DISEASES AND TREATMENT OF CATTLE. 286 



of strings over the back; this is to bring the festering' to a head. 

 Change the poultice every time you bathe the bag. As soon as 

 you find a soft spot in the bag, lance it to let the matter out; 

 make a good sized hole in it, large enough to run your finder up 

 into it to clean it out. After this, treat by bathing with luke 

 warm water and soap and applying the white lotion twice a day ; 

 keep the cuts open by putting butter on your finger and running 

 it up into the hole once a day until it commences to heal. 

 RIG OR ORIGINAL BULLS. 

 This is when one or both the testicles never come down into 

 the scrotom, or bag. These kind of bulls cannot be castrated like 

 horses, and after they get a little age on them they become a per- 

 fect nuisance. 



Advice. — When you go to castrate a calf and find only one or 

 neither testicles are down, fatten and get rid of it, for it very 

 rarely comes down afterwards. It will save you a lot of trouble if 

 >ou get rid of it while young. 



HOW TO RING A BULL. 

 Secure the animal by throwing him, or having him in a solid, 

 narrow stall ; take a piece of sharp-pointed, clean, hard wood, or 

 a sharp piece of bright steel large enough to make a hole for the 

 ring ; put the hole through in the soft part of the nose, just in 

 front of the hard cartilage that separates the nostrils, which is 

 easily felt. After the hole is through, open and oil the ring, slip 

 it through, close it and put in the screw. After the ring is in turn 

 it every day until the wound is healed. These rings can be got 

 at any hardware store. 



SWELLING OF THE POINT OF SHEATH IN STEERS. 

 Causes. — It is mostly seen where they are grazing on a pasture 

 field where there is a lot of limestone, or when there is much lima 

 in the water they drink, and on account of the steer not putting 

 out his penis while making water, just letting it dribble out of 

 the sheath, the lime in his water collects and forms a small 

 limestone which soon gets large and irritates the sheath, causing 

 it to swell. 



Treatment. — If he is a quiet steer, let him stand, and have 

 someone to hold him by the horn and nose, while you, with your 

 fingers oiled, pass one of them up into the sheath, and by working 

 the stone around you can soon remove it, then oil the sheath 

 inside and outside with lard and it will be all right. In case you 

 cannot do this with the steer standing up, throw him down and 

 secure him as for castration and remove it in the same way. 



