Ch. XXXVIII.] ON COWS. 439 



it will be not amiss to open her bowels with a gentle dose of medicine. 

 The time of parturition will evidently appear by the springing of her 

 udder and the dropping of her belly, together with a discharge from the 

 bearing, and, as it draws nearer, her symptoms of uneasiness and moaning 

 will show that it cannot be far off. If the weather be bleak, she should 

 then be housed for a few days, but without being stalled, and a good bed 

 of straw should be laid under her. The natural progress of the birth should 

 not be interfered with, nor should she be too closely approached ; for, 

 although it should be tedious, " Nature will, in most cases, at length 

 safely accomplish its object," and if not, other means must be used : for 

 instructions respecting which we confidently refer to Mr. Youatt's Account 

 of Cattle. In instances, however, which present nothing more than usual 

 delay, without any supposed wrong position of the foetus, he recommends 

 that " a pint of sound warmed ale should be given in an equal quantity 

 of gruel ; warm gruel should be frequently administered, or at least put 

 within the animal's reach ; and access to cold water should be carefully 

 prevented. To the first pint of ale should be added a quarter of an ounce 

 of the ergot of rye (spurred rye), finely powdered; and the same quantity 

 of the ergot, with half-a-pint of ale, should be repeated every hour, until 

 the {)ains are reproduced in their former and natural strength, or the labour 

 is terminated." 



" Parturition having been accomplished, the cow should be left quietly 

 with her calf; the licking and cleaning of which, and the eating of the 

 placenta — that is, the after-birth, or cleansing* — if it is soon discharged, will 

 employ and amuse her. A warm mash should be put before her, and warm 

 gruel, or water from which the chill has been taken off; two or three hours 

 after which it will be prudent to give an aperient drink, consisting of a 

 pound of Epsom salts and two drachms of ginger. Attention should like- 

 wise be paid to the state of the udder j for it is very subject to inflammation 

 after calving. The natural and effectual preventative of this is to let the 

 calf run with her, .ind take the teat when it pleases, as the tendency to 

 inflammation is much diminished by the calf frequently sucking ; and, 

 should the cow be feverish, nothing soothes or quiets her so much as the 

 presence of the little one." It sometimes happens, however, that if the 

 teats be excoriated and very sore, the cow shows a disinclination to being 

 sucked, and danger is thereby incurred of losing both animals ; in which 

 case they should be fomented three or four times a-day with warm water, 

 after which she should be carefully and very gently milked — the calf 

 being suckled by hand — and the teats afterwards dressed with the following 

 ointment : — 



" Take an ounce of yellow wax, and three of lard, melt them together, and when they 

 begin to get cool, well rub in a quarter of an ounce of sugar of lead, and a drachm of 

 alum firiely powderedf ." 



Cows are very subject to abortion, from various causes ; either by im- 

 proper treatment, from over-exertion, or, not unfrequently, by being kept 

 in too high condition ; and it is not a little extraordinary that it sometimes 

 becomes infectious among a herd, and occasionally throughout whole dis- 



* Cows eat this excrement with avidity, and nature seems to have intended it for them 

 as a medicine, for it has never been known to injure the health ; yet unexperienced people 

 very frequentlj'^ cause it to be removed, as being thought disgusting. If not soon dis- 

 charged from the body, the aperient drink, recommended after calving, should be given, 

 together with the ergot and ale, lest serious inconvenience should arise from its being too 

 long retained in the womb. 



+ Youatt on Cattle, p. 552. 



