NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3396, 16 April 1919, Page 10

NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

The writer intimated in the previous week’s issue of the Otago Witness

Mammitls of Cows.

that he would return to this udder trouble of cows. This

affection (mammitis) is met with in mares and ewes. It is an inflammation of the udder, caused commonly by a germ entering the udder through a teat passage, or may arise through milk being left too* long in the udder, a blow, exposure to cold, sudden change of feed, too rich food, or through the young being taken away suddenly. Prevention is possible, but to effect a cure is quite another story. It is wise to view every case of suspected mammitis as contagious, and act on that assumption. Isolate the animal and disinfect floors, walls, utensils, etc., and do not risk the carrying of infection on the hands of milkers, etc. Wash freely the udder, and draw the milk off _fro?uently and massage after each milking, n mild attacks, after rubbing two or three times a day with warm camphorated oil for, say, about nine days, a cure may be wrought. In severe cases a dose of Epsom salts —lOoz to 16oz—is advised, followed by 12 drops of aconite. If the inflammation is active fomentations may be desirable of hot water or of warm acid fomentations, with plenty of rubbing twice a day, drying well and then rubbing the vessel well with some oil or lard, and so aid the circulation, and milking out often. The general procedure with a cow is to draw the teat several times a day, and inject into the quarter by means of an enema syringe fitted with a teat syphon in place of a nozzle, a solution of a tablespoonful of baking soda to one' pint of boiled water, massaging the quarter gently to distribute the solution, and then drawing it off in a quarter of an _ hour. An ounce of borcacic acid boiled in one and a-quarter pints of water till dissolved is also used in the same way. Tire Stock Department of New South Wales recommends a mixture of chinosol, 5 grains, boraoio acid, 6 drachms, and boiled water, one pint. The udder should be thoroughly washed with an antiseptic, and the appliance.

used should bo boiled beforehand. The pumping of pure air into the quarter, aa in milk fever, is reported to have- been successful in Canada.

"The chances of complete recovery of the milk-producing' faculty of a quarter affected with acute mammitis," says Dr Reakes, "are not hopeful. Every case of mammitis is not necessarily contagious, but must be determined by the microscope, and this takes time. It is well therefore to treat each case as contagious until such time as communication can be obtained with the Government's Veterinary Laboratory." The following are instructions as to the proper method of collecting milk-samples for microscopical examination:—First get an ordinary boz medicine bottle. See tnat it is thoroughly cleaned, and fitted with a good, weli-fitting cork. Place the bottle and the cork (but with the latter removed from the bottle) in a clean saucepan or other vessel containing cold water; see that the bottle is filled with the water, and place over a slow fire until the water boils. Then set aside, covered, until the water has cooled just sufficiently to enable the fingers to bo put into it. Then lift the bottle by its lower end, and hold upside down, 'until the contained water has all run out; pick up its cork by the ton edge and fit tightly. This will ensure that the bottlo is thoroughly sterilised. In collecting the miik the hands and the udder and teats of the cow should bo well washed with a disinfectant solution and afterwards rinsed with clean water; then, after first drawing away a little milk, fill the bottle direct from the teat; cork and seal it at once, put it into a secure package, and forward it by first post, addressed to, the Officer in Charge, Veterinary Laboratory, Wallaceville, accompanied (under separate cover) by a letter describing the condition of the cow from which the specimen was taken. No charge is made for the laboratory examination and report.

Samples of Milk to Watlacc-ville.

The problem of successful farming of small holdings depends for its solution on intensive cultivation, which means that crops grown quickly one after the other must, be sown in soil | finely worked, and must bo nourished with ample supplies of quickly-available plant food. As with horses doing extra hard work, so with soil producing exhausting crops, the former requires extra rations en the way of energy-producing grain, and the latter nourishing solubje fertiliser to enable it to bear the strain. Farmyard manure applied in moderate quantities will maintain the soil in a good physical condition, and will keep it supplied with humus (says the Mark Lane Express). Then fertilisers in suitable forms must be used liberally; tho fertilising elements in phosphate of lime are not liable to be washed away, and therefore any balance not utilised by one crop remains available for the next. By the growth of clover between other crops a supply of nitrogen can be stored in the ground, although it is. necessary to give the crops also the advantage of more available nitrogen in the shape of guano, nitrate of soda, sulphate of ammonia, or other quickly-acting material. Deep, ploughing and thorough harrowing must be given before all seeding, for we must understand that one great advantage in using fertilisers is that they are so fine that they may be worked or mixed through the soil, and unless the soil itself is thoroughly cultivated this cannot be done.

Intensive Cultivation.

It is interesting to learn that in New South Wales a Graziers' 'Cooperative Contract Shearing Company has been launched, and that the company has been registered, and will commence operations immediately. It is stated that the company has its duly elected organiser and manager, and opens up a new lield in respect to work on the stations at shearingtime. The objects of the company are. to take shearing contracts, and to supply any labour shareholders arc desirous of engaging fof their station work. It may be pointed out that the company is formed entirely by the graziers themselves —to be run not for profit, but as a means of obtaining the best labour available through one central organisation and to conduct their shearing operations by contract under the best conditions. Graziers will readily appreciate the importance of the scheme, and desire its well-doing. AGRIOOLA.

Graziers' Co-cperativc Shearing Co.

ANSWER TO CORRESPONDENT. By Acricola.

"Dairy," Makikihi, writes: —"I would like you to recommend a cure for the following trouble: —I have a heifer which calved about six months ago, and for three months a certain amount of blood came away in the milk, mostly after the morning milking. I discovered last fortnight that there is a small 'lump about the size of a pea about half-way up the teat." -> There is a possibility that the_ constant milking has been a source of irritation to the teat during the milking season, or ib may be the commencement of contagous mammitis. Suggest that you foment; udder „ with hot water (blood heat), and get a teat syphon, and draw off the milk with it. Send a sample of the milk from the bad quarter to Wallaceville, and treat the cow as a "susneet" till you get word from the officer in charge of the laboratory. Seo above notes on mammitis.