Abolition or Slinking. 315 



Of course, the barrenness may be due to the bull. If he 

 is excessively fat or lean, or old, or diseased, it may interfere 

 with his procreative powers; so that a cow which seems 

 well fitted for conception, and yet remains barren, should be 

 served by different bulls. It has been supposed by some 

 writers that a perfectly healthy cow may fail with an equally 

 healthy bull, and yet take with another one. This appears 

 to occur, for example, where the relationship is very close. 



ABOETION— SLINKING— SLIPPIirG— DROPPING THE CALF. 



■ The premature dropping of the calf usually occurs from 

 the fourth to the seventh month. It frequently becomes 

 epidemic in a dairy, and the immense loss it entails on farm- 

 ers may be judged from a statement made some years ago by 

 the New York State Agricultural Society, that in that State 

 alone the money value of the loss had been for several years 

 over four million dollars annually. 



Within the last few years many of the most important 

 dairy regions of New York, Pennsylvania and other States 

 have suffered severely from this malady, all the cows some- 

 times aborting, one after another, without discoverable cause 

 or cure. Nevertheless it is a complaint which, by judicious 

 precautions and early and active treatment, can be prevented 

 and checked. 



Causes. — In studying the causes of the disease the stock 

 owner should first examine into the food of the animals. It 

 has been abundantly shown that wet, frosted and mouldy 

 fodder, smutty or mouldy grain, ergoted corn or rye, and, on 

 the other hand, too rich food, will strongly predispose to 

 slinking. Heating condition powders, violent purges, blows 

 on the belly, over teazing by the bull, are other and common 

 causes. 



Next to these comes the presence of a foul atmosphere in 

 the cow-house, yard or field. Decaying animal matters, as 



