Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1880-02-25
VERMONT wATCHMAN WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY
Consnmntion Among the Cows.

Quite sensation has been stirred up in
Massachusetts, by charge which has been
brought against the agricultural college oil
that state of having sold a number Of cows
that were in diseased state at the time OF
the sale. The enemies of the college and Of
agricultural education have eagerly taken'
hold of this charge and trumpeted 1t about
the state with much,exultation and consid-
cradle misrepresentation. The facts as
brought out seem to show that few OF the
many blooded cattle sold from that institu-
ton were possibly, when sold, in the early
stages of lung disease but not shadow Of
evidence is produced to show that any person
connected with the college was aware of the
existence of disease in the cattle at the time
of sale. In the case of the principal ac-
cuser, Mr.. Paige, it was shown, and finally
admitted, that two years after he purchased
the cows Of the college they were shown at
the Atbol and Barre fairs and took premi-
ums there. That they finally did die of con-
sumption is not doubted, but that they were
diseased when they left the college farm not
probable. Even If they were in the early
stages of the complaint at that time, no one
but an experienced veterinary surgeon could
have detected it, and he only by careful
examination.
We call the attention Of our readers to
the matter, however, not merely as piece of
agricultural news, but to draw their atten-
ton to the fact that highly bred and closely
housed cattle have strong tendency to con-
sumption of the lungs. This fact bids us
beware of buying that class of stock, and is
also warning against a too artificial and
stimulating treatment of dairy COWS. On
the majority of farms there is little dan
ger of this. Most of the cows that die in
New England never had chance to die of
overlooking, or too much care. In recent
lecture upon the subject, Professor Cressy
says when a COW has bad cough, so
that she can't be driven far without cough
ing, it is pretty good sign that she has
deposit of tubercule somewhere that is harm
ing her. She has not learned the American
art of splitting, and so after partly rails
ing the matter she has TO re-swallow it.
The disease may be caught by ingestion,
when the matter is taken into the stomach,
and by incubation, when it is taken into
the blood. Dairy cows which are fed SO as
to get as much milk from them as possible
are the most liable to the disease, because
20 much oily matter is drawn off from the
system in the milk. There are predisposing
and exciting causes to the disease, which
is most likely to be found in lighthaired
animals having narrow chests and small
bellies, and which are light eaters. The
hereditary cause may be direct or indirect,
as the disease is often transmitted from one
generation to the next, and sometimes the
second generation proves perfect, while the
third is tainted with the malady. In-and-in
breeding is apt to result in tuberculosis, and
any breed may be afflicted with it, although
no cases had been reported in this country
among Ayrshires, as far as is known, until
Mr.. Paige asserted that the three heifers he
bought at Amherst have had it," DIR.
Cressy says that it is contagious to certain
extent and that we'll animal may take it
when placed in the same stall where sick
creature has been stalled, or it may pass
from one animal to another when they have
their noses together. The disease is very
insidious, and an animal who has it may
keep in pretty good flesh for long time.
But the milk becomes unfit for use long be-
fore the creature would be condemned for
beef. Unless the animal is very much
wasted away before being slaughtered, the
leshy parts which are more commonly eaten
will not be infected and when thoroughly
cooked there is little danger that any harm
will come to those who eat them. But the
lungs and liver should be avoided. London
journals were quoted to show that fifty per
cent of the beef in that market might well
be condemned because of this disease, and
special reference was made to its prevalence
in New York city. Warm and well-lighted
stables, whose vicinity is free from pools of
standing water, good feed and care will do
much to prevent tuberculosis, but there is
no cure for it any more than for consump-
ton in the human race.
The practice of keeping cows up a long
time together in illventilated stables, and of
pushing them to give milk from calving to
calving, by high and stimulating feed, is I'M
doubtedly very injurious to their constitu-
tons, and to the constitutions of their off
spring. Mr.. Douglas, in his lectures on
dairying, has always insisted on the import
ance of good ventilation in the stables, of
turning the cows into the yard whenever
the weather is pleasant during the winter,
and of drying them off two months before
calving. With these precautions we be-
ieve that cows will rarely if ever become
diseased, no matter how well they may be
| fed, or how much milk and butter they may
nroduce