182 DISEASES OF CATTLE. 



There arc certain points, however, in which the interests of hygiene 

 may be considered. The pregnant cow should have exercise, and as 

 regards both exercise and food, nothing is better than a run on a smooth 

 pasture. She should be withheld from all violent excitement, hunting 

 with dogs, riding or being ridden by cows in heat, driving in herd 

 rapidly through narrow gateways, causing to jump ditches or fences, 

 subjecting to blows with the horns of pugnacious cattle, driving on icy 

 or otherwise slippery ground, carrying in railroad cars, kicking by 

 vicious attendants, and fastening or throwing down for operations. The 

 diet should be good, not of a kind to fatten, but with a generous amount 

 of nitrogenous constituents which will favor at once the yield of milk 

 and the nourishment of the fetus. Aliments rich in lime and phos- 

 phates, like wheat bran, middlings, etc., can be used to advantage, as 

 there is a constant drain of earthy salts for the building of the body of 

 the calf, and thereby the danger of undue concentration of the urine 

 is lessened. 



Hard, innutritions, and indigestible aliments, musty grain or hay, par-' 

 tially ripened rye-grass, millet, Hungarian grass, vetches, peas, or maize 

 are objectionable, as they are liable to cause indigestion or even paralysis ; 

 and corn or hay affected by smut or ergot, or that has been spoiled by 

 wet, overripened, and rendered fibrous and innutritions, are equally 

 objectionable. The food should be in the main laxative, as costiveness 

 and straining are liable to cause abortion. Roots and green food that 

 have been frosted are objectionable, as being liable to cause indigestion, 

 though in their fresh condition most wholesome and desirable. Ice- 

 cold water should be avoided, as calculated to check the flow of milk, 

 to derange digestion, and to cause abortion. A good temperature for the 

 drink of the dairy cow is 55 F. 



In the case of plethoric and heavy milking cows of mature age and 

 in the prime of life, the hitherto liberal diet must be changed at the 

 last week for the scantiest possible fare, and the bowels must be kept 

 open by laxatives, if need be, if the owner would avoid milk fever. 

 The pregnant cow should be kept away from the sight and odor of dead 

 carcasses, from the smell of decomposing animal matter, and from stag- 

 nant and corrupting water. Her stall should not incline downward 

 from shoulder to croup, lest the pressure of the abdominal organs 

 should produce protrusion or abortion. She should be kept aloof 

 from all causes of acute diseases, and all existing diseases should be 

 remedied speedily and with as little excitement of the abdominal 

 organs as possible. Strong purgatives and diuretics are to be especially 

 avoided, unless it be in the very last days of gestation in very plethoric 

 cows. 



Finally, in the case of pure breeds, close association with animals of 

 other breeds or crosses, or with animals of other colors, forms, or with 

 defects, is to be carefully guarded against. The effects shown in the 

 progeny may be exceptional, yet they are none the less sources of pre- 

 ventible loss. 



