The Common Farm Operations. 189 



Fractures require expert dressing and the application 

 of bandages and splints in the larger animals; in calves, 

 lambs, pigs and poultry the stockman can with little 

 trouble bind up the broken part and save loss. Frac- 

 tures (breaks) are of various kinds and vary greatly in 

 their seriousness; generally speaking, if the ends of the 

 bones extend through the skin, the case is not worth 

 bothering with. Fractures may be straight across a bone, 

 on the slant (obliquely), or lengthwise; if the bone is 

 broken, without external wound, it is termed a simple 

 fracture; if the broken ends do communicate with an ex- 

 ternal wound we have the compound fracture; if the bone 

 is broken in small pieces the fracture is known as com- 

 minuted; greenstick fractures occur in young animals, 

 and resemble the break in a green stick, not a clean, 

 sharp break, hence the term. 



Union of fractures (broken bones) takes place some- 

 what as follows: During the first three days inflamma- 

 tion and exudation is going on, from then to the twelfth 

 day soft material is thrown out around the broken ends, 

 and if the bone is hollow also in the hollow space; by the 

 end of a month if the ends have not been disturbed the 

 soft material mentioned is changed into bone (being 

 known as the provisional callus), following this stage, 

 material forms between the broken ends, being later con- 

 verted into bone, which process takes about two months, 

 thus completely uniting the broken parts; this material 

 forms what is known as the definitive callus; if occasional 

 movement of the ends occur during this stage, complete 

 union is not possible, and in such cases the material 

 thrown out instead of becoming bone takes on a gristly 



