DAIRY INSPECTION 151 
Rough, bristling, lustreless hair and a dry, stiff skin (hide- 
bound) indicates unthriftiness or lack of condition, which may 
be due to disease or improper care. In stables in which the 
cows are regularly groomed, fresh cows, especially heifers with 
the first calf, may appear rough and thin in comparison with the 
other cows for a week or two after they are placed in the milk 
stable. This condition is due to the effects of parturition and 
to not being regularly groomed previously; it must not be con- 
fused with unthriftiness. When associated with a good appe- 
tite, unthriftiness and progressive emaciation are indications 
of chronic disease, frequently of tuberculosis. Emaciation, 
however, may be due to old age. Mere thinness must not be 
mistaken for unthriftiness or emaciation; heavy milking cows 
are often thin. The condition of the skin and hair is a better 
indication of the actual physical condition than the degree of 
fleshiness or leanness. 
Swellings may occur in or beneath the skin (local inflamma- 
tions, cedemas, abscesses, enlarged lymph glands, actinomycosis, 
etc.) and suppurating wounds may involve the skin and sub- 
cutaneous structures. Distension of the left side of the abdomen 
occurs in impaction and tympanites of the rumen. 
8. Vulva, Anus, and Tail—These should be ex- 
amined for evidences of pathological discharges. Dis- 
eases of the uterus, vagina, and digestive tract may be 
discovered in this way. There are certain normal dis- 
charges from the vulva which must not be mistaken for 
pathological discharges. A small amount of glassy 
mucous, frequently blood-stained, is discharged during 
cestrum; a bloody or grayish albuminous discharge is 
sometimes seen after breeding, while near the end of 
pregnancy there is usually observed a glassy mucous dis- 
charge which is often of a red color. 
A foul, chocolate-colored or reddish fluid containing frag- 
ments of tissue is discharged from the vulva following retention 
of the placenta. In metritis and vaginitis the discharge is either 
