Equipment for Cattle Breeding and Dairying 695 



tact. The breeder, or dairyman should therefore concentrate 

 his energies upon these two perilous points of contact, in his 

 planning for the conduct of a herd. The hygiene of massed 

 individuals has had by far the highest development in the 

 human family, where the first principle is that, however near 

 the individuals of a great mass shall approach each other, 

 each shall preserve its identity and in an important sense 

 remain isolated — each shall have separate eating and drink- 

 ing equipment, the excreta from one individual shall not 

 contaminate the water or food of the mass, the sputum of 

 the individual shall not be cast upon the floor or elsewhere 

 to dry up, turn to powder and be inhaled by others. These 

 are not principles of human, but of universal hygiene. The 

 more thoroughly the cattle breeder applies these principles, 

 the better the health of his cattle. Many cattle may be 

 safely assembled in a small area, if proper regard is had 

 for these principles. The number of healthy cattle which 

 may be safely assembled in close contact is unlimited. The 

 danger arises from the introduction of one or more animals 

 which are bearers of disease. In planning an establishment 

 for cattle breeding or dairying, the plans should receive 

 greatest emphasis at the chief points of danger. Two of 

 these demand special thought in relation to equipment — the 

 nursery and the maternity stable. The nursery has already 

 been discussed under the "Congenital Diseases of Calves". 

 Each establishment where cattle are stabled should have 

 sufficient maternity stalls to accommodate each cow or heifer 

 at the termination of pregnancy for a period of at least ten 

 days. The stalls should be commodious, comfortable, and 

 capable of being readily and efficiently disinfected. As in 

 the calf stalls, the partitions between the maternity stalls 

 should be perfectly tight and afford complete isolation. A 

 properly equipped maternity stable serves a double purpose. 

 Owing to better opportunity for handling, it protects the 

 animal against the consequences to herself of any infections 

 which she may bear in her genital organs, and it guards 

 against the contamination of premises, food or water by 

 infectious discharges. As a rule cows at the termination 



