Cows are particularly liable to the accident of "slinking the calf." The
common causes of abortion are, the respiration and ultimate absorption
of emanations from putrid animal remains, over-feeding, derangement of
the stomach, &c. The filthy, stagnant water they are often compelled to
drink is likewise a serious cause, not only of abortion, but also of
general derangement of the animal functions. Dr. White, V. S., tells us
that "a farm in England had been given up three successive times in
consequence of the loss the owners sustained by abortion in their
cattle. At length the fourth proprietor, after suffering considerably in
losses occasioned by abortion in his stock, suspected that the water of
his ponds, which was extremely filthy, might be the cause of the
mischief. He therefore dug three wells upon his farm, and, having fenced
round the pond to prevent the cattle from drinking there, caused them to
be supplied with the well water, in stone troughs erected for the
purpose; and from this moment the evil was remedied, and the quality of
the butter and cheese made on his farm was greatly improved. In order to
show," says the same author, "that the accident of abortion may arise
from a vitiated state of the digestive organs, I will here notice a few
circumstances tending to corroborate this opinion. In 1782, all the cows
of the farmer D'Euruse, in Picardy, miscarried. The period at which they
warped was about the fourth or fifth month. The accident was attributed
to the excessive heat of the preceding summer; but, as the water they
were in the habit of drinking was extremely bad, and they had been kept
on oat, wheat, and rye straw, it appears to me more probable, that the
great quantity of straw they were obliged to eat, in order to obtain
sufficient nourishment, and the injury sustained by the third stomach in
expressing the fluid parts of the masticated or ruminated mass, together
with the large quantity of water they drank, while kept on this dry
food, were the real causes of the miscarriage.
"A farmer at Chariton, out of a dairy of twenty-eight cows, had sixteen
slip their calves at different periods of gestation. The summer had been
very dry; they had been pastured in a muddy place, which was flooded by
the Seine. Here the cows were generally up to their knees in mud and
water. In 1789, all the cows in a village near Mantes miscarried. All
the lands in this place were so stiff as to be, for some time,
impervious to water; and as a vast quantity of rain fell that year, the
pastures were for a time completely inundated, on which account the
grass became bad. This proves that keeping cows on food that is
deficient in nutritive properties, and difficult of digestion, is one of
the principal causes of miscarriage." Mr. Youatt says, "It is supposed
that the sight of a slipped calf, or the smell of putrid animal
substances, are apt to produce warping. Some curious cases of abortion,
which are worthy of notice, happened in the dairy of a French farmer.
For thirty years his cows had been subject to abortion. His cow-house
was large and well ventilated; his cows were in apparent health; they
were fed like others in the village; they drank the same water; there
was nothing different in the posture; he had changed his servants many
times in the course of thirty years; he pulled down the barn and
cow-house, and built another, on a different plan; he even, agreeably to
superstition, took away the aborted calf through the window, that the
curse of future abortion might not be entailed on the cow that passed
over the same threshold. To make all sure, he had broken through the
wall at the end of the cow-house, and opened a new door. But still the
trouble continued. Several of his cows had died in the act of abortion,
and he had replaced them by others; many had been sold, and their
vacancies filled up. He was advised to make a thorough change. This had
never occurred to him; but at once he saw the propriety of the counsel.
He sold every beast, and the pest was stayed, and never appeared in his
new stock. This was owing, probably, to sympathetic influence: the
result of such influence is as fatal as the direst contagion."
My own opinion of this disease is, that it is one of nervous origin;
that there is a loss of equilibrium between the nerves of voluntary and
involuntary motion. The direct causes of this pathological state exist
in any thing that can derange the organs of digestion. Great sympathy is
known to exist between the organs of generation and the stomach: if the
latter be deranged, the former feels a corresponding influence, and the
sympathetic nerves are the media by which the change takes place.
It invariably follows that, as soon as impregnation takes place, the
stomach from that moment takes on an irritable state, and is more
susceptible to the action of unfavorable agents. Thus the odor of putrid
substances cases nausea or relaxation when the animal is in a state of
pregnancy; otherwise, the same odor would not affect it in the least.
Professor Curtis says, "The nervous system constitutes the check lines
by which the vital spirit governs, as a coachman does his horses, the
whole motive apparatus of the animal economy; that every line, or
pencil, or ganglion of lines, in it, is antagonistic to some other line
or ganglion, so that, whenever the function of one is exalted, that of
some other is depressed. It follows, of course, that to equalize the
nervous action, and to sustain the equilibrium, is one of the most
important duties of the physician."
In addition to the causes of abortion already enumerated, we may add
violent exercise, jumping dikes or hedges, sudden frights, and blows or
bruises.
_Treatment._--When a cow has slipped her foetus, and appears in good
condition, the quantity of food usually given should be lessened. Give
the following drink every night for a week:--
Valerian, (herb,) 1 ounce.
Powdered skunk cabbage, 1 tea-spoonful.
Steep in half a gallon of boiling water. When cold, strain and
administer.
Suppose the animal to be in poor condition; then put her on a nourishing
diet, and give tonics and stimulants, as follows:--
Powdered gentian, 1 ounce.
" sassafras, 1 ounce.
Linseed or flaxseed, 1 pound.
Mix. Divide into six portions, and give one, night and morning, in the
food, which ought to consist of scalded meal and shorts. A sufficient
quantity of hay should be allowed; yet grass will be preferable, if the
season permits.
Suppose the animal to have received an injury; then rest and a scalded
diet are all that are necessary. As a means of prevention, see article
_Feeding_, page 17.