The Glasgow courier. [volume] (Glasgow, Mont.) 1913-current, 1917-01-26
TREASURE STATE FARM AND LIVESTOCK
INCREASING LOSS
DUE TO ABORTION

IN SOME LOCALITIES LASTS
SPRING VIRTUALLY WHOLE
CROP OF CALVES LOST.
Only for Year or Two Has True Ma
ture of Disease Been Understood;
No Satisfactory Treatment Yet De-
vised for Treatment of Whole
Herd; Many Use Carbolic Acid.
In the spring of 1916 there were
greater losses from abortion among
cattle in Montana than have ever
occurred before. In some localities
virtually the whole crop of calves
was lost. It is hard to say what
caused this wholesale abortion. No
doubt some of it was due, directly or
Indirectly, to the terrific winter
which preceded and some of it was
due to insufficient or improper feed,
but it is very probable that a large
percentage of the abortion was
caused by the disease of contagious
abortion, which is getting a firm hold
ON the whole country.
Montana stOckmen should become
familiar with this disease, with just
what it is, and the few treatments
that have been found for its control,
so that should it become prevalent
this spring again they may be able to
meet the problem intelligently.
Abortion Only One Symptom.
Only for the last year or two
have we been able to understand the
true nature Of this disease. We know
now that abortion, or "slinking of
calf" or the birth of the young be-
fore it's full time, is only one of a
number of symptoms of the disease.
Barrenness, or sterility, retained aft
erbirth. pus infection of the uterus,
etc., are other evidences of the pres
ence of contagious abortion.
OF course, abortions are produced
by many other causes, such as acct
dents, feed, etc., but it is impossiple
for anyone to tell one of these abor-
tons from an abortion due to dis
ease. BY an examination of the
blood at some laboratory, a diagnosis
can be made, but in no other way.
When abortions occur in a herd, not
just for a few days, but scattered
along for several months, we can be
reasonably sure that contagious
abortion is the cause.
Spread by Diseased Cow.
The disease is spread principally
by the diseased cow. A COW which
has aborted nee may or may not
abort again, the majority of cows be-
ing immune after one or two abor-
tons. But she continues to carry
and spread the disease, though pro-
ducing healthy and normal calves,
and herself normal and healthy in
appearance.
Very frequently a COW, after abor-
ton, becomes sterile and very little
can be done to remedy it. The trou-
BILE is usually located in the ovaries.
and cannot be reached by external
treatment or douches, disinfectants
or the like. After they have been
. bred a number of times and do not
conceive, they may as we'll be fat
tened and sold for beef.
When a COW abOrts, especially II
in or around the barn, the fetus anC
= all it's membranes, together with al
bedding, should be burned or buried
and the ground or floor carefully dis
. infected.
Aborting Cow Should Be Isolated.
The aborting COW should be a
once removed from the herd ant
kept isolated until all signs of infec
u tion and discharge have disappeared
The uterus of this COW should be ir
rigated daily with a weak d~isinfect
ant (lysol, one ounce to a gallon o
ro%nr NV, r,otocci1,no norm q n 90 n q tQ
one part to 1000 parts of water)
y daily, until all discharge has dis
u will very likely be sterile. Sh
y should not be bred for two or tire
months after an abortion. Such
COW should by no mean be sold. TIL
chances for her to produce a norma
> calf are as good as for any COW in tn
herd.
The bull may serve as a carrier c
H. the disease, and after service with a
p aborting COW, should be disinfecte
- by means of a two ounce syringe an
e. some such disinfectant as give
above.
Sc The treatment of the whole herd
d. quite a problem, and no entirely sa
y isfaetory scheme has yet been d
! vised. The carbolic acid treatmel
u has been used by a great many stool
men in the state, with fairly good r
~ suits. The %carbolic acid, in a TO,
per cen solution, is given either
Or doses of 10 cubic centimeters week
with a hypodermic syringe, under tt
es skin, or is fed daily in two or thr'
ounce doses in the grain. RAM
Vi cattle have been fed carbolic in the
.. salt, with some success. This
ls not a specific, nor a sure cure. b
~ it is worth trying.
H. Loan Associations Formed.
o.. The Hamilton Farm Loan associ