194 DISEASES OF CATTLE. 



cases, with the buttocks and hocks wedged deeply into the passages, 

 it may prove difficult or impossible to push the buttocks back into the 

 abdomen, and in such a case the extension of the hind limb is practi- 

 cally impossible without mutilation. In some roomy cows a calf may 

 be dragged through the passages by ropes attached to the bent hocks, 

 but even when this is possible there is great risk of laceration of the 

 floor of the vagina by the feet. The next resort is to cut the ham- 

 string just above the point of the hock and the tendon on the front of 

 the limb (flexor metatarsi) just above the hock, and even the sinews 

 behind the shank bone just below the hock. This allows the stifle 

 and hock to move independently of each other, the one undergoing 

 extension without entailing the extension of the other ; it also allows 

 both joints to flex completely, so that the impacted mass can pass 

 through a narrower channel. If now, by dragging on the hocks and 

 operating with the repeller on the buttocks, the latter can be tilted 

 foiward sufficiently to allow of the extension of the stifle, the jam will 

 be at once overcome, and the calf may be extracted with the hotik 

 bent, but the stifle extended. If even this can not be accomplished, 

 it may now be possible to extract the whole mass with both hocks and 

 stifles fully bent. To attempt this, traction may be made on the rope 

 around the hocks and on a sharp hook (PI. XX, fig. 2) passed forward 

 between the thighs and hooked on to the brim of the pelvis. Every- 

 thing else failing, the offending limb or limbs may be cut off at the 

 hip joint and extracted, after which extraction may proceed by drag- 

 ging on the remaining limb, or by hooks on the hip bones. Very little 

 is to be gained by cutting off the limb at the hock, and the stifle is 

 less accessible than the hip, and amputation at the stifle gives much 

 poorer results. 



HIND LIMBS BENT FORWARD FROM THE HIP — BREECH PRESENTATION. 



This is an exaggeration of the condition last described, only the 

 hocks and stifles are fully extended and the whole limb carried for- 

 ward beneath the belly. (PI. XVII, fig. 2.) The water bags appear 

 and burst, but nothing presents unless it may be the tail. Examina- 

 tion in this case detects the outline of the buttocks, with the tail and 

 anus at its upper part. 



The remedy, as in the case last described, consists in pushing the 

 buttock upward and forward with a repeller, the cow being kept stand- 

 ing and headed down hill until the thigh bone can be reached and 

 used as a lever. Its upper end is pushed forward and its lower end 

 raised until, the joints becoming f ally flexed, the point of the hock 

 can be raised above the brim of the pelvis. If necessary a noose may 

 be passed around the leg as far down toward the hock as possible and 

 pulled on forcibly, while the hand presses forward strongly on the 

 back of the leg above. When both hocks have been lodged above the 



