SCHMIDT TREATMENT FOR MILK FEVER

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1676, 13 April 1904, Page 63

SCHMIDT TREATMENT FOR MILK FEVER

T'li e results 'obtained by th?. use of the Schmidt: treatment for milk fever lias loci the New Jersey .State Agricultural Experiment Station to buy the system, and their experience is thus summed up in the twenty-third annual report Hie necessary outfit is not expensive. It requires a three-inch funner, tour or five, feet of quarter-inch rubber tubing, and a small glaiss pipette or milking tube. The. method of procedure which we have used is as follows :—- 1. .Dissolve 120- grains of iodide of potash in one quart of waiter, which has been boiled and allowed to eooi to about the temperature of the body. . ... 2. Introduce, tliio funnel and pipette into the ends of the rubber tube and place in a bucket, of antiseptic fluid. 3. Milk the udder dry, then place uhder the cow a niece of oilcloth,, about a yard square (a carriage storm-apron maw be made to answer), so that the udder will be about the middle of the doth,. Wash the udder ' and teats thoroughly with castile soap and warm wafer, rinsing carefully with antiseptic, fluid.

4. Insert the pipette into the end of a teat and fill the funnel with iodide of potash solution. By passing successively from, -one teat to another, distribute the solution equally among the quarters of the udder. , , , , , 5. Bub the udder from the teat, towards the body andi massag’d thoroughly, in order to distribute the solution throughout. 6. Eight or ten hoursi after the injection, or when recovery is assured, the udder should be carefully milked out and then bathed; with warm water (about 160deigs. F.). A. second injection is rarely necessary; but. if so, if should be done at the end of "six or eight hours. If there should be a tendency towards hardness of the udder or “springiness” of the! milk, baths of warm water should be applied every three or four hours until relieved. If neglected, mastitis (garget) will result.

As a preventive measure it is advisable to restrict robust animals to a moderate allowance of dry f ood for a week or ten days previous to thb end of their term; and!, where there is a tendency towards costiveness and constipation, correct it with a, drench of Epsom salts. FORMULAE FOE SOLUTION.

lodide of Potash Solution: —lodide' of potash, (crystal's), 120 grains; water (previously boiled), 1 quart—when, thoroughly dissolved inject into the udder as described.

Bren chi for Co-sld veness : —Bpscm salts, 1 pound; ground ginger, 1 ounce; water (tepid), 3 pints—give at one dosei. administer ed slow) y.

Antiseptic Solutions : —Grecian, 1 part ; waller, 30 parts'. Thiyiuo-cresol, 1 part; water, 30 parts. Ch 1 oro-naphhholerun, 1 pant; water, 30 parts. Any one of these three antiseptic solutions wifi answer for this treatment. In four cases, treated at the station, as here indicated, three recovered. Of these one developed ''strim,ine.ss" of milk, which, was soon corrected. DESCRIPTION OF MILK FEVER CASES!.

"Zola.” —A cow five years old, calved on the afternoon of 20th September, and was, given a drench immediately for eostiveness, after which she appeared to- be all right. Milk fever developed, however, on the morning of the 22-uIJ. and at seven o'clock the cow was down and unable to move. lodide of potash, was injected according to directions given above, and in one hour the animal showed signs of recovery, and at twelve o’clock, five hours after the treatment, she was standing up anid eating. A little ‘“stringiness" developed in the' milk, which disappeared in a few days. "Princessa." —Six years old, calved 22nd May, at noon. The following day she began to stagger about the stall and showed signs' of milk fever. , In the course of an hour she became exhausted and 'lay prostrated in the stall, unable to raise her head. Tine Schmidt treatment was applied, and! in fifteen minutes after the injection the cow was standing and half an hour later began to' eat. "Cherry." - Ca.lved Ist January and shewed signs of milk fever the following day. The injection was made before the animal got down and recovery began immediately.

"Woodiawn." —C'afved 15th May, and was taken with a severe attack of milk fever in the early morning of the 16th. This was well developed before discover ed. and complications set in in the form of digestive disturbances of the stomach and intestines, which caused constant bloating, although the trochar was used repeatedly. The Schmidt treatment was applied, but in spite, of all efforts to relieve heir, the animal died at six o’clock. The cow was old, which perhaps accounts for the disease being fatal in this case, as records show more fatalities among older animals.