PREVALENCE OF MAMMITIS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3111, 29 October 1913, Page 17

PREVALENCE OF MAMMITIS.

INJURIES TO COWS’ TEATS AND UDDERS. “Constant Reader,” Southland, writes that mammitis is fearfully prevalent now, and has been for a long time —in fact, it is one of the worst enemies of the dairying industry. The following particulars are given in the hope that they may prove helpful It frequently occurs that teats are injured between the cow’s hocks and the floor as the cow rises, particularly the hind teats on low-hanging udders. If the injury is slight, there may bo only a bit of dry blood at the end of the teat, or the cow may milk a little harder 4han usual. Such oases heal promptly. If the bruised end becomes infected with any one of several different varieties of bacteria, the infection may extend up the teat canal and into the udder, causing a sort of catarrhal inflammation with perhaps a cordy swelling up the centre of the teat and varying- degrees of garget in the udder. Sometimes the teats are very severely bruised in this way, and the end of the milk duct may be permanently damaged. In seme cases such Wounds arc produced when the teats of a cow lying down are stepped on by a cow in a neighbouring stall. The cow that is lying down jumps up suddenly while the other cow is standing on the end of her teat. In these cases there is usually some tearing or a severe bruise. BEWARE OF THE MILK TUBE. The treatment of all these cases varies greatly according to the peculiarities of each case. The milk tube should always bo avoided when possible. Conservative treatment will usually save in good shape the teats that axe but slightly injured. Longcontinued fomenting with hot water and gentle massage will frequently serve to open an apparently closed canal early in the case, and is decidedly safer than the use of the milk tube. Much less damage may result from leaving the milk in the injured quarter for 12 or even 24 hours, than from radical treatment in an attempt to open the end of the injured teat with a milk tube or probe. Where teats are too badly injured to bo saved by such mild treatment, the owner should refer the case to a competent veterinarian rather than to attempt treatment himself. In case of infection and consequent garget, the prospect is bad, when the normal milk changes to a watery fluid, and worse, as this fluid is darker in colour. It has been shown that repeated chilling of cows’ udders, especially by washing and then exposing to cold air. may bo responsible for trouble similar to that described by this farmer. This difficulty due to chilling may affect only one quarter or several. The teat canal becomes partially blocked, making the cow difficult to milk. Small masses of white, flaky material appear in the milk. This may be persistent or may disappear in a few days. In some oases the end of the teat canal is partially or entirely closed by a sort of scan. These chilling cases will usually show considerable irritation of the skin over the udder —that is, around the base of the teats, for the simple reason that this portion of the udder would naturally bo wet longest and be subject to most chilling. The remedy for this latter class of cases is, of course, self-evident—-a different method of cleaning the udder in cold weather whore there is effort made to produce particularly clean milk CONTAGIOUS MAMMITIS. Some few years ago the Veterinary Division of the Department of Agriculture issued a bulletin by Dr Gilruth on bovine contagious mammitis In this it was mentioned that if allowed to spread further it might seriously affect the prosperity of the dairying industry. No effectual steps have been taken by dairymen to stamp out the disease. Dr ’Gilruth. after describing the nature of the disease, dealt with the general symptoms of the acute, sub-acute, and chronic forms. THE CHRONIC FORM is manifested by the development of one, and sometimes two, hard nodules within the teat duct, generally towards the base of the teat or its upper third. This condition is sometimes spoken of by dairymen as a “pea” or “ wart ” _ in the teat. A.s a rule the following is the history: —“ The cow was turned out in the early winter, apparently quite sound, and has calved with one or more blind teats, or showing the presence of a nodul© in the teat. After milking ceased the formation of granulation tissue commenced, due to the continued growth of the strephooocuss, and consequent chronic inflammation. This last phase is very serious, as it means the complete uselessness of the quarter, and, so far as the dairyman is concerned, appears worse than the ’presence of the small pea-sized nodule, past which milk may bo drawn and where a teat syphon can be pushed. As, however, these nodules, no matter how small, contain a supperating centre, they are probably a constant source of the spread of the disease Dr Gilruth says it is unnecessary to look further than the hands of the milkers or the cups of the milking machine for the active agent in dissemination. The microbe only requires to be transplanted on to the milk-moist point of a teat, when it will multiply with groat rapidity, and soon push its way into the teat duct itself. It i« dangerous to milk that contaminated udder on the floor of the milking shed, for there the germs will remain for a considerable period, a menace to the health of the other cows. , , , A cow suffering from the disease should bo kept isolated, and always milked last in a soecial bail, the milk being boiled irnmediatelv after milking and_ given to the pigs, and the hands of the milker should bo thoroughly washed with soap and hot water

to which a reliable disinfectant has been added. Dr Gilruth goes on to say; “Once the disease has appeared in a herd the owner should personally examine minutely every cow’s udder before milking, and carefully note the character of- the first small quantity of milk drawn, before the milkers commence the-milking. This precaution is especially necessary where a milking machine is installed. Any cow under the slightest suspicion should be held over to the last for milking, and on no account should the machine be used on her. “Above all,'it cannot be too strpngly impressed upon the stockowner that prevention is the treatment for him to adopt, and that no other really merits very serious attention so far as the present state of our knowledge warrants. « TREATMENT. “Inquiries are constantly being received from farmers and inspectors as to what is the best treatment for contagious mammitis, and the reply remains the same: ‘Unless in the very early stages—that is, during the first tw r o or three days of its onset—there is none satisfactory that can bp recommended.’ Only a knowledge of the pathology of the disease can explain why this is so. During the first few days the microbe is located practically solely on the surface of the mucous membrane, and has not penetrated far up into the finer tubes which ramify throughout the delicate substance of the udder. Gradually, however, it penetrates deeper, becomes cnglobed by cells, and pushes further and further into the narrowing tubules. In this way it becomes impossible for any fluid injected into the udder to reach the invader. It should be remembered that the tissues of the udder are extremely delicate, much more delicate than the microbes, so that a poison sufficiently strong to immediately destroy the latter is more than likely to permanently injure the former. A great authority—Professor Sir A. E. Wright—has recently stated: ‘lt is now all but universally recognised that it ift fijlile to attempt to check bacterial growth in the interior of the organisms by antiseptics which heave as our present antiseptics have —a greater affinity lor the constituent elements of the body than they have for any bacteria.’ Even regarding skin disease. Sabouraud, the eminent authority on this subject, states; ‘Curious indeed is the failure of antiseptics in connection with the treatment of bacterial diseases of the skin.’ If that is the case where the lesion is visible, and the application of the antiseptics can be made directly to the affected spot, how much more likelihood of failure is there from the injection of such fluids into a complex cavity like the udder! In spite of the lack of any facilities for the exhaustive prosecution of investigation regarding a bettor treatment than is at present available —and sucly investigations must be directed more towards the field of bacterial vaccination as a treatment than to chemical application—-we have been able to make a large number of tentative experiments. The results need not be detailed bore. Suffice it to. say that, provided the boracio-acid injections (which are not strictly bactericidal for this microbe) are commenced sufficiently early—and this depends upon the disease being detected in the early stages--and prosecuted in a rational manner, apparent recovery at least will be rnani- , fested. , i “The method of procedure is as follows; : By means of an ordinary enema syringe the nozzle of which has been replaced by a j teat-siphon, from 4oz to 6oz of a 4 per cent. ■ solution of pur© boracic acid should be in- ! jected through the teat-canal into the affected quarter, after thorough milking, and thorough disinfection of the skin of the udder. Prior to this it is important to see that the syringe has been thoroughly boiled, and it is equally important to boil it again after using. The solution of boracic acid should be made with distilled water or rainwater, previously boiled, and should be injected at a temperature approaching blood heat —viz., lOOdog to 102 deg Fahr. After injection the solution should bo allowed to remain in the udder for about 10 minutes, during which time gentle but thorough massage of the quarter is conducted, following which the fluid should bo withdrawn. 'Tliis treatment should be applied twice daily . for from three to five days, and then discontinued. “During the progress of the treatment

little or no improvement may be manifested , —indeed, the disease may appear to become aggravated—but after its discontinuance covery will take place fairly rapidly. Till* recovery, however, is seldom complete. The } milk may seem normal to the naked eye*- v and no deposit may form after standing rot a time, yet microscopical examination wfljt often detect enormous numbers of pus-cell* } in the cream (which seems more abundant than usual), and bacteriological methods can | still demonstrate the presence of the casual,? streptococcus. Therefore such a cow after?; treatment should be dried off for the season, J o.', at any rate, turned out with a calf at’? foot, and thereafter fattened off. “For the practical dairy-farmer I do not | recommend the trouble of attempting treatmen of an affected cow. The imporaht mutter is to prevent its spread to others. The wise man will therefore turn her out': with a calf at onco, or dry her c!f and fatten for the butcher.” . ■