DISEASES OF THE DIGESTIVE ORGANS. 



By A. J. Murray, M. R. C. V. S. 

 [Revised in 1904 by Leonard Pearson, B. S., V. M. D., and in 1908 by B. W. Hickman, V. M. D.] 



CHARACTER OF FEEDS AND FEEDING. 



Diseases of the digestive organs are very common among cattle, and 

 may often be traced to defects in feeding. The first three stomachs 

 of the larger ruminants hold the feed for a long time, during which 

 period it is subjected to macerating, mixing, and straining processes 

 in preparation for entrance into the fourth or true stomach. The 

 straining is accomplished through the medium of the manyplies or 

 book, while the paunch, with its adjunct, the waterbag, is concerned 

 in the macerating, kneading, and mixing, as well as in regurgitation 

 for rumination, or the chewing of the cud. The action of the three 

 first stomachs is merely preparatory to digestion. Thus it would 

 seem that as a result of their complex anatomical and functional 

 arrangement, the feed of the ox, when of good quality and whole- 

 sorie, is in the most favorable condition possible for the digestive 

 process when it reaches the fourth stomach. It is in the fourth 

 stomach that true digestion first takes place. If the feed is of improper 

 character, or is so given that it can not be cared for by the animal in a 

 normal way, false fermentations arise, causing indigestion, and pos- 

 sibly, later, organic disease. In feeding cattle there are a number of 

 important considerations apart from the economy of the ration, and 

 some of these are noted below. 



Feeds must not be damaged by exposure to the weather, by frost 

 by molds, or by deleterious fermentations. 



Damaged feeds retard or prevent digestion, and sometimes they 

 contain or cause to be generated substances that irritate the digestive 

 tract or are distinctly poisonous to the animal. For example, hay 

 that was rained on severely during curing has not only lost a part of 

 its nutritive value through a washing-out process, but what remains 

 is not so readily available as in good hay. Roots that have been 

 frozen are likely to irritate and injure the digestive tract. Grass 

 eaten with the frost on it may cause severe indigestion. Moldy feeds 

 are not all injurious, for some molds appear to have no influence on 

 the process of digestion, but molds of other, species may not only 

 retard digestion and cause local injury to the digestive organs but 

 they may also cause general poisoning of a severe or fatal type. 



