THE DAIRY.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 935, 31 January 1890, Page 18

THE DAIRY.

MAMMITIS. Among the lesser evils whioh afflict dairymen we may class the above, which in its milder forms of * weed,’ or catarrh of the udder, is almost; of daily—-or, at least, weekly—occurrence among the individuals of a herd. It is the great cause of ‘blindness ’ of a I eat or loss of a quarter, and is specially to be dreaded in the case of cows which are heavy milkers and have well*

developed udders. The present tune of the year is very prolific of this ti oil hie, and we can easily see that it is naturally so if we give a little attention to the matter. Of course, any direct injury to a part of the udder, such as a blow or a wound, is likely to be followed by a loss of function, but this is quite a different matter from the disease under discussion, and which is wholly due to cold or wet. Our rows have in their uddms an abnormally-developed organ, more or less artificially produced by breeding in the course of generations, and in which the various tissues and vessels are in a state of great activity while in the flow of milk. These are very sensitive to changes of temperature ; they literally ‘catch cold,’and the result is most disastrous to the milking power and even to the gen ral health of the animals.

The outward symptoms of the disease manifest themselves as a swelling of the part affected —a quarter or half of the vessel—with a haideniug or ‘cording’ of the same. Sometimes this is accompanied with heat, but not always. The milk in the udder becomes curdled and nasty, while its secretion tends to ceaso. The treatment consists in keeping the teat stripped out, bathing ths part with warm water and rubbing in ammonia liniment (hartshorn and oil). The veterinary books give a liniment made of equal parts of iodine, laudanum, and soft soap ; this we have tried and found it of no value, and have had to return to the ammonia. It is also a good plan to give the animal a mild purge to prevent constitutional derangements. If the matter is taken in hand in time very little harm will acciue. The part will gradually regain its normal functions, and may milk as well as b fore, though more often it will not be so good in this respect. If left to itself, or not properly attended to, the curdled milk may set up suppuration, and an abscess will form, or the part may mortify and slough off. In this aggravated form it may be dignified with the name of mammitis, but in a long experience with animals we have on y seen one or two cases ending thu3. Generally, the part simply ceases to give milk and shrinks up, while, after the next calving, if milking is persisted in the milk will sometimes be secreted once more, and the udder assume its normal shape. The number of * three* papped cows;’ however, up and down the country, is very large, so that it is anything but an insignificant trouble. At the same time we must aoknowledge that many practical farmers consider that an animal is almost as good a milker with three as with four teats ; this we doubt very much, and in any case a shrunken quarter spoils the symmetry and value of the animal. In this as in all other troubles prevention is better than cure, and bearing in mind that cold and wet arß the primary causes we must counteract these as much as possible ; shelter provided against cold winds and rains ; the animals not to be suddenly turned out of warm quarters during wet and stormy, or frosty weather, but gradually inured or ‘hardened’ to the outside climate, and especially housed at night, when bad weather prevails ; while the cows may be bred with more hair on the udders so as to rendsr them less liable to catch cold in this particular part.—English Paper,