^12 Illinois State Dairymen's Association. 



DISEASES OF THE UDDER OF THE COW. 



By Dr. H. R. Ryder, Chicago. 



Diseases of the udder of the cow are more common than 

 formerly, due to the greater development and increased work of 

 the udder together with modern ideas and methods of stabling, 

 feeding and caring for the cow. 



The twentieth century method is to get out of a thing all 

 there is in it, and this method is being applied to the cow. The 

 dairy cow's business is to give milk, she is bred, she is fed and 

 she is cared for to give milk, and if she don't give milk she finds 

 her way to the slaughter house. 



The udder is the part of this cow machine that is called upon 

 to do the great bulk of the work in the production of milk and 

 naturally this is the part that shows weakness under the strain 

 in the form of diseases of various kinds. 



In developing the heavy milking strains of cows not only 

 has the body and capacity for digesting and assimulating foods 

 been developed, but also the udder has had a proportionately 

 greater development — so that many cows have enormous udders. 

 This increased size renders this gland not only more liable to 

 disease but to wounds and injuries. 



Let us consider for a few moments some of the more com- 

 mon wounds and injuries to the udder. 



Causk. — Blows or kicks from another animal or from an 

 angry milker, hooks by other cattle, wounds from a thrown stone 

 or pitchfork. Cows sometimes fall and land in such a position, 

 or on hard objects such as stones, sticks, stubble, etc., that they 

 injure or wound the udder. They may lie in such a position that 

 undue pressure is brought to bear on this gland thereby rupturing 

 some of the small blood vessels. Injuries from barb wire cuts 

 and lacerations are frequently met with, but perhaps the most 

 common and troublesome of all injuries at this time of year, 

 when the cows are in the stable, are those from a cow stepping 

 on the teats or udder of her neighbor. 



Symptoms. 



Many times the wounds and injuries are slight and involve 

 only the superficial structures of the gland and ncj well marked 

 symptoms are present. In these cases no special treatment is 



