AN UNUSUAL CAUSE OF UDDER DISEASE. 
33 
presence of catarrhal mastitis, thirty also exhibited these altera¬ 
tions in the skin covering the base of the teat. I therefore con¬ 
cluded that there was probably some connection between the two, 
and directed my investigation along that line. 
Special efforts are made on this farm to produce the best milk 
possible, and an unusual amount of work had been done to get the 
cows as clean as possible before milking. After they had been 
thoroughly brushed and all the dirt removed that could be gotten 
off in this way, the rear portion of each animal was washed. The 
croup, buttocks, flanks, the legs (inside and out, down to the 
claws), the tail and the udder were washed with a mild disin¬ 
fectant solution. The solution was used freely, about a twelve- 
quart bucketful being used to every eight cows, and was applied 
to the udder with a cloth and to the other parts with a stiff brush. 
After this, the udder was washed a second time with clean water, 
to remove the disinfectant solution. When the cleaning process 
was completed, the washed surfaces were quite wet, and remained 
in this condition until dried by the air. The cows were subjected 
to this treatment twice each day. 
This method of preparing the cows for milking was not 
adopted until May, 1911, and had, therefore, not been previously 
tested in cold weather. The udder trouble began about the mid¬ 
dle of November, just after cold weather had begun. There were 
more affected cows in the end of the stable where the doors were 
frequently opened and kept partly opened for ventilation than in 
the other end where they were almost constantly closed. The ir¬ 
ritated condition of the skin observed on the udders was just at 
the point where fluids placed on a clipped udder would collect by 
gravitation, and which, therefore, would remain wet longest. It 
is well known that repeated exposure of the skin in a wet con¬ 
dition to cold will produce an inflammatory condition. Exposure 
of the udder to cold is also one of the recognized causes of inflam¬ 
mation in that organ. Moreover, at the point where the skin al¬ 
terations were observed, the mucous membrane lining the cistern 
is only separated from the skin by a single layer of fibrous tissue 
and the subcutaneous and submucous connective tissue. 
