MILK FEVER IN COWS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3265, 11 October 1916, Page 12

MILK FEVER IN COWS.

The season is now at hand when cases of milk fever may be anticipated by dairymen in their herds, and any practical advice touching upon the symptoms, prevention, and treatment as recommended by modern veterinarians is timely. Veterinarian F. G. Place, Bouth Australia, in a recent lecture ; said: " The cow has her third, fourth, or ! later calf, and the birth is an easy one. i Sometimes help is rendered, but the ease with which the calf is delivered has an important bearing on the onset of an attack. The affected cow usually is in good condition or improving, and as a rule is an easy-going lymphatic beast. Some hours after calving-, varying- from three hours to as many days, she will be seen to be uneasy, lowing, and paddling with her hind feet, and her eyes may bo staring as though she had a bad headache, which is a fact. These early symptoms often are overlooked. The paddling is put down, to her having recently calved, and the lowing and staring are attributable to nervousness for her calf. A jew hours later she will be down and unable to rise, possibly moaning, and nor head swung round to her flank. She will also lose consciousness, toss herself about, and probably blow up. Bowels and bladder will seem to suspend work, and after a day or two she will die or graduaify como round, in which case there is probably scute constipation and more or less stiffness of actual huneness persisting m one or other hind legs. If she has been drenched she probably will cough and discharge from the nose, and may develop the symptoms of pneumonia, and the about a fortnight later. It will be noticed that the udder has not been mentioned. There is no need to do so, because the heat, pam, and distension many people describe exist only in the imagination. Now for the treatment —prevention will bo touched on later. Do not drench. The cow is a patient beast, and in this disease a form of paralysis creeps on, and what is. poured into her mouth is as likely to go the wrong way as the right; hence the inflammation of the lungs, which kills so many. Do not milk out. Stripping the udder is one of the main causes of the collapse, and the best plan is to leave the milking business to tne call, or, if lie is unable to undertake it, merely ease the udder during the first 24 hours. So soon as the symptoms are distinguished, blow up the unstripped udder with air, quarter by quarter, with a milkfever apparatus, though a milk syphon or a quill on a bicycle pump will serve ccjually well at a pinch, and massage the udder" well a::, the air is blown in until it is firm and tense. As a rule, it_ is not necessary to tie the teats; but if they should be flabby and lax, a broad tape may be tied round their base. Doubling them up is not required, and the tape should not be over-tight, nor left on too long. ,ii the apparatus should bo quite clean. Udder troubles wnicfi tollow in some cases are due to neglect of this precaution. The air Filter attached to the apparatus will not. compensate for dirt in the tube. Swilling with cold water, and then boiling is the best way to clean the gear. This should be done both before and after use. After the operation, prop the cov/ on her breast, so that her weight is on her abdomen and uc n der, and make her as comfort-able as possible. It is Well to get her to pass urine by rubbing the bearing, and if the bowels arc bound up, empty them with an enema. Shelter her from cold or heat, and if very uneasy, apply ice poultices or cold .swabs round the base of the horns. Generally speaking, as many hours as she has been down before treatment, in so many will she get up again; but it is not advisable to let too many elapse before commencing operations. In* some obstinate casts, and in others where the air has escaped too rapidly, the blowing up will have to be repeated so as to Keep the udder tense. Do not rush her up, but be ready with help when she begins to try, and when she is up let her have a bran mash and a little hay. Do not be in a hurry to milk her out, but iust make her udder comfortable. For a few days give her' 10 drops of tincture mix vomica on her tongue three times a day, and she will come into full profit as usual. Why has such simple treatment so good an effect when in the past vigorous treatment, including bleeding, giving gallons of whisky, potent drugs like strychnine, failed? Because the trouble is the result of a mechanical interference with the. circulation. The blood which went to nourish the calf before birth has to bo diverted to the udder as it becomes functionally active, and the quick, easy parturition of the plethoric animal results in a back suction into the large veins of the abdomen, bringing about congestion in them, and depriving the intricate vessels of the brain of their share; hence tho head symptoms, the drop in tern perature, tho paralysis, tho sudden < onset, and the equally rapid recovery. Air-pres-sure regulates the circulation. " Prevention consists in keeping the cow in hard, healthy condition, giving her a

fair rest between lactation periods of a month or more, letting her live hard, and get plenty of exercise during gcsiation, and especially during the "weeks just before calving, keeping her bowels regular, preferably by diet, but, if necessary, by an occasional drench of {\h to lib of Epsom salts with loz of ginger in a quart of warm water. "Complications which arise, 6uch as hoven when she is down, or pneumonia after getting up. or lameness, must be treated in the usual ways demanded by such diseases. Stab for hoven, or put tar on the tongue, or both. For pneumonia, keep the temperature down with aconite and bel'adorna, or small doses of 2.40 z 6alts, and rub liniment into the sides of the chest. For lameness give 10 drops tr. rhus tox twice a day, and rub the quarter and leg well with liniment. One attack does not render a cow immune from another; but it is not usual for her to have a second, unless her temperature is very conducive to an attack. Simple though "the treatment is, the preventive measures indicated aro much more valuable."