CHAPTER XXI. 



MILK FEVER. 



Milk fever is of common occurrence among 

 high producing dairy cows. This was consid- 

 ered a very serious disease a few years ago, and 

 in the majority of cases the animals died. To- 

 day this condition is very rarely fatal. 



Treatment for milk fever is strictly empiri- 

 cal, but it is certain that, even if we understood 

 the causes of this condition, we could not treat 

 it any more successfully than we do now. Vet- 

 erinarians can handle the trouble quite success- 

 fully. There is no other disease in which the 

 symptoms develop so rapidly and become so se- 

 rious in such a short space of time as do those 

 of milk fever, and yet with our modern treat- 

 ment the recovery is just as rapid and mystical 

 as is the development of the disease. 



This is a disease that cannot be determined by 

 symptoms alone, but the history and surround- 

 ing circumstances make diagnosis possible. 

 From wide experience the cow owner is able 

 to know that the case at hand is milk fever and 

 we may say that he arrives at his conclusion by 

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