448 THE dairyman's manual. 



The duration of the disease is from ten to twenty days, 

 and if the cow is kept warm and free from exposure to 

 rain or inclement weather, no complication is likely to 

 occur. In some cases the disease passes off with a very 

 slight eruption, a mere pustule followed by a scab upon 

 one teat only, and that of a very inconsiderable character, 

 being observable, and the owner of the cow^ never sus- 

 pecting the nature of the slight trouble, even should he 

 give.it a passing thought. But as cases are by no means 

 rare in which the disease has spread very quickly to 

 other cows, and these have experienced a more serious 

 indisposition, it is wise for the dairyman to be on his 

 guard and use all necessary precautions as soon as he 

 perceives the first indications of the disease in the herd. 

 Then the sick animal should be isolated. She should be 

 milked after all the others, or the person who milks her 

 should not approach the other cows, and the precau- 

 tionary dose of hyposulphite of soda above mentioned 

 should be given daily for at least ten days, gradually 

 reducing it after that down to one-fourth the quantity 

 mentioned. 



OBSTKUCTED TEATS. 



Small tumors occasionally form in the milk ducts 

 along the teats and interfere with the milking, or at 

 times quite close the passage. These usually come to a, 

 head and break and give no more trouble, but sometimes 

 they form a permanent enlargement and become a serious 

 impediment to the milking. The use of a milking tube 

 serves to remove the obstruction temporarily, but when a 

 permanent obstacle forms it is removed by means of a 

 blunt-end steel probe, having, an inch below the end, 

 triangular sharp edges projecting slightly so as to cut 

 the obstacle and form a passage, which is kept open 

 during the healing by means of a wooden plug wliicli is 

 inserted into the duct between the milkings; the milking 



