706 Diseases of the Genital Organs 



bull to one coitus per day and only rarely permitting coitus 

 on two successive days. If estrual periods become massed, 

 instead of imperilling the sexual health of the bull, break 

 the estrual cycle in one or more animals by pressing the 

 corpus luteum from the ovary three to five days before it is 

 desired to have her come in estrum. 



The importance of maintaining the general vigor of breed- 

 ing animals has already been mentioned, but it may be well 

 to emphasize some special points. Bulls are largely kept too 

 closely housed and far too highly fed. The bull needs abun- 

 dant physical exercise, and should either be given daily 

 work (which is the most economic and best method for re- 

 taining physical vigor) or provided with an extensive pad- 

 dock where he can come and go at will and have abundant 

 exercise. 



The feeding of purebred dairy cattle for high milk and 

 butter yield is one of the most complex and delicate opera- 

 tions in animal husbandry. Many breeders are record-mad 

 and crowd cows beyond their powers of endurance. Many 

 world-famous cows never breed after making a phenome- 

 nal record. The breeder is left with a cow which holds the 

 record in her class for milk or butter and is incapable of 

 yielding any of either. Nymphomania closes the breeding 

 career of so many high-record cows that the suspicion may 

 well be aroused that some of these performances are actu- 

 ally pathologic, and that the great yield of butter fat is 

 really the consequence of unseen changes going on in her 

 ovaries, which later culminate in the obvious cystic ovarian 

 disease. The destruction of the reproductive powers of a 

 great cow by imprudent handling in an effort to advance 

 her record is a crime against the state. The breeder has no 

 greater right to ruin a highly valuable cow than he has to 

 burn or otherwise destroy a valuable house which he le- 

 gally owns. 



Analogous conditions prevail among breeders of beef cat- 

 tle, who, at great peril to the reproductive powers of their 

 animals, feed them inordinately for show. It is notorious 

 that cattle which are extensively exhibited largely become 



