300 



Diseases of the Genital Organs 



problem of reproduction. It existence is evidenced by a 

 discharge of muco-pus, which flows from the sheath open- 

 ing and mats together the preputial tuft of hairs, at the 

 same time staining them a dark, dirty, brownish-black. 

 (See Figs. 83, 84.) This occurs early in the life of the ani- 

 mal, but the time of its advent varies largely according to 

 the environment and health of the calf. In large dairy 

 herds, where sterility, abortion, calf scours, and pneumonia 

 are severe, the evidences of balanitis occur with great uni- 

 formity when the bull calf is twenty to sixty days old, but 



Fig. 87— Glans of Bull Showing Severe (confluent) 

 Nodular Venereal Diseases. 



in the calves of grade beef cows, which nurse their young 

 and live in the open, the evidences of genital catarrh appear 

 tardily and the bull calf may reach four to ten months of 

 age without showing very marked evidences of matting and 

 discoloration. Between these extremes, every possible grad- 

 ation occurs, and wide variations are observed in individu- 

 als confined in the same stable. Once the matting and 

 staining have developed, they remain permanent throughout 

 the life of the bull. The staining of the hairs is "fast" and 

 can not be washed out by any ordinary means. 



