340 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
February 26, 1921 
Ailing Animals 
Answered by Dr. A. S. Alexander 
Hogs “Going Down Behind” 
It has always puzzled farmers to ac¬ 
count for some of their hogs losing the 
power of their hindquarters, and as this 
is the time of year when such cases are 
prevalent, some information on the sub¬ 
ject should prove valuable. 
There are several causes of such par¬ 
tial paralysis or paraplegia. One of the 
commonest, in our experience, is rickets 
(rachitis) which is similar to bowed legs 
of children, and an evidence of incomplete 
nutrition, or failure of the pig to make 
perfect use of the nutrients of its ration. 
The first cause may be called malnutri¬ 
tion and the second imperfect metabolism. 
Worms are a common contributory cause, 
as they prevent proper absorption, as¬ 
similation and chemical changes of food 
nutrients. 
The commoner causes, however, are the 
following: Insanitary housing which 
weakens the system by inducing impurity 
of the blood; lack of exercise which pre¬ 
vents purification of the blood and re¬ 
moval of waste matters by excretion ; in¬ 
sufficiency of milk, which contains one of 
the most requisite vitamines; failure to 
feed the leaves and stems of cereal or 
leguminous plants which contain another 
necessary vitamine. and deficiency in min¬ 
eral or earthy matters which go to build 
up strong bone. To these causes may be 
added hereditary tendency to rickets de¬ 
rived from inbred, pampered, under-exer¬ 
cised or inadequately or incorrectly fed 
ancestors. 
In cold climates where snow abounds 
it is difficult to enforce sufficient exercise, 
hence hogs are kept indoors too much. If 
at the same time growing pigs are not 
fed mixed rations, including milk, various 
grains and meals and also clover. Alfalfa, 
cow pea or Soy bean hay as roughage, 
rickets naturally occurs, or constipation 
ensues, and causes paralysis. Prolonged, 
excessive feeding of corn to growing ani¬ 
mals has long been recognized as a fer¬ 
tile cause of weak bones in pigs, and we 
have personally known of many instances 
where the weak thigh bones or shoulder 
blades of rickety pigs have broken during 
exercise and caused incurable inability 
to walk. 
To avoid weak bones and tendency to 
paralysis in young pigs we have to advise 
that only robust, strong-boned, active, 
non-akin boars and sows should be mated, 
and that throughout gestation the sow 
should be made to take daily exercise and 
allowed to help herself to legume hay. 
swine, but we have never been able to 
corroborate this idea by post-mortem ex¬ 
amination of affected hogs. Many hogs 
that appear perfectly healthy are found 
to harbor these worms, and we incline 
to the belief that where they are dis¬ 
covered in an affected hog they may be 
merely incidental, and not the true cause 
of the condition. We find, however, that 
Dr. ,T. W. Connaway, in Circular S6 of 
the Missouri College of Agriculture, on 
paralysis of the hindquarters in swine, 
cites these worms as a true cause of that 
condition when present in large numbers 
in the fatty tissues around the kidneys or 
in the kidneys themselves. lie believes 
that the worms produce inflammation and 
at times abscesses in the tissues where 
they lodge, and impair the function of the 
nerves of the region, by action of their 
poisonous products (toxins). 
When kidney worms are suspected Dr. 
Connaway advises external use of strong 
liniment and internal administration of 
turpentine, as follows: To a 200-lb. hog 
give a tablespoonful of pure turpentine in 
half a pint of raw linseed oil or cotton¬ 
seed oil or milk. The following worm 
remedy is also useful: Santonin, six 
grains, and calomel 4 grains to each 100 
lbs. of live weight, following a physic. 
Repeat the treatment in 10 days. 
Paralysis may also result from injuries 
to the back. In that event recovery may 
take place in time if the hog be given 
absolute rest, and light laxative slop, be¬ 
sides rubbing the loins with a stimulating 
liniment, such as a mixture of equal 
quantities of turpentine, aqua ammonia 
and cottonseed or linseed oil. 
When due to constipation and blocking 
of the rectum with hard feces, rectal in¬ 
jections of warm water containing pow¬ 
dered slippery elm bark, or soapy water 
and glycerine, should be given every three 
or four hours, after administering a two 
to four-ounce dose of Epsom or Glauber 
salts in warm water. Little pigs should 
have a dose of castor oil in milk. 
Lumbago from rheumatism is another 
possible cause. It may occur where hogs 
are allowed to bed in wet or damp places. 
Treat by giving a physic and rub lini¬ 
ment into the loins. In bad cases rub in 
oil of wintergreen and give five grains of 
salol every three hours. Aspirin in 10- 
grain doses may also prove beneficial. 
In our opinion there is another cause 
of paralysis not mentioned in the Missouri 
circular, which also omits rickets, and 
that is auto-intoxication or self-poisoning 
by toxins absorbed from the liver or in¬ 
testines. It is very similar to azoturia 
in a horse, affects adult hogs that have 
long been heavily fed on protein-rich ra¬ 
tions in the absence of exercise and are 
then turned out. It usually proves incur¬ 
able. but may be prevented by enforcing 
exercise daily, keeping the bowels active 
at all times and feeding balanced, laxative 
rations, including legume hay. A. S. A. 
Doses of Salts 
How big a dose of Epsom salts is re¬ 
quired for a cow, and how big for a 
house? M. M. K. 
The dose for a cow is one to two 
pounds, and for a horse 12 to 10 ounces. 
It is given in two to three pints of warm 
water, well sweetened with molasses, and 
should be administered very slowlv and 
carefully from a long-necked bottle, by 
way of the mouth. 
This photograph of Pabst 
Virginia Johanna was 
taken while she was dry. 
PABST VIRGINIA JOHANNA 
C A WORLD S 
Pabst Virginia Johanna, 
Junior two year old daugh¬ 
ter of King Pontiac Cham¬ 
pion has just completed a 
§05 days’ record of 15229.5 
lbs. of milk and 752.7 lbs. 
of butter, a world,'* ncord 
in this class. 
This promising heifer is 
one of over 110 daughters 
of the noted Century Sire 
in the splendid herd a t 
Pabst Stock Farm. Mr. 
FredPabst’s 135(racre farm 
at Oconomowoc,Wisconsin 
is a model of dairy farms, 
both in buildings and equip¬ 
ment—and in the magni¬ 
ficent herd of high produc¬ 
ing cows, developed under 
the personal management 
of owner, Mr. Fred Pabst. 
She should also be supplied with enough 
protein-rich tankage to balance any corn 
that is allowed her, besides roots or silage 
to regulate her bowels. If snow is so deep 
that outdoor exercise cannot well be taken, 
.shelled corn and whole oats may be scat¬ 
tered upon a big barn floor or clean swept 
ground, and covered with litter, in which 
the sow will root and so obtain exercise. 
When farrowing time comes the sow so 
fed and exercised will have little difficulty 
in bringing forth her pigs, and will have 
plenty of milk for their reception. After¬ 
ward she should occupy a clean colony 
house with her pigs on a succession of 
green grazing crops from early Spring 
until Autumn. 
This management will tend to prevent 
not only rickets in pigs, but that form of 
paralysis which commonly affects sows 
that have been nursing a big litter of 
pigs. Such sows that “go down behind ’ 
are weakened and made nervous by the 
drain and strain of nursing, and unless 
the pigs are weaned at once will be 
likely to die or* have to be destroyed. 
They are always pampered, overfed and 
under-exercised sows, and in many in¬ 
stances have become constipated from 
stuffing with corn. 
Weaning time is the next critical period 
for pigs. While grazing with their dams 
they should be prepared for this trying 
period by taking an abundance of mixed 
feed, especially milk slop and meals at 
first, and at all times should be allowed 
free access to slaked lime, wood ashes 
and wood or corncob charcoal. Intes¬ 
tinal worms should also be controlled by 
timely administration of the remedies that 
often have been prescribed here. 
It is quite commonly believed by farm¬ 
ers that kidney worms cause paralysis in 
A Junior 2 Year Old World’s Record Made 
on Pabst Stock Farm With a Pine Tree Milker 
One after another come reports of new records made by cows 
milked by the Pine Tree. 
State records, county records, now a WORLD’S record, and a 10-month 
record at that. A long trying test which called for every ounce of skill 
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most skilled herdsman, now put implicit faith in Pine Tree. 
Nearly 50 high producing Holsteins are milked 4 times daily by the 
Pine Tree in the great test barns at Pabst Stock Farm. For over 
two years, in 4-time-a-day service, Pine Tree has never failed. Read 
Mr. Pabst’s letter at the right. 
Think it over, Mr. Dairyman! What does the Pine Tree’s success in 
test milking mean to you? Maybe you’re not after records. But you are 
after more milk. Breeders like Mr. Pabst are taking no chances in 
milking for production records. Their is no guessing in their work. 
When they use Pine Tree in their test milking you can bet they are 
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final proof that Pine Tree also increases production. 
Read Mr. Pabst 9 s 
Letter 
Oconomowoc, Wis., Jan. 21,1921. 
Pine Tree Milking Machine Co. 
2843 W. 19th St., Chicago, Ill. 
Gentlemen: — 
I take great pleasure in stating that 
the Pine Tree has been in use here for 
about two years. It has given us ab¬ 
solutely no trouble, and has helped 
to do work which we could not have 
done at the time labor was scarce. 
We are using your machine on many 
of our test cows. Pabst Virginia 
Johanna, as a Junior 2-year old, made 
15229.5 lbs. of milk and 752.7 lbs. of 
butter in 305 days, which so far is the 
world’s record. Pabst Pontiac Aaggie 
made 25972.3 lbs. of milk and 1175 Ids. 
of butter in 365 days, being milked on 
your machine. Yours very truly, 
PABST STOCK FARM 
Fred Pabst 
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Dept. 3072, 110 Montgomery Street, Syracuse, N. Y. 
346 Washington Street 2843 West 19th Street. 319 Second Are. S. 
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