220 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICTULURE. 



There was nothing in the surroundings of the affected animals which 

 would explain the development of the disease. The feeding lots in 

 most cases were unusually dry and the disease had appeared at a time 

 when all mud was frozen solid. The soil did not contain enough alkali, 

 even at Neosho Falls, to make it at all probable that this could have 

 been the exciting cause of the disease. As is usual in the management 

 of cattle at the West, the herds were without shelter. At Keith's the 

 cattle lots were in a ravine protected by timber ; on some of the farms 

 there was little protection of any kind. Such a condition, however, is 

 so common that it could not be regarded as having much influence in 

 the production of this trouble. All of the affected herds seem to have 

 received ordinarily good care. Keith had fed some of his cattle shelled 

 corn and mowed oats in addition to hay. Pribbernow had fed his year- 

 lings on millet, oats, and corn-fodder, and consequently they had eaten 

 less hay. Beard had fed shocked corn. In Illinois, Keating had fed 

 liberally on corn. On most of the farms the water was very good, but 

 probably deficient during the cold weather. Keith had pumped water 

 from his well; Goodrich's cattle drank from a pond ; Beard's from the 

 river, and Pribbernow's from a creek. It was necessary to cut holes 

 through the ice and these would soon freeze over ; consequently, it may 

 be admitted that in most cases there might have been .a deficiency of 

 water. 



When the animals first became lame it was supposed that mud had 

 collected between the toes, and, becoming hard, was producing irrita- 

 tion. The animals were caught and their feet cleaned, but this had no 

 effect on the development of the disease. It is evident that the ani- 

 mals were cared for as well as is ordinarily the case in this section of 

 the country, and that the slight deficiency of water and the exposure 

 to cold were accessory rather than the exciting cause of the disease. 



SYMPTOMS AND CHARACTERS OF THE DISEASE. 



The first symptoms of disease in the Illinois epizootic were diarrhea, 

 lameness, stiffness of the lower joints of the affected limb, and coldness 

 and insensibility of the same parts. In Kansas this derangement of 

 the digestive apparatus was not noticed. At all the places visited, how- 

 ever, the lesions of the feet were of a common character and were pro- 

 duced by a common process. In the more severe cases a constricted 

 band formed around the limb at the point separating the gangrenous 

 from the living flesh. So marked was this constriction that some of the 

 owners looked upon it as the initial lesion of the disease and cut across 

 it with a knife in the hopes of re-establishing the circulation. It is 

 needless to say that this hope was delusive, since the part below the 

 constriction was entirely lifeless before this was formed. The constric- 

 tion was the first step in the effort of nature to rid the body of parts 

 that were of no further use to it. 



The next step in the process of separation was a crack in the skin at 

 the upper edge of the band of constriction, which gradually extended 

 toward the center of the limb, the softer parts dividing first and the 

 tendons and ligaments resisting much longer. Generally this separa- 

 tion was in the vicinity of a joint, and in this case, as the lower mem- 

 bers of the limb were lost a comparatively even surface was left which 

 healed readily. Some animals lost only a* toe, the dividing line passing 

 through the joint between the os pedis and oscoronce ; others lost both 

 the os pedis and os coronce ; still others lost the three lower bones, and 

 the line of separation passed through the fetlock joint, while in the 



