CHAPTER X. 



THE DISEASES OF DAIRY STOCK. 



Dairy stock, properly fed and managed, is liable to 

 few diseases in this country, notwithstanding the 

 sudden changes to which our climate is subject. If 

 pure air, pure water, a dry barn or pasture, and a fre- 

 quent but gradual change of diet, when kept in the stall, 

 are provided for milch cows, nature will generally 

 remedy any derangements of the system which may 

 occur, far better than art. Common sense is especially 

 requisite in the treatment of stock, and that will very 

 rarely dictate a resort to bleeding, boring the horns, 

 cutting off the tail, and a thousand other equally absurd 

 practices, too common even within the memory of men 

 still living. 



The diseases most to be dreaded are garget, puer- 

 peral or milk fever, and idiopathic or common fever, 

 commonly called " horn ail," and often " tail ail." 



Garget is an inflammation of the internal substance 

 of the udder. One or more of the teats, or whole sec- 

 tions of the udder, become enlarged and thickened; hot, 

 tender, and painful. The milk coagulates in the bag, 

 and causes inflammation where it is deposited, which is 

 accompanied by fever. It most commonly occurs in 

 young cows after calving, especially when in too high 

 condition. The secretion of milk is very much lessened, 

 and, in very bad cases, stopped altogether. Sometimes 



