The Ward County independent. [volume] (Minot, Ward County, N.D.) 1902-1965, 1915-03-04
INFECTIOUS ABORTION.

meeting Of the state Dairymen's As
ISOLATION. We print the paper in full,
believing that it will be interesting
and profitable to our farmer readers
generally:
Abortion is the term used for the
expulsion of the offspring before it
can live out of the womb.
Its expulsion after it is capable of
independent existence is premature
partruition.
Dairymen use the term abortion for
the expulsion Of the products of con-
ception at any time before the compile
ton of normal pregnancy, and it is
in this sense it will be employed in
this paper.
Abortion in cows may be contagious
or non-contagious; it therefore fol-
lows that abortion is not always the
result of the bacillus abortus.
It is we'll known that the organized
germs Of contagion vary much in their
potency at different times, and the an
1mal system also varies in suscepta-
bility to their attack.
The germ Of contagion may be
present in herd without apparent in
jury, its disease producing power hav-
ing for the time abated considerably,
or the whole herd being in condition
of comparative insusceptability.
At times the germ may be so viru-
lent that almost all pregnant cows
may abort, or the herd may have been
subjected to other causes of abortion,
though of themselves powerless to
cause abortion, may yet so predispose
the animals, that even the less viru-
lent germ will bring about the expul-
sion of the fetus.
It would appear therefore wise not
to be satisfied with the discovery and
removal of one specific cause, but
rather to endeavor to find all the ex-
listing causes and secure a remedy by
correcting these conditions.
Causes of denominations Abortion.
AS abortion frequently occurs at
those intervals when cow would have
been in heat if non-pregnant, we may
assume a predisposition due to per-
iod in the nervous system and func-
tions.
Weakness and poor condition is Of
ten a predisposing cause. This may
result from poor, insufficient food,
from excessive drain upon the udder
while pregnant, from the use Of food
deficient in certain essential elements,
like heterogeneous constituents or albu-
minoids, from worms in the bowels,
from damp, dark, unhealthy buildings,
etc. In some cases the nourishment is
so deficient that the fetus dies and is
expelled from the womb.
Acute inflammation of important
organs, chronic disease of abdominal
organs, especially those that cause
bloating or diarrhoea, or disease of
the ovaries, kidneys or bladder are
fertile sources of abortion.
Indigestions of all kinds are espec-
tally dangerous, as they are usually
associated with over-distention Of the
first stomach or paunch, with gas.
As this stomach lies to the left side
and beneath the womb, any disorder,
and especially excessive distention Of
this organ, presses upon the womb
and it's contents dangerously.
Hence all that tends to produce in
digestion should be guarded against.
Privation of water, which hinders
rumination; ice cold water, which
rouses the womb to contraction, and
the calf to vigorous movement should
be avoided.
Stagnant water is injurious to both
dam and fetus and abortions have
been traced to this cause, and have
ceased when pure water was supplied.
Ergotted grasses, smut on grains,
common in some localities, are fire.
quent causes of abortion.
The riding of one another by cows
causes much muscular exertion, men
tai excitement and the gravitation of
the womb and abdominal organs
backward, may tend to bring on abor-
ton in predisposed animals.
Keeping cows in stalls that slope
too much behind, acts in the same
way, the compression due to lying
and the gravitation backward proving
more than predisposed cow can safe
~ bear.
Deep cutters behind stalls into which
cows unexpectedly slip, especially with
10th hind feet, cause injuries and dan
gerous strains.
Contagious Abortion.
Definition: Contagious abortion OF
cattle is specific infectious disease
produced by the bacillus abortus OF
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