4:26 TflE dairyman's manual. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 



DISEASES OF COWS. 



''Prevention is better than cure." And in treating 

 of the diseases which commonly occur in the dairy we 

 would emphatically enforce this ancient adage a^ the rule 

 of conduct in every herd, whether it consist of one cow 

 or a hundred. The dairyman should be always on his 

 guard to avoid causes of disease — those too common 

 errors of management and feeding which disturb the 

 natural functions of the animal, and by causing disorder 

 of the system produce what we term disease. 



Cows are usually healthy and robust. The exceptions 

 are the high-bred and high-fed animals kept by breeders 

 who force their stock by every possible means to undue 

 production. Life and vigor cannot be drawn upon so 

 excessively and last to the end of the common period of 

 usefulness. The stock of these is something like a fixed 

 quantity from which one may take small or large drafts ; 

 the larger these are the sooner will the supply be ex- 

 hausted ; and this is very much the case with high-kept 

 dairy stock. The common dairy cow, moderately fed, 

 never pushed beyond the natural period and capability 

 for milking, lasts for twenty years without an ailment or 

 an accident, except as the result of some carelessness 

 or neglect. On the other hand, the high-bred Jersey 

 cow, valued at thousands of dollars because she responds 

 liberally to a system of forcing and makes a remarkable 

 product of butter from high-feeding, is constantly suffer- 

 ing from garget or threatened with serious disease, and 

 finally dies of milk fever. And yd the Jersey cow, 

 notwithstanding her occasional want of constitution, 



