Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1901-10-21
OUR FARMERS.
CAUSE AND PREVENTION OF
ABORTION in cows.

causes, for under the first head of
| sporadic abortion it may be caused by
injury; by disease of the organs of the
body; by unwholesome food or water;
| by impure air; or overexertion; by
breeding of immature animals; by ac-
cess to blood or slaughter house re-
/ fuse, or dead animals, or by eating
ergotised grass or grain. These two
last may, perhaps, have been included
under the head of unwholesome food
and fright.
AS the better the COW the more
nervous her temperament, it is such
COWS that most frequently abort from
the above causes, and so far as possible
they should be avoided. When such
a case occurs the COW should be at
once separated from the others and
all traces of the abortion and the dis
charges removed and buried, or still
better if they are burned. Then the
premises should be disinfected by using
in stables and elsewhere that she has
been solution of sulp hate of copper,
chloride of lime Or carbolic acid: one
in fifty parts of water may be employ
ed. The more freely this is used the
better. For sponging the COWS the
following solution may be used: Cor
rosive sublimate 215 drains, hydro
chloric acid 215 ounces, water two
gallons. 1t is important to note that
this solution is highly dangerous.
The above is the treatment advised
by the Royal Agricultural society of
England. The sponging referred to
should be of all the hind parts on
which the discharges may get, and
they continue, as also should the use
of disinfectants in the stables where
she is. 1t will be noticed that they
do not advise internal remedies, while
Professor Law half ounce
doses of chlorate of potassia, daily, to
every COW in the herd where abortion
has occurred, with lower diet and an
occasional mild laxative. When run
down by poor feeding or by early
breeding, and feeding for milk (forc-
sulphate of iron, phosphate of soda.
When premonitory symptoms of
abortion appear, pat the COW in a
quiet, insulated place, and give laud-
anum in large and repeated doses;
half dram at time.
But while such treatment may pre-
vent the spread of the trouble in a
herd, there is true contagious
abortion caused by a germ, or micro
scopic vegetable parasite, which is
easily transferred from one animal to
another, and less easily checked. In |
severe cases, iG has been known to go |
through the entire here and to occur |
for two or three years in succession,
and appear even after every animal |
had been killed and a new herd |
brought upon the place; but we think |
in such cases the disinfection could |
not have been thorough, or from |
some cause the grass in the pasture or |
the hay had become badly ergotized. |
Feeding oats or oat hay that was bad
" smutted has been known to cause |
it when fed freely.
While We would strive in all cases |
to discover and remove every one of |
the above named possible causes, yet |
if it went through the herd, we would
dispose of every animal and perhaps |
remove all the interior fittings of the
stable if We had not confidence in the
powers Of the disinfectants when
freely used
Another thing should be attended
to. A COW which has aborted once
should not be bred again for some
months, and if not a very valuable
one, not at all but killed. She may be
fattened for beef if she will fatten
readily, as the meat is not injured,
but if the cause rs from any internal
disease of liver, stomach or bowles, it
may be economy to kill and bury her
at once. If she is bred again the bull
that serves her should not be allowed
afterward to mate with other COWS.
The causes of this trouble are now
much better known than they were
twenty years ago, and consequently
it is easier to guard against it and to
prevent it's spread if proper pre-
cautions are taken.-Mdssachuse