_Symptoms._--The symptoms are dullness, indisposition to mov_Special report on diseases of cattle

eructations of gas from the stomach, sour breath, entire loss of appetite,

lying down and rising as if in pain, fullness of the abdomen, which gives

out a drumlike sound when tapped with the fingers.

The costiveness may be marked at first, but soon it gives place to

diarrhea, by which the offensive matters may be carried off and health

restored. In other cases it becomes aggravated, merges into inflammation of

the bowels, fever sets in, and the calf gradually sinks.

_Prevention._--Prevention consists in avoiding the causes enumerated above

or any others that may be detected.

_Treatment._--Treatment consists in first clearing away the irritant

present in the bowels. For this purpose 1 or 2 ounces of castor oil with 20

drops of laudanum may be given, and if the sour eructations are marked a

tablespoonful of limewater or one-fourth ounce calcined magnesia may be

given and repeated two or three times a day. If the disorder continues

after the removal of the irritant, a large tablespoonful of rennet, or 30

grains of pepsin, may be given at each meal along with a teaspoonful of

tincture of gentian. Any return of constipation must be treated by

injections of warm water and soap, while the persistence of diarrhea must

be met as advised under the discussion following this. In case of the

formation of loose hair balls inclosing milk undergoing putrid

fermentation, temporary benefit may be obtained by giving a tablespoonful

of vegetable charcoal three or four times a day, but the only real remedy

is to cut the paunch open and extract them. At this early age they may be

found in the third or even the fourth stomach; in the adult they are

confined to the first two and are comparatively harmless.

DIARRHEA (SCOURING) IN CALVES (SIMPLE AND CONTAGIOUS).

As stated in the last article, scouring is a common result of indigestion,

and at first may be nothing more than an attempt of nature to relieve the

stomach and bowels of offensive and irritating contents. As the indigestion

persists, however, the fermentations going on in the undigested masses

become steadily more complex and active, and what was at first the mere

result of irritation or suspended digestion comes to be a genuine

contagious disease, in which the organized ferments (bacteria) propagate

the affection from animal to animal and from herd to herd. More than once I

have seen such epizootic diarrhea start on the headwaters of a creek and,

traveling along that stream, follow the watershed and attack the herds

supplied with water from the contaminated channel. In the same way the

disease, once started in a cow stable, is liable to persist for years, or

until the building has been thoroughly cleansed and disinfected. It may be

carried into a healthy stable by the introduction of a cow brought from an

infected stable when she is closely approaching calving. Another method of

its introduction is by the purchase of a calf from a herd where the

infection exists.

In enumerating the other causes of this disease we may refer to those noted

above as inducing indigestion. As a primary consideration any condition

which lowers the vitality or vigor of the calf must be accorded a prominent

place among factors which, apart from contagion, contribute to start the

disease de novo. Other things being equal, the strong, vigorous races are

the least predisposed to the malady, and in this respect the compact form,

the healthy coat, the clear eye, and the bold, active carriage are

desirable. Even the color of the hair is not unimportant, as in the same

herd I have found a far greater number of victims among the light colors

(light yellow, light brown) than among those of a darker tint. This

constitutional predisposition to indigestion and diarrhea is sometimes

fostered by too close breeding, without taking due account of the

maintenance of a robust constitution; hence animals that are very much

inbred need to be especially observed and cared for unless their inherent

vigor has been thoroughly attested.

The surroundings of the calf are powerful influences. Calves kept indoors

suffer to a greater extent than those running in the open air and having

the invigorating influences of sunshine, pure air, and exercise; close,

crowded, filthy, bad-smelling buildings are especially causative of the

complaint. The presence in the air of carbon dioxid, the product of

breathing, and of the fetid, gaseous products of decomposing dung and urine

diminish by about one-fourth of their volume the life-giving oxygen and in

the same ratio hinder the aeration of the blood and the maintenance of

vigorous health. Worse than this, such fetid gases are usually direct

poisons to the animal breathing them; for example, sulphureted hydrogen

(hydrogen sulphid 2 SH_{2}) and various alkaloids (ptomaines) and toxins

(neutral poisonous principles) produced in the filth fermentations. These

lower the general health and stamina, impair digestion, and by leading to

the accumulation in stomach and bowels of undigested materials they lay the

foundation for offensive fermentations within these organs and consequent

irritation, poisoning, and diarrhea. They further weaken the system so that

it can no longer resist and overcome the trouble.

The condition of the nursing cow and her milk is another potent cause of

trouble. The feed of the cow is important. The influence of this is shown

in the following tables:

_Influence of feed on milk._ (_From Becquerel and Vernois._)

+--------------------------+--------+----------+--------+--------+--------+

+--------------------------+--------+----------+--------+--------+--------+

| |in 1,000_ in 1,000_|in 1,000_in 1,000_in 1,000_

| water, 2 buckets | 871.26 | 47.81 | 33.47 | 42.07 | 5.34

| 2 buckets water | 859.56 | 54.70 | 36.38 | 42.76 | 6.80

| On straw and trefoil | 858.68 | 47.38 | 35.47 | 52.54 | 5.93

| On beets | 888.77 | 33.81 | 38.02 | 33.68 | 5.72

|Normal mean | 844.90 | 35.14 | 36.90 | 56.87 | 6.18

| | | | | |

+--------------------------+--------+----------+--------+--------+--------+

In these examples the deterioration of the milk in casein on the less

nutritious winter feeding is very marked, although the relative quantity of

butter remains almost unchanged. In the case of the goat the result is even

more striking, the beet diet giving a very large decrease of both casein

and butter and an increase of milk sugar.

The second table following, condensed from the Iowa Agricultural Experiment

Station Bulletin, gives the results in butter and total solids when the

same cows were fed on different rations in succession. Each cow was fed a

daily ration of 12 pounds corn fodder and 4 pounds clover hay, besides the

test diet of (1) 12-1/4 pounds corn-and-cob meal, and (2) 10 pounds sugar

meal--a product of the glucose manufacture. This special feed was given

seven days before the commencement of each test period to obviate the

effects of transition. The analyses of the special rations are given below:

_Analyses of special rations._

------------------------------+--------------+-----------+

Constituents. | Corn-and-cob | Sugar |

| meal. | meal. |

------------------------------+--------------+-----------+

| _Per cent._ |_Per cent._|

Moisture | 13.37 | 6.10 |

Salts | 1.43 | 1.17 |

Fat | 2.81 | 11.16 |

Carbohydrates (heat formers). | 65.99 | 52.66 |

Woody fiber | 8.03 | 8.64 |

Proteids (flesh formers) | 8.37 | 20.27 |

------------------------------+--------------+-----------+

The great excess of fat and nitrogenous or flesh-forming principles in the

sugar meal is very evident.

_Influence of feed on milk._ (_Iowa station._)

------------------------+-------+----+-------+------+-------+------------

------------------------+-------+----+-------+------+-------+------------

_Pounds__Pct_| _Pct_ _Pounds_Pounds_|

corn-and-cob meal | 631.25|3.43| 11.57 |21.67 | 73.02 |422.0:1,000

sugar meal | 641.50|4.04| 12.53 |25.93 | 83.38 |476.2:1,000

corn-and-cob meal | 559.00|3.22| 11.86 |17.97 | 66.32 |371.7:1,000

corn-and-cob meal | 604.75|3.57| 11.95 |21.56 | 72.28 |425.1:1,000

sugar meal | 582.00|3.91| 12.37 |22.74 | 72.57 |456.3:1,000

corn-and-cob meal | 527.00|3.37| 12.05 |17.78 | 63.48 |389.1:1,000

sugar meal | 753.50|3.97| 12.43 |29.94 | 93.67 |469.8:1,000

corn-and-cob meal | 601.50|3.15| 11.45 |18.97 | 68.89 |380.0:1,000

sugar meal | 560.50|3.85| 12.16 |21.58 | 68.16 |463.3:1,000

sugar meal | 487.50|4.15| 13.27 |20.25 | 64.69 |455.6:1,000

corn-and-cob meal | 379.00|3.51| 12.69 |13.30 | 48.09 |382.3:1,000

sugar meal | 374.50|3.72| 13.01 |13.95 | 48.74 |401.0:1,000

------------------------+-------+----+-------+------+-------+------------

Here we see in every instance a marked relative increase of the butter, and

to a less extent of the other milk solids whenever the sugar meal--rich in

fat and albuminoids--was furnished. The opposite theory having been largely

taught, it becomes needful thus to sustain the old and well-founded belief

of the dairymen.

Not only does the richness of the milk vary with the nature of the food,

but it varies also according to the time of the day when it is drawn, the

morning milk giving 7-1/2 per cent of cream and the evening milk 9-1/2 per

cent (Hassall). Boedecker found that the morning milk had 10 per cent of

solids, while the evening milk had 13 per cent. Again, the milk first drawn

at any milking is always poorer than the last drawn. The first may have

only one-half, or in extreme cases one-fourth, the cream of the last. Once

more, when the cow is in heat the milk becomes richer in solids (casein and

butter), and contains granular and white blood cells like the colostrum,

and often disagrees with the young animal living on it. Now, while these

various modifications in the amount of solid matters may prove harmless to

a strong and vigorous calf, they can easily be the occasion of intestinal

disorder in a weaker one, or in one with health already somewhat impaired

by sickness, exposure, or unwholesome buildings. The casein of the cow's

milk coagulates in one solid mass, and is much less easily penetrated by

the digesting fluids than the fine, flaky coagula of woman's or mare's

milk. An excess of casein, therefore, thrown on an already overtaxed

stomach can all the more readily induce disorder. So it is with butter fat.

While a most important element in nutrition, it may be present in the

stomach in such quantity as to interfere with the action of the gastric

juice on the casein, and with the interruption of the natural stomach

digestion the fats themselves undergo decomposition with the production of

offensive and irritating fatty acids.

The milk of the very young cow is usually more watery than that of the

mature animal, and that of the old cow has a greater liability to become

acid. It varies much with the breed, the Channel Island cattle being

notorious for the relatively large quantity of cream, while the Holsteins,

Ayrshires, and Shorthorns are remarkable rather for the quantity of casein.

The milk of cows fed on potatoes and grass is very poor and watery; that

from cows fed on cabbage or Swedish turnips has a disagreeable taste and

odor (from the former an offensive liquid has been distilled).

Cows fed on overkept, fermented, and soured rations have acid milk, which

readily turns and coagulates. Thus old, long-kept brewer's grains, swill,

the refuse of glucose factories, and ensilage which has been put up too

green all act in this way. The same may come from disease in the cow's

udder, or any general disease of the cow with attendant fever, and in all

such cases the tendency is to rapid change and unwholesomeness. If the milk

is drawn and fed from a pail, there is the added danger of all sorts of

poisonous ferments getting into it and multiplying; it may be from the

imperfect cleansing and scalding of the pail; from rinsing the pails with

water that is impure; from the entrance of bacterial ferments floating in

the filthy atmosphere of the stable, or from the entrance of the volatile

chemical products of fermentation.

In addition to the dangers coming through the milk, the calf suffers in its

digestive powers from any temporary illness, and among others from the

excitement attendant on the cutting of teeth, and impaired digestion means

fermentations in the undigested masses and the excessive production of

poisonous ptomaines and toxins.

Whatever may be the starting or predisposing cause of this malady, when

once established it is liable to perpetuate itself by contagion and to

prove a veritable plague in a herd or a district.

_Symptoms._--The symptoms of a diarrhea may appear so promptly after birth

as to lead to the idea that the cause already existed in the body of the

calf, and it usually shows itself before the end of the second week. It may

be preceded by constipation, as in retained meconium, or by fetid

eructations and colicky pains, as in acute indigestion. The tail is stained

by the liquid dejections, which are at first simply soft and mixed with

mucus with a sour odor, accompanied with a peculiar and characteristic

fetor (suggesting rotten cheese), which continually grows worse. The

quantity of water and mucus steadily increases, the normal predominance of

fatty matters becoming modified by the presence of considerable undigested

casein, which is not present in the normal feces, and in acute cases death

may result in one or two days from the combined drain on the system and the

poisoning by the absorbed products of the decomposition in the stomach and

bowels. When the case is prolonged the passages, at first 5 or 6 a day,

increase to 15 or 20, and pass with more and more straining, so that they

are projected from the animal in a liquid stream. The color of the feces,

at first yellow, becomes a lighter grayish yellow or a dirty white (hence

the name white scour), and the fetor becomes intolerable.

At first the calf retains its appetite, but as the severity of the disease

increases the animal shows less and less disposition to suck, and has lost

all vivacity, lying dull and listless, and, when raised, walking weakly and

unsteadily. Flesh is lost rapidly, the hair stands erect, the skin gets dry

and scurfy, the nose is dry and hot, or this condition alternates with a

moist and cool one. By this time the mouth and skin, as well as the breath

and dung, exhale the peculiar, penetrating, sour, offensive odor, and the

poor calf has become an object of disgust to all that approach it. At

first, and unless inflammation of the stomach and bowels supervenes (and

unless the affection has started in indigestion and colic), the belly is

not bloated or painful on pressure, symptoms of acute colicky pains are

absent, and the bowels do not rumble; neither are bubbles of gas mingled

with the feces. The irritant products of the intestinal fermentations may,

however, irritate and excoriate the skin around the anus, which becomes

red, raw, and broken out in sores for some distance. Similarly the rectum,

exposed by reason of the relaxed condition of the anus, or temporarily in

straining to pass the liquid dejection, is of a more or less deep red, and

it may be ulcerated. Fever, with rapid pulse and increased breathing and

temperature, usually comes on with the very fetid character of the feces

and is more pronounced as the bowels become inflamed, the abdomen sore to

the touch and tucked up, and the feces more watery and even mixed with

blood.

_Prevention._--The prevention of these cases is the prevention of

constipation and indigestion, with all their varied causes as above

enumerated, the selection of a strong, vigorous stock, and, above all, the

combating of contagion, especially in the separation of the sick from the

healthy, and in the thorough purification and disinfection of the

buildings. The cleansing and sweetening of all drains, the removal of dung

heaps, and the washing and scraping of floors and walls, followed by a

liberal application of chlorid of lime (bleaching powder), 4 ounces to the

gallon, are indicated. Great care must be exercised in the feeding of the

cow to have sound and wholesome feed and water, so apportioned as to make

the milk neither too rich nor too poor, and to her health, so that the calf

may be saved from the evil consequences of poisonous principles that may be

produced in the body of the cow. The calves should be carefully kept apart

from all calving cows and their discharges. Similarly each calf must have

special attention to see that its nurse gives milk which agrees with it,

and that this is furnished at suitable times. If allowed to suck, it should

either be left with the cow or be fed three times a day. If it becomes

hungry twice a day, it is more liable to overload and derange the stomach,

and if left too long hungry it is tempted to take in unsuitable and

unwholesome feed, for which its stomach is as yet unprepared. So, if fed

from the pail, it is safer to do so three times daily than twice. There

should be the utmost cleanliness of feeding dishes, and the feeder must be

ever on the alert to prevent the strong and hungry from drinking the milk

of the weaker in addition to their own. In case the cow nurse has been

subjected to any great excitement by reason of travel, hunting, or

carrying, the first milk she yields thereafter should be used for some

other purpose and only the second allowed to the calf. Indeed, one and all

of the conditions indicated above as causes should be judiciously guarded

against.

_Treatment._--Treatment varies according to the nature and stage of the

disease. When the disease is not widespread, but isolated cases only occur,

it may be assumed to be a simple diarrhea and is easily dealt with. The

first object is to remove the irritant matter from stomach and bowels, and

for this 1 or 2 ounces of castor oil may be given, according to the size of

the calf. Reduce the milk by one-half or two-thirds. If the stools smell

particularly sour, the milk may be replaced by 1 ounce calcined magnesia,

and in any case a tablespoonful or two of limewater must be given with each

meal. Great harm is often done by giving opium and astringents at the

outset. These serve merely to bind up the bowels and retain the irritant

source of the trouble; literally, "to shut up the wolf in the sheep-fold."

When the offending agents have been expelled in this way, carminatives and

demulcent agents may be given--1 dram of anise water, 1 dram nitrate of

bismuth, and 1 dram of gum arabic, three times a day. Under such course the

consistency of the stools should increase until in a day or two they become

natural.

If, however, the outbreak is more general and evidently the result of

contagion, the first consideration is to remove all sources of such

contamination. Test the milk of the cow with blue litmus paper; if it

reddens, reject the milk until by sound, dry feeding, with perhaps a course

of hyposulphite of soda and gentian root, the milk is made alkaline. The

castor oil or magnesia will be demanded to clear away the (now infecting)

irritants, but they should be combined with antiseptics, and, while the

limewater and the carminative mixture may still be used, a most valuable

addition will be found in the following: Calomel, 10 grains; prepared

chalk, 1 ounce; creosote, 1 teaspoonful; mix, divide into 10 parts, and

give one four times a day. Or the following may be given four times a day:

One dram Dover's powder, 6 grains powdered ipecacuanha; mix, divide into 10

equal parts. Injections of solutions of gum arabic are often useful, and if

the anus is red and excoriated, one-half dram of copperas may be added to

each pint of the gummy solution. All the milk given must be boiled, and if

that does not agree, eggs made into an emulsion with barley water may be

substituted. As the feces lose their watery character and become more

consistent, tincture of gentian in doses of 2 teaspoonfuls may be given

three or four times a day. Counter-irritants, such as mustard, ammonia, or

oil of turpentine, may be rubbed on the abdomen when it becomes tender to

the touch.

ACUTE CONTAGIOUS SCOURING IN THE NEWBORN.

The most violent and deadly form of diarrhea in the newborn calf deserves a

special mention. This may appear immediately after birth, and shows itself

almost invariably within the first or second day. The most intense symptoms

of white scour are complicated by great dullness, weakness, and

prostration, sunken eyes, retracted belly, short, hurried breathing, and

very low temperature, the calf lying on its side, with the head resting on

the ground, lethargic and unconscious or regardless of all around it. The

bowel discharges are profuse, yellowish white, and very offensive. As a

rule death ensues within 24 to 36 hours.

A marked characteristic of this form of illness is that it attacks almost

every calf born in the herd, or in the building, rather, and if the calf

escapes an attack in the first two or three days of its life it usually

survives. Those that recover from an attack, however, are liable one or two

weeks later to suffer from an infective inflammation of the lungs. The

infection clings to a stable for years, in many cases rendering it

impossible to preserve and raise the calves. It has frequently coincided

with abortions and failures to conceive in the same herd, so that it has

been thought that the same infective germ produces one type of abortion. On

the other hand, the removal of the calving cow from the herd to calve in a

separate building, hitherto unused and therefore uninfected, usually

effects the escape and survival of the offspring.

The disease has been traced by Nocard and LigniËres to a small bacillus

having the general characters of those that produce hemorrhagic septicemia,

which is usually combined with a variety of others, but is in some cases

alone and in pure culture, especially in the joints. The theory of

LigniËres is that this bacillus is the primary offender, and that once

introduced it so depresses the vital powers of the system and tissue cells

that the healthy resistance to other bacteria is impaired or suspended, and

hence the general and deadly invasion of the latter.

Inoculations with this bacillus killed guinea pigs or rabbits in 6 to 18

hours, and calves in 30 hours, with symptoms and lesions of hemorrhagic

septicemia, including profuse fetid diarrhea.

The predominance of the early and deadly lesions in the alimentary tract

would seem to imply infection through the feed, and the promptitude of the

attack after birth, together with the frequent coincidence of contagious

abortion in the herd, suggest the presence of the germ in the cow; yet the

escape of the calf when the cow calves in a fresh building is equally

suggestive of the infection through germs laid up in the building. This

conclusion is further sustained by the observation that the bacillus

evidently enters by the raw, unhealed navel, that it is diffused in the

blood, and that a very careful preservation of the navel against infection

gives immunity from attack.

_Prevention._--The disease is so certainly and speedily fatal that it is

hopeless to expect recovery, and therefore prevention is the rational

resort.

_Symptoms._--The symptoms are dullness, indisposition to move, uneasiness,