lht RURAL NEW-YORKER 
Ailing Aminals 
Answered by Dr. A. S. Alexander 
Garget 
We are milking 14 cows, mixed herd, 
and they are bothered with garget. Some¬ 
times only one and again three or four at 
a time. Milk from some of the cows is 
lumpy and from others just thick. We 
feed just as much silage as each cow will 
clean up readily, from one and one-half 
to three gallons of chop (two-thirds cob 
meal and one third oats), from one pint 
to one quart of cottonseed, a small hand¬ 
ful of salt, Soy-bean hay once a day 
and Alfalfa once a day. Stables are well 
bedded, and cows are turned out only once 
or twice in two or three weeks, when 
weather is exceptionally mild. We used 
a milking machine but have been milking 
by hand for two weeks and there has 
been no improvement. h. w. L. 
New York. 
In attempting to rid a herd of main- 
mitis or mastitis, popularly termed garget, 
it should be remembered that all severe 
cases, accompanied by fever, loss of ap¬ 
petite and lameness or stiffness are caused 
by germs (streptococci) and are there¬ 
fore infectious, if not contagious. It is 
therefore necessary to consider every cow 
that has a “spoiled” quarter of the udder 
as a possible “carrier” of the infection. 
Such a cow usually can be found in every 
herd that is now and then infected with 
the disease and should at once be elim¬ 
inated. The next important point is in¬ 
stantly to isolate any cow that has any¬ 
thing go wrong with her udder and keep 
her separate and milked by hand until 
perfectly recovered. She should be milked 
by one who does not handle the sound 
cows. Cleanse the udder and teats of 
every cow before milking and if a machine 
is used see that it is cleansed and sterilized 
strictly in the manner pi'escribed by the 
manufacturer. Catch all unsound milk 
in a pail containing a disinfecting solu¬ 
tion and then throw it out in a place to 
which cattle have not access. 
Have the veterinarian treat all cows by 
hypodermic injection of a mastitis bac- 
terin. In a large herd where cow after 
cow becomes infected it is best to have a 
bacterin prepared from the pus from an 
affected quarter. Such a bacterin is 
termed autogenic or autgenous and con¬ 
tains the elements specially antagonistic 
to the microorganism responsible for the 
attacks. Mixed infection bacterin, for 
mastitis, should be used for all chronic 
cases; streptococcic bacterin for the new 
cases, until an autogenic bacterin can be 
prepared. Consult your veterinarian ' 
about this important matter. 
Perfect recovery seldom if ever occurs 
When a quarter is attacked by strepto¬ 
coccic mastitis. The important matter is 
to prevent attacks and elimination of af¬ 
fected cows is necessary to that end. 
Then the stable should be cleansed, dis¬ 
infected and whitewashed, including the 
floors and gutters. Use a mixture of one 
part of compound cresol solution and 30 
parts of water as a disinfectant and also 
add one pound of fresh chlorid of lime 
to every three gallons of freshly made 
limewash. When a cow is attacked strip 
the udder clean once an hour during the 
day, persistently bathe it with hot water 
containing half a pound of Epsom salt 
per gallon, or poultice with hot anti- 
phlogistine in which mix a little turpen¬ 
tine and spirits of camphor, sprinkled 
on the surface. Twice daily rub into the 
affected quarters a mixture of equal 
quantities of c-arbolized oil, camphorated 
oil and compound soap liniment. The 
veterinarian may give internal treatment 
to lessen the fever at the start of the at¬ 
tack. in addition to treatment with bac¬ 
terin. 
Such drugs as powdered saltpeter and 
poke root, in one-half ounce doses once or 
twice daily, according to severity of case, 
are also useful in combating the attack. 
They are especially helpful in the simple 
case of mastitis not due to germ infection. 
Those are usually induced by chill, bruise, 
coming in heat, change of feed, indigestion 
or prolonged excessive feeding of protein- 
rich rations. Reduce such “strong” feed 
in all cases. A cow that is a “three 
teater,” from garget, and very valuable 
on account of pedigree or performance at 
the pail may be retained for breeding 
purposes and may be able to nurse her 
calf, but on no account should associate 
with the sound cows. A cow of that sort, 
no matter how handled, should always be 
considered a menace and it is therefore 
best to eliminate all such cows, unless 
in very exceptional cases. 
Death of Sheep 
Will you tell me what ails my sheep? 
I have had two die lately, and these are 
the symptoms: they appear to be all 
right, and then quickly they will turn 
their heads and stand and grit their 
teeth and quiver. If they start to walk 
will go sideways and fall right down. 
These attacks last about 10 minutes and 
then they seem to be all right and then 
another comes on and they soon die. 
New York. e. ii. 
When a sheep dies, it is always a good 
plan to open it and make a careful ex¬ 
amination. In that way one learns a 
lot about the different conditions that in¬ 
dicate health and disease and experience 
is learned that will be valuable in the 
future management of the flock. As a 
sheepman is usually a butcher of these 
animals he may also readily become ac¬ 
quainted with the natural or normal 
conditions to be seen in a healthy sheep 
and knowing that he is better able to de¬ 
tect departures from the normal and de¬ 
cide their significance. We think it 
likely that had you sawed the skull of 
one of the dead sheep open lengthwise 
you would have found gadfly grubs in 
the upper passages and sinuses. The 
grubs are the larvae of the sheep gadfly 
(Estrus ovis) and are deposited in the 
embryo stage, not as eggs as so many be¬ 
lieve. This may be prevented fairly well 
by keeping pine tar daubed upon the 
noses of sheep during fly time in Sum¬ 
mer. A good way to accomplish that is 
to bore some big augur holes in a 
squared log, fill the holes with salt and 
keep pine tar applied around the holes 
so that it will get on the nose when a 
sheep licks the salt. The grubs cause a 
great deal of irritation and are a com¬ 
mon cause of nasal discharge (catarrh) 
and chronic cough. They cause sheep to 
toss their heads, grit their teeth and stag¬ 
ger. It is very rare, however, for them 
to cause death, although that may occur 
when the sheep is weak and inadequately 
fed and the grubs are many. In most of 
the cases of the sort you describe, affect¬ 
ing ewes with lambs, we find grubs pres¬ 
ent and associated with them in the same 
animal may be nodular disease of the in¬ 
testines caused by the worm known as 
Esophagastoma columbianum. Little pea¬ 
like nodes or bunches are seen in the wall 
of the intestines and each contains the 
worm in its cystic form embedded in some 
greenish-yellow semi-dry pus and debris. 
There is no cure for the disease, nor does 
it necessarily cause death. In fact thou¬ 
sands of fine fat sheep are found affected 
when slaughtered in the great abattoirs 
of the cities. Grubs and nodular disease, 
however, along with disease of the liver 
causes the deaths so common at this time 
of the year and the latter disease, when 
occurring alone, is quite enough to prove 
fatal. It causes self-poisoning or auto¬ 
intoxication from absorption of poisonous 
substances or elements generated in the 
digestive organs. The liver disorder is 
brought on by constipation and that is 
induced by prolonged overfeeding on 
coarse, dry bulky roughage without roots 
or silage to regulate the bowels and ex¬ 
ercise to stimulate action of the excre¬ 
tory organs. An affected ewe that does 
not die may lamb all right but give pois¬ 
onous milk which kills her lamb. That 
we think, has occurred in your flock. In 
future make the ewes walk two or three 
miles every day to get their clover or Al¬ 
falfa hay scattered on a distant field and 
feed each of them two pounds of roots or 
silage daily in addition to oats and bran. 
Keep the bowels active at all time and 
the muscles in tone and there will be 
few losses to report, provided gadfly 
grubs are prevented and the sheep kept 
free from worms. 
A Cow Tester’s Comments 
It may be presumptious for me to com¬ 
ment on F. C. M.’s reply to our South 
Carolina friend’s questions on page 561, 
but to me the reply would be incomplete 
and rather unsatisfactory. In the first 
instance the average production of the 
dairy cow for the country at large is, ac¬ 
cording to A. J. Cramer, Supervisor of 
Cow Testing Association of Wisconsin, 
less than 4,000 lbs. It can readily be 
seen that the data on which such esti¬ 
mates are based are not absolutely relia¬ 
ble. But with the vast amount of cow 
testing in Wisconsin gives Mr. Cramer 
645 
ample opportunity for collecting data, 
making him an authority on dairy pro¬ 
duction. 
He says it is not unreasonable to ex¬ 
pect the Holstein, cow to produce 10.000 
lbs. of milk in a >ear, and adds that some 
have produced 30.000 lbs., and even 35,- 
000 lbs. Which is all true, but it is more 
than likely our South Carolina friend was 
inquiring about the practical dairy cow. 
No cow has ever given such production 
except when “conditioned” and handled 
to make an advanced registry record. 
During my experiences as a tester the 
highest producing Holstein cows have 
given, under very good dairy conditions, 
about 16,000 lbs. Du ring the last two 
years the cows producing the greatest 
amount were two or three grade Hol- 
steins, giving around 13,000 to 14.000 lbs. 
and about 480 lbs. of fat. No herd aver¬ 
aged 10,000 lbs. The highest herd aver¬ 
aged over 0,000 lbs. The average for the 
verious Holstein herds was around 8.000 
lbs.; the Jerseys less than 6.000 lbs. aver¬ 
age, and the Guernseys rather more, but 
will not average 7,000 lbs. 
It is quite true that where milk is sold 
on a flat rate the Holstein cow is the 
economical milk producer. But where 
milk is sold on a butter-fat test our rec¬ 
ords show that the Guernsey and Jersey 
cows are equally as profitable. F. C. M. 
states truly that butter-fat is not the only 
valuable constituent in milk. I infer 
from W. G.’s questions that he would like 
to have the relative value of milk based 
on the butter-fat content. The solids, not 
fat, are variable, but there are more of 
these in milk testing high in butter-fat 
■than in low-testing milk. 
Constituents of milk and relative food 
value, based on calories: 
Per cent of fat. 
3.0 
Solids not fat. 
8.3 
Total solids. 
11.3 
Calories . 
. 6041 
Relative price per quart. 
. 
13.8c 
Fat . 
3.5 
Solids not fat. 
8.5 
Total . 
12.0 
Calories . 
. 6574.6 
Fat . 
4.0 
Solids not fat. 
8.7 
Total . 
12.7 
Calories . 
. 710S 
Value per quart. 
16.2c 
Fat . 
4.5 
Solids not fat.. 
8.9 
Total . 
Calories . 
. 7642 
Value . 
17.4c 
Fat . 
5 0 
Solids not fat. 
9.1 
Total . 
14.1 
Calories . 
. 8176 
Value. 
18.6c 
Fat . 
5.5 
Solids not fat. 
9.3 
Total . 
14.8 
Calories . 
. 8703 
Value . 
19.8c 
Fat ... 
6.0 
Solids not fat. 
9.5 
Total . 
15.5 
Calories . 
. 9243 
Value. 
21c 
GEORGE II. DAWES. 
A Flock of Vermont Turkeys 
I enjoy reading the articles in The R. 
N.-Y. about turkeys. I send a picture of 
a part of my flock last Summer. 
This shows a flock of Narragansett tur¬ 
keys. I have raised turkeys for several 
years. Three years ago I sent to Ken¬ 
tucky for -a tom and three hens. They 
proved to be a good investment, as my 
poults have been much stronger since 
getting these turkeys. Last year I 
had a tom and eight hens for breeders, 
and 97 young turkeys. I had few losses 
last year except from hawks. They took 
15 of my happy family. 
I use both ipecac and oil of turpen¬ 
tine as preventives of diseases. I also 
keep my turkeys housed at night in large 
airy quarters, and keep them in on rainy 
days until well feathered, mrs. w. s. ii. 
So. Royalton, Vt. 
“What do you think of mud as a beau- 
tifier?” “Well, it hasn’t done much for 
the turtle.”—Judge. 
The Yoke Tractor on a Connecticut Farm 
This picture was taken last Spring on the farm of Joe C. Snow, who lives near the 
Connecticut Agricultural College. It shows a good pair of oxen. They may be slow, 
but they are sure. Many an ox driver, though, would handle the plow and at the 
same time keep the oxen going straight. 
A Vermont Woman's Turkeys 
