RED WATER IN COWS.

Clutha Leader, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 12, 15 August 1911, Page 2

RED WATER IN COWS.

A SPRING COMPLAINT. CAUSE AND CURE. The following paper was read at th* last meeting of the Waikaka Valle, branch of the Farmers' Union by Mr I) Gilchrist:— * "• During the- months of August and September cases of red water in C ow» occur in many places. The ailment i/! preventible one and it can be cured but as prevention is bettor than cure it'mav be of interest to say a few words on the subject at the present time. The term red water is a somewhat misleading one as are indeed many common tern* used for naming things. Sometimes com plaints are heard regarding the use of technical terms in science, but a little study would convince anyone of the im. portanoe of using terms that have one meaning everywhere. If, for instance I were to read a paper here on the com' mon white tussock of the district and called it Poa Australis perhaps some of you would laugh, bul if my paper we re published and read elsewhere I would have to define the kind of tussock I was writing about so that readers in other places would have no difficulty i B recognising the specie*. The Australian Disease. It is just as necessary in treating 0 f veterinary matters to give a clear definition of terms. Some time ago t writer in an agricultural column of t j paper published in this country do. scribed red water, and it was clear that he was referring to the disease known as red water in Australia, which ii caused by a tick. Now, I do not think that that pest is in this country, and 1 am sure that the disease which we call red water here is an entirely different one. When I set out to write this p». per I looked up the description of the disease red water in a number of new works on agriculture, but found that they all described a disease which caused great losses among cattle in some parti of Australia a few years ago, and which is still causing losses there and in other countries as well—North and South America, Europe, South Africa and elsewhere. It is curious that these new works, among them Professor Patrick Wright's "Standard Cyclopedia of Mod em Agriculture," which is being completed in 12 or 13 volumes this year, do not mention the disease which is known here m red water but describe at considerable length the one that is caused by ticks. This silence makes one pause and ask if the information given in older works will have to be revised. The disease described as red water in the newer works is known technically aa Haimoglobinuria, and, as I said, above, is caused by a tick; but the disease known as red water here is, according to Gamgel, known technically as Haem* albuminuria. In both cases the urine has a red appearance, hence the name red water.

Cause and Symptoms. According to Williams and other rot. erinarians who wrote a decade or two ago, the disease red water is one arising from insufficient nourishment, and is more liable to attack pregnant eowi than barren ones or steers, owing to the drain on the system in the case of the first-named. The disease prevails mostly in the spring, owing to the food not being so varied and nutritious during that period. Long feeding on turnips, especially when the animals have little pasture or straw, is a fruitful cause of the disorder; and it is seen also on poor natural pastures. In the parturient form the disease is developed in from eight to 14 days after celving. Among the symptoms are general derangement and loss of milk, frequent discharges of urine, sometimes red and at other times dark in color. There is dullness and great prostration, feeble and unsteady movements, trembling limbs, twitching muscles and arched back, staring, cool, dry and clammy mouth, looseness of the bowels, followed by constipation, palpitation of the heartthe beats may be 80, 90, 100 or more per minute instead of the normal number of from 45 to 55—and dullness succeeded by delirium. This distressing condition is due to loss of albumen from the system. Treatment. After parturition it is very important that the food should be varied and of good quality. Williams, in his "Veterinary Medicine," says that •'tho medicinal and hygenic treatment of the disease is very varied and often unsatisfactory. Its pathology, however, points to a rational method, namely, that the great end in view is the restoration of the blood to its physiological condition by the administration of albumen, which can be easily effected by giving eggp and milk. ... If there be any appetite it is clear that food of a nutritious but easily digested nature must be allowed in moderation." The veterinarian who gives very valuable information to farmers weekly in the columns of th» 'Farmers' Union Advocate' also advises the administration of eggs and milk. He has advised inquirers to take tho affected anhnale off the turnips altogether and give six eggs well beaten up and diluted with a little new milk twice daily, or give the twelve eggs once daily if the animals are not in a very weak condition. Crushed oats and chaff should also be given twice a day. Cows not affected should, when this ailment occurs in a herd, be allowed into the tur> nip paddocks only for a few hourt daily, in order to keep them from being affected.