132 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



Member : What is the best thing to do with the after birth ? 



Dr. Peters: Remove the after birth as soon as possible. 

 If it is not removed it causes many kinds of trouble in your cow 

 because there is left in that large cavity a lot of membranes that 

 will fester away. You will see pus formations. What is the re- 

 sult? Those pus germs are absorbed by the animal in the sys- 

 tem. You must clean them out; that should be attended to the 

 first thing. 



Member : We have been told not to do that. 



Dr. Peters : Why ? I always advise it ; I cannot see why it 

 should not be done. The only danger in taking it away is this : 

 if it was done by a person who is not familiar with the operation, 

 danger will arise because the cow might be torn and a large blood 

 vessel be severed and the animal may bleed to death, but if it is 

 done by some one who knows how, it is the proper thing to do. 



President : Do you have to irrigate ? 



Dr. Peters : The animal should be irrigated and washed 

 and taken care of. 



Member : What do you prefer to use ? 



Dr. Peters : I prefer permanganate of potash, i teaspoon ful 

 to 1 bucket of water. For instance I have had more trouble in 

 former years in using coal tar dips in irrigating cows, say using 

 them every day or every other day; I could not lessen the dis- 

 charge ; it would grow more copious ; the result was I found this 

 carbolic acid was too irritating to the mucous membrane. 



Member : What do you think about corrosive sublimate ? 



Dr. Peters : It is all right, but it is dangerous to have it 

 around. Another feature, the corrosive sublimate if it comes 

 in contact with metal it corrodes. I use permanganate of potash 

 entirely now; it has a pink color and you know about it. 



