176 DISEASES OF CATTLE, SHEEP, GOATS, ETC. 



sponged with this liquid, and this is best applied to the whole herd. 

 A 1 per cent solution of carbolic acid is a good substitute. 



(4) When any case of abortion has occurred the fetal mem- 

 branes must be removed by the hand without delay, and, together 

 with the fetus, destroyed by burning or boiling, or buried deeply, 

 and the stall should be cleansed and watered freely with the copper 

 solution. Then the womb should be washed out with 1% gallons of 

 the corrosive sublimate solution injected through a rubber tube in- 

 troduced to the depth of the womb and with a funnel in its outer 

 elevated end. This should be repeated daily for a week. In the 

 case of the other non-pregnant cows of the herd one injection of the 

 same kind should be made into the vagina, after which they need 

 only have their external parts and tail washed with the solution 

 daily. 



(5) Do not breed aborting cows for two or three months, then 

 use a separate bull, injecting his sheath and washing his belly before 

 and after each service with the carbolic-acid solution. Exclude all 

 outside cows from service by the regular herd sire. 



As a certain number of the cows will harbor the germ in the 

 womb when treatment is started, it is not to be expected that abor- 

 tions will cease at once, but by keeping up the treatment the trouble 

 may be got rid of in the following year. As an aborting cow is 

 usually of little use for the dairy, it is best to separate and fatten her 

 and apply treatment to those that remain. In this, as in other deli- 

 cate manipulations, the stock owner will consult his own interest 

 by employing an accomplished veterinarian and avoiding such as 

 have not had the privileges of a thorough professional education. 

 In addition to the above, the removal of all manure and contamin- 

 ated litter and the sprinkling of the surface with the sulphate of cop- 

 per solution is called for. Drains should no less be thoroughly rinsed 

 and disinfected. Milking stools and other implements may be 

 treated in the same way, or with carbolic acid or boiling water. Great 

 care should be taken to guard against bull or cows from an aborting 

 herd or district; streams even may be suspected if there is an aborting 

 herd near by and higher up on that stream. Cows sent to bull from 

 an aborting herd are to be positively denied, and workmen that have 

 attended on such a herd should be required to wash and disinfect 

 their clothes and persons. 



NOTE. It is impossible to lay too much stress on the import- 

 ance of protecting a sound herd against contagious abortion rather 

 than of treating animals already diseased. This consists principally 

 in purchasing animals from clean herds only, in isolating all new 

 purchases and in not breeding to them until they have been proved 

 free from infection, or in disinfecting the genitals of all newly ac- 

 quired animals for at least a week. 



In cases where it is desired to treat pregnant cows to prevent them 

 from aborting, hypodermic injections of 2 drams of a 2 per cent solu- 

 tion of carbolic acid every two weeks until eight injections have been 

 given, may be tried, but too much success should not be expected 

 from this treatment. The most suitable place for the injection is on. 



