Colorado Experiment Station 
7 
If the animals can he gotten to a place where they can receive 
daily care, then treatment should be tried as follows: 
• Keep them quiet, do not excite them any more than abso¬ 
lutely necessary. Give them plenty of water and hay, prefer¬ 
ably alfalfa. Drench them daily with a teaspoonful of fluid 
extract of digitalis for adult animals and ten drops for young 
calves. The medicine can be put into a few ounces of water. 
This treatment can be kept up for two or three weeks, when 
it should be discontinued for a time. This suggested treat¬ 
ment is not given with’ the expectation that many animals will 
be saved by it, but only that it may be tried where it is im¬ 
practicable to get the animals to a lower altitude. Such ani¬ 
mals, even if they recover, should be shipped out at the first 
convenient opportunity. 
PREVENTION 
Since the disease is far more prevalent in cattle shipped 
in fiom low altitudes than in natives, it would seem only wise 
that importations be somewhat curtailed or, if practiced, that 
the animals be brought more gradually to the extreme alti¬ 
tudes. 
Since extreme exertion on first arrival at the higher level 
seems to play a part, more care should be taken in the han¬ 
dling of the animals during the first few weeks to see that they 
are not subjected to long, hard drives. Realizing that these 
. } suallj w lid, we are aware of the difficulty in 
complying with this suggestion. 
The practice of buying pure-bred bulls from low altitudes, 
while praiseworthy in its intent, seems to be responsible for 
some of the difficulty. Not only do the bulls themselves in 
many instances die of the disease after some months residence 
under the new conditions, but their calves appear to be much 
more susceptible than calves sired by native bulls. In order 
fo reduce this source of trouble it is recommended that bulls 
fe purchased from altitudes more nearly approaching that at 
which they are to be used. We believe that this practice, if 
followed, would do much toward eliminating the disease. The 
idea is to breed a more vigorous animal that can stand the 
unusual conditions incident to a high altitude. Finally, it may 
become necessary to abandon some of the higher ranges, 
especially during cold and woi summers. Since the disease 
bas not been seen in sheep, it may be possible to range these 
animals at the higher levels where the cattle do not thrive. 
