CHAPTER IX 



SOME CATTLE DISEASES REDWATER AND 

 COAST FEVER 



FROM earliest times, and among the most primi- 

 tive peoples, cattle have formed a basis of wealth. 

 Abundance of flocks and herds was the ideal of 

 pastoral peoples, and in later days, of the agricultural 

 population who form the backbone of any nation. 

 England may be described as a favoured country 

 with respect to its cattle-rearing. There is no 

 rinderpest to kill off the herds as in South Africa, 

 and no tsetse flies to destroy cattle and horses alike 

 by carrying trypanosomiasis, while the ticks that 

 cause enormous losses of cattle in America, Austra- 

 lia, and some parts of Africa and Europe, by pro- 

 ducing " redwater " in these animals, are uncommon, 

 and as a rule uninfected even if present. 



" Redwater " is due to small blood-parasites that 

 live in the red corpuscles, and cattle, sheep, horses, 

 dogs, as well as smaller animals like jackals and rats, 

 may be infected. The parasites destroy the red 

 blood-corpuscles, and the excreted colouring matter 

 from them produces the " redwater." 



The disease of most importance economically is 



