THE FARMEKS COLUMN.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 29 September 1908, Page 4

THE FARMERS COLUMN.

KOTES FROM VAHIODS SOUECES. MILK FEVER IN COWS. There are three or four quit© distinct diseases by either of which cows i are liable to be attacked about the time of parturition or the latter stages . of pregnancy. Henoe the very common confusion jometimes existing as to the I cause of the disease which is most gene- , rally meant when the term "milk fever is used. . , , ! So-called "milk-fever," if typical and uncomplicated, Is not attended with any marked rise of temperature or feverish- ( I ness. , . . , 1 In cases in which thei-e is a decided rise of temperature, the usual symptoms of "milk fever" being present, the elevation of temperature is due to some complication, such as an old-standing . disease of one or more internal organs, ; or, as not infrequently happens, some; recent trouble produced by drenching , the cow as soon as the animal is ob- f served to be ill. Often a portion of the ; liquid passes into the windpipe and the ■ lungs, setting up inflammation of the air passages, or even of the lung tissues itself. Occasionally, also, acute menm- | gitis, inflammation of the membranes of j the brain and spine, accompanies milk . fever. In such cases the sufferer ex- | hibits extreme excitement in the early j stages of the attack. In each of these . conditions rise of temperature is a pro- j minent feature, but feverishness is not j a symptom of the so-called milk fever, I and, indeed, the disease is really an I apoplexy (as ie well-known to veterinary , surgeons), and is named parturient apo- j plexy in consequence. j Although it does admittedly sometimes ( occur that a cow is attacked by milk , fever (parturient apoplexy) when she has been placed in a box or shed that ! has been occupied previously by a suf- ( furer from the disease, this is no prool , that the ailment is contagious, any more j than when a number of cattle are the [ victims of "hoven" from eating young clover, etc., for in each case it is because the same cause is in operation, and not because one animal "catches it from another. Besides, if a heifer, or cow with the second calf, is allowed to calve down in a box or shed which has been occupied by a cow suffering from milk fever, It is practically certain that the heifer wD! not be attacked, nor is the second calf-cow at all likely to be, not even if the box has not been cleaned out since occupation by the affected aniParturient apoplexy is not due to an invasion of the system by organisms, cither animal or vegetable, and cannot therefore be classed with such diseases as anthrax, puerperal fever, septic mastitis, etc., so that it is not the case that a man attending a cow suffering from parturient apoplexy can convey the disease to another animal, but as sep- { tic metritis or puerperal fever can be so ( conveyed, and as this disease is sometimes confounded with parturient apoplexy (milk fever, eo-called), mistaken ideas have arisen as to the nature and cause of the affection.