The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1907-05-27
COWS KILLED BY WIRE
CLIPPINGS N BALED HAY
Bulletin No. 1913, New Mexico College
of Agriculture and Mechanic
Arts and Agricultural Elk
neriroapf Sfafion

Arts and Agricultural Elk
pertinent Station.
Mr.. J.. A. Smith, of the FL Paso Dali
ry Co, reports having lost, during the
last three years, about forty milcn
cows as a result of feeding baled hay
which contains scraps of baling wire.
DR.. w. H. Harbaugh, of the U. S. De
partment of Agriculture, writing IN
der the title of Injury to the Hear
by Foreign Bodies" (See Special Re
port of Bureau of Animal Industry
1892 on Diseases of Cattle p. s9)
states as follows:
Cattle are addicted to the habit
of chewing and swallowing many OBJ
jects not intended by nature or man
as articles of food. Every veterinarian
of experience has met with instances
to remind him of this, and it is well
known to butchers. Among the great
variety of things hat have thus found
their way into the stomachs of cat
tie, the following have been noticed:
Gold finger-rings, knitting needles,
old shoes, table knives, wood leather,
pieces of wire, buttons, hairpins.
brushes, nails, coins, etc. The more
sharply-pointed objects often n
trate the wall of the stomach, gradu-
ally work their way toward the heart,
pierce the pericardium, wound the
heart, and prove fatal to the animal"
This article also contains a list OF
symptoms of this trouble. but lack of
space forbids one quoting further.
Mr.. Smith states that considerable
more than 80 per cent of the deaths
in his hero are caused by this wire
trouble, as shown by post mortems.
That the cause is invariably wire
scraps in mis- case, is shown from the
fact that in each of about IA post
mortems where careful search was
made. a scrap of baling wire ranging
from three to seven inches long was
found actually piercing, or in the i'm
mediate neighborhood of the heart.
Tracing back along the path travers
ed by these wires, Mr.. H. r. Blair.
veterinarian in charge of the herd,
finds that these wires invariably
come from the stomach. Thus Mr..
Blair has again proven the well
known fact that scraps of metal swal-
lowed by cows, frequently find their
way to the pe~ricardium and cause
death.
How Wire Scraps Get Into the Hay.
Until quite recently it seems to
beer the general idea with dali
rymen where there was an idea at all
on the subject, that the scraps of
wire became mixed with the hay at
the lIHle the Ddfe was Open0u- II was
supposed hat the wire might some
times be accidentally cut inside the
tie in such a way as to cut off a very
snort piece which dropped into the
hay. This occurrence, however, would
surely be seldom, and even when it
did occur, the wire would be on the
outside of the flake, and s would
generally drop off before reaching the
hanger. Moreover, the Ell Paso Dairy
Co. has been very careful during the
past year in seeing to it that their
men cut the wires far from the tie,
aid hat they take care of wire re-
moved; yet they have been unable
to decrease the loss of cows.
According to the observations of
the writer, about one-haH the men
who do the tying at the hay baler clip
of short scraps of wire SO a. to re-
luce to a convenient length for
tying. These clippings of wire be-
come mixed with alfalfa leaves AID
hay under the tiers feet and are
then fed into the baler as hay. Now,
are extremely fond of these
and SO likely gulp them down
wires and all. considering the wires. |