In slight cases house them, give them mashes, or a dose of physic. In more se 

 vere caes bleed, and after bleeding give 



Epsom salts, * pound, Powdered aniseed, 2 ounces; 



Ginger, 2 drachms ; Gruel, 3 pints. 



For epidemic catarrh or influenza, bleed from three to five or six quarts, and give the following 

 purging drench : 



Epsom salts, 1 pound ; Powdered coriander seeds, 1 ounc&quot;;. 



Dissolve in 3 pints of warm gruel. 



