562 Diseases occurring after Parturition in Cows and Sheep. 



recommended, the abstraction of several quarts of blood a few 

 weeks prior to parturition, the administration of cathartic or 

 febrifuge medicines about the same period, or immediately after 

 parturition ; but cows submitted to each of these plans of treat- 

 ment have yet fallen victims to the disease ; neither is it to be 

 expected that owners can submit every beast to such precautionary 

 measures ; yet if there be any suspicion of a particular animal, 

 from her having an unusually large udder, or a more dependent 

 belly, with little inclination to move about, the following course 

 of procedure should be adopted. It is not advisable to withhold 

 almost all food for the day or two preceding parturition ; on the 

 contrary, a fair average quantity should be allowed, but it is 

 equally injudicious to permit the animal to gorge itself to excess. 

 As soon as the animal will partake of it after calving, gruel or 

 chilled water should be furnished ad libitum, and a pound or a 

 pound and a half of Epsom salts, with two ounces of nitrate of 

 potash and a few drams of ginger, may be administered about 

 four hours after calving. It is seldom that an animal, after re- 

 covery from this disease, will yield quite as much milk as she has 

 done at previous calvings, but frequently, with judicious feeding, 

 the quantity will not be materially lessened ; it is also a matter of 

 certainty that there is a liability to the recurrence of the com- 

 plaint ; yet this is not an invariable rule, but in the greater 

 number of cases it will be the interest of the proprietor to part 

 with a beast that has once suffered from an attack. 



The next disease in importance to the cattle proprietor (and 

 more especially in a dairy country, where the loss of milk is of 

 only inferior importance to the loss of the animal altogether) is 

 inflammation of the udder, known in many districts by the name 

 of Garget. Heifers and young cows are more especially obnoxious 

 to this complaint, although more aged animals are not exempt. 

 It may arise from external violence inflicted upon the udder in 

 any way, but it generally appears within a short time after calving; 

 hence it is evident that the tendency of an animal, and especially 

 of a young one, to suffer from fever at this time, may be locally 

 determined, and thus be the cause, among other affections, of in- 

 flammation of the udder. Exposure to wet and cold, in the open 

 pasture in the early spring-time, is also a frequent cause ; persons 

 unaccustomed to or careless in milking may, by their injudicious 

 handling, determine the disease ; but the long-received notion^ 

 that leaving a small quantity of milk in the udder at each period 

 of milking is a most frequent cause, cannot be satisfactorily main- 

 tained, else should the cow that has one or more calves constantly 

 allowed access to her udder be the invariable subject of the 

 disease, whereas these animals are always exempt. It is true that 

 in some of our dairy counties where females are the milkers this 



