X 



THE HEALTH OF THE HEED 



This little book makes no pretense of being in 

 any way a treatise on veterinary medicine, but 

 merely proposes to mention rather than discuss a 

 few of the most important ailments of our dairy 

 herds. Many of the diseases of humans have their 

 almost exact counterpart among bovines. A num- 

 ber of specific infectious diseases are confined to 

 cattle and at least one, anthrax, is of peculiar in- 

 terest, because it is communicable to man, not fre- 

 quently with fatal results. The five outstanding 

 troubles that to some extent are always with us 

 and that we can hardly hope to escape sooner or 

 later are calf scours, epidemic or contagious abor- 

 tion, parturient apoplexy or in the language of the 

 stable "milk fever," bovine tuberculosis and garget. 



The first two are not well understood, and while 

 the literature of these diseases is most voluminous, 

 we seem to have no general agreement as to either 

 the exact cause or the specific preventive measures 

 to be adopted. Many investigators have come to 

 think that the two troubles have a common cause 

 and that a calf may be carried to full term and be 



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