236 DAIRY CATTLE AND MILK PRODUCTION 



not very abundant. A bran mash made by moistening bran 

 with warm water is well adapted for the grain portion. With 

 this can be given such amount of hay as will be readily eaten. 

 If the udder is swollen and hard, the grain ration should 

 be increased very slowly until this condition disappears, 

 when more feed can be added, using as a rule two weeks 

 at least, and with a heavy milker still longer, to get her 

 on to full feed. No alarm need be felt if the udder remains 

 inflamed and somewhat hard for a number of days, provided 

 milk can be drawn from each quarter. The calf may be 

 left with the cow for two or three days, or removed earlier, 

 as desired. In either, the cow should be milked at least 

 three times daily, or oftener, until the inflammation leaves 

 the udder. 



Milk Fever. Until recent years the owner of high-produc- 

 ing cows always had to face the danger of losing the most valu- 

 able cows by this common and usually fatal disease. One of 

 the most important discoveries of recent years for the dairy 

 cow owner is the discovery of the air treatment, which is so 

 simple any one of intelligence can apply it, and with almost 

 certain success. 



Milk fever occurs only with high-producing dairy cows. 

 It never occurs with the first calf of a heifer, and seldom 

 with the second. It affects mature cows, and especially the 

 heaviest milkers. The well-nourished cow is more subject 

 to it than the underfed, which was the reason for the 

 practice, common before the present treatment was dis- 

 covered, of withholding feed for several days before parturi- 

 tion. The great advance made in recent years in the 

 records of milk production is to be attributed to a con- 

 siderable extent to the air treatment, making it possible to 



