G6 RED- WATER. 



True red-water is a disease of the digestive organs, principally of 

 the liver; and the dark colour of the urine is owing to the presence 

 of vitiated bile, probably loaded with carbon, and not to blood, as 

 used to be supposed. 



The more frequent causes are connected with the nature of the 

 pasture. There are some farms, or particular parts of the farm, where 

 red-water is almost sure to follow when cattle are turned upon them. 

 Low marshy grounds are apt to produce it, and also pastures with 

 much woodland, and especially in the latter part of autumn, when 

 the leaves are falling. Some have said that elm-leaves are apt to 

 cause red-water ; others attribute the disease to the oak ; and many 

 more to some of tlie numerous species of ranunculuses that abound in 

 our marshy and woodland pastures. The truth of the matter, how- 

 ever, is, that no one knows what plant is most concerned in the affair ; 

 and all that the fanner can do is to observe what pastures most fre- 

 quentl}^ produce red- water, and at what season of the year, and to 

 use them as much as he can for other stock in the dano-erous seasons. 



A removal from a poor to a luxuriant pasture, or from a low marshy 

 situation to a dry and lofty locality, are frequent causes of red-water; 

 and it often occurs after a long succession of dry weather. 



Cows that are dried of their milk are often attacked by it, when 

 put into luxurious pasture, v/hile, perhaps, it does not affect those 

 that are still milked. The reason of this is plain enough : — the super- 

 fluous nutriment not being carried off by the udder in the form of milk, 

 the digestive organs are derang-ed, and the secretions of the liver be- 

 come vitiated. 



Some breeds of cows are more disposed to red-water than others, 

 and especially if they are brought from a distance, and the quality of 

 their pasture materially changed, whether from good to bad, or from 

 bad to good. A cow that has once had an attack of red-water is very 

 liable to a repetition of the complaint. The farmer is obliged to take 

 a great deal of care properly to manage the change of pasture with 

 her, and, notwithstanding all his care, she will probably have two or 

 three attacks of the disease every year. It will behove him to consider 

 how far it is prudent to keep such an animal. No beast that is sub- 

 ject to periodical complaints of any kind should be kept, for it may 

 easily be prepared for the butcher, and disposed of with little or no 

 loss to the farmer. 



The symptoms of red-water are at first purging, which is usually 

 followed l>y constipation ; the appetite is impaired; the pulse and 

 breathing quickened ; and the former, though bounding at the heart, 

 is often weak. The membranes of the nostrils and eyelids are pale, 

 and the legs cold ; the milk is diminished, and rumination ceases. 

 The urine, from being brown, often l)ecomcs black, and the disease 

 is, in this state, often denominated black-water. 



The red and the black water are diseases that require prompt and 

 careful treatment; for, although, in some slight cases, the beast does 

 not seem to be much affected by either, and works or yields her milk 



