MORTALITY AMONG COWS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3885, 28 August 1928, Page 20

MORTALITY AMONG COWS.

A MYSTERIOUS MALADY. FULL INVESTIGATION PROCCEDING WELLINGTON, August 22. A mysterious disease that has puzzled farmers and veterinary surgeons is reported amongst the dairy herds of North Auckland and to a lesser extent in the Waikato. The malady appears in the cows about 10 or 12 days after calving. The symptoms are akin to those of milk •fever, with the addition of severe attacks of shivers. Milk fever treatment has not been of any avail and death has followed very shortly after, the manifestation. A suggestion ; that,,the animals have been affected with impaction is ruled out with the production of proof that-the-afflicted cows have been;.fed on a variety of nutritious' foods and;have been grazed on clean > pastures; e • <-

Accurate statistics concerning the number of deaths which have taken place are not available, but Mr W. Jones, the member for Marsden, said to-day that he had heard of 15 cases of mortality in one small '■•'.trict. A most regrettable feature of outbreak was that some most valuable •<- iigree animals had become victims. Mr Jones asked the Minister of Agriculture (Mr O. J. Hawken) in the House of Representatives to-day, as a matter of urgency, if he had heard of the disease, and as to what steps the officers of the department were taking to cope with it. The Minister said he had heard of it, but he was not in possession of any details. The experts of the department were making full investigations, and as soon as any information reached him he would pass it on to Mr Jones. STATEMENT BY VETERINARIAN. HAMILTON, August 23. In reference to the statement from Wellington that a mysterious fatal disease had occurred among herds in North Auckland and to a lesser extent in the Waikato, the Government veterinary officer at Hamilton stated that while the symptoms of the malady referred to were those of eclampsia, it actually was not eclampsia. It was really a form of sepsis, and there was no reason whatever to suppose it was in any way contagious. The majority of the cases occurred about a fortnight after calvng, and the chief symptoms of the trouble were extensive nervous disorder accomoanied by convulsions. When convulsions became very marked fatal results often followed. If the convulsions could be effectively controlled there was a reasonable chance of recovery. Experience had proved that where the trouble was advanced it was somewhat dangerous :o approach the animals for this purpose. An early sign of portending trouble was sudden unusual alertness in an otherwise quiet animal. In the early stages it vas usually safe to treat the cow, but when the nervousness developed to attempt treatment was aften to increase the agitation, and' to throw the animal into violent convulsions. Hitherto it was supposed that the'disorder wa s due to some septic infection of the uterus, but as the trouble ocurred in cows both before and after calving, and as there was no rise in temperature, the temperature on the contrary often being sub-normal, there seemed to be nothing to support this view. The prevalence of the malady appeared to be confined to the months of July, August, and September, which would indicate that the trouble was probably of dietetic origin caused possibly by some breakdown of food dissemulation. A good drench for use where treatment was possible was two ounces of laudanum in water, with the object purely of endeavouring to control the convulsions. Although in many cases the milk fever treatment wag ineffective, there was no harm in continuing its use, as there probably were cows which would benefit by it.