DISEASES OF THE DIGESTIVE ORGANS. 



By A. J. MURRAY, M. R. C. V. S., Detroit, Mich. 



It is not proposed to enter into any elaborate consideration of the 

 nature and chemical composition of food under this title, but rather to 

 touch on such general aspects of this subject as are within the experi- 

 ence of farmers, with the view of indicating what may be done to pre- 

 vent the occurrence of disease. It is a matter of general experience that 

 disorder of the digestive organs is frequently occasioned by defects in 

 the quality of the food supplied to cattle. Hay which is coarse and 

 fibrous overtasks the digestive powers, irritates the mucous surface of 

 the stomachs and bowels, and may lead to a torpid and inactive condi- 

 tion of the stomachs, or when it acts on the bowels may lead to the de- 

 vel< >pinent of dysentery. Timothy hay may be of good quality for feeding 

 to horses, but when fed to cows, especially those which do not get 

 exercise, it will produce a constipated condition of the bowels. Hay 

 fed to cattle should always contain a considerable proportion of clover, 

 which, from its laxative effect, keeps their bowels in a natural condition. 



Food which is finely divided, such as corn meal and fine middlings, 

 fed alone, is not adapted for the digestive organs of cattle. It does not 

 pass readily through the stomachs, and frequently gives rise to severe 

 attacks of indigestion. When fine middlings and corn meal are used 

 t hey should be mixed up with chopped hay, or what is commonly known 

 as cut feed, as this tends to prevent those finely divided foods clogging 

 together and giving rise to fermentation in the stomach, and they should 

 even then be used in moderate quantity. The chemical composition of 

 a food is not always a safe criterion for estimating its value. Its digest- 

 ibility must always be taken into consideration, as the physical charac- 

 ters may render it liable to disorder digestion. Hay which has been 

 much exposed to the rain while drying is innutritions and is likely to 

 produce intiamiuatory affections of the stomach and bowels, and the 

 same remark will apply to musty oats. Ergot not only diminishes the 

 nutritive value of hay, but has a special effect in producing gangrene 

 of the extremities, which is I >est counteracted by feeding roots to cattle 

 when it is absolutely necessary to feed them on hay made from crgotcd 

 grass. (See Plate V.) Rusty straw is also a dangerous article of food, 

 and will produce disease if fed to cattle. Smut on corn impairs its 



15 



