Ar.OKTION, 37 



are an expense and a source of worry, and very often die in tlic course of a few 

 days or weeks, of scours, which is the direct result of the abortion germs in their 

 systems. A calf tlnis born is a multiplied source of loss; it causes the loss of milk 

 and feed consumed while it exists, a loss of time to the owner, and is a loss itself 

 in the end. 



2. The Milk. 



A falling off or to(;d cessation of the flow of milk invariably follows abortion. 

 It requires no argument to show the dairyman that this is a direct cut into his 

 profits, in fact, a vital thrust at his only source of income as a keeper of cows. 



The loss to beef brecilers, though less direct, is just as great proportionately; 

 for besides losing her own calf, the beef cow is unfitted, to the extent of her falling 

 off in milk, for suckling other calves of the herd. 



The amount of this loss to the whole cattle industry, in the aggregate through- 

 out the country, is appalling" when we come to consider it. From the bases for 

 estimate that I have been able to reach, I figure that the loss is from $12 to $25 

 per eow^ affected, or an average of $18 per head per year. 



There are in America over 20,000,000 dairy cows, and not less than 10,000000 

 beef cows ; a total of at least 30,(300,000 cows. It is a low estimate to say twenty- 

 five per cent of these are suft'ering more or less from Contagious Abortion. Thus 

 at least 7,500,000 cows are losing $135,000,000 annually, or are failing by that 

 amount to produce what they should produce in healthy condition. 



The reader may, at the first flash of such enormous figures, consider them over- 

 drawn, but I am inclined to consider the estimate extremely conservative. There 

 are individual cows in the country which bring in $250 to $,'500 gross annually. 

 There are entire herds avcra.ging $150 and $200. I do not believe a careful 

 dairyman would keep a cow that returned less than $100 gross per year. A cow 

 producing less than that amount under average conditions and cost of feed, 

 should be disposed of, or, what is better, put in condition to produce more income. 

 It is entirely within reason, in fact, is proven by close observation and comparison, 

 that a cow with Conta,gious Abortion will fall oi¥ on an average fifty per cent 

 in her milk, and consume just as much feed or even more than when in perfect 

 condition. This would figure out $50 per head per annum ; and, on twenty-five 

 per cent (5,000,000) of the dairy cows alone, would equal $250,000,000, not to 

 mention the beef cows. It is certainly, then, a low estimate to put the figure at 

 little more than half that amount ( $135,000,0(30 ), including both dairy and beef cows. 



Note that this tremendous aggregate loss is in milk alone, it being impossible 

 to make even an approximate estimate on the calves. But 7,500,000 calves constitute 

 a large loss, when their possible value and future usefulness are considered. 



3. The Cow. 



The third source of loss is in the cow herself. Besides becoming profitless as a 

 producer of calves and milk, the aborting cow is a source of expense and trouble. 

 Being usually a cow that has produced well, the owner hopes for her return to 

 former usefulness, and keeps her at an actual loss. Often the final result is bar- 

 renness, and too frequently a sacrifice on the butcher's block, with no attempt to 

 restore the cow to breeding condition, which can be done in nearly every case by 

 proper treatment. 



4. The Herd. 



The fourth source of loss from the abortion-infected cow is the spread of the 

 disease to the entire herd and often to other herds through the service of the bull 

 to which she is bred. Abortion germs are transmitted by all the usual agencies of 



