VETERINARY NOTES

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume 71, Issue 3, 15 September 1945, Page 295

VETERINARY NOTES

Administering Medicines to Livestock

* | ’HE most common method of ad1 ministering fluids to livestock is by the mouth from a bottle. If many animals are to be drenched, it is advisable to have the bottle cased in leather, as this may prevent an animal having its mouth badly cut by broken glass. It may also prevent the loss of a bottle if the patient becomes unruly.

In drenching a cow the operator should stand on the right side of the cow with his left arm over the nose and the left hand firmly grasping the upper lip. He should then insert the neck of the bottle half-way into the right side of the mouth and allow the fluid to run on to the middle of the tongue. The head should be raised slightly above the horizontal to assist the passage of the drench to the pharynx. If the animal should attempt to cough, the head should be released temporarily. The fluid should be allowed to flow slowly from the bottle until swallowing takes place.

Assistance

If the animal is very restive, an assistant may help to steady the head by holding the'horns, but the animal’s breathing : should not be interfered with during the operation. When a horse has to be drenched a loop of thin rope is run under the nose-band of the halter into the mouth. The end of the rope is thrown over a beam and the lips drawn out of the loop to prevent injury. If available, a drenching bit may be used. As the drenching of a horse is not generally favoured, medicines are given to horses more commonly as balls, boluses, capsules, and electuaries.

The animal should be in a stall or in a corner so that it. cannot run backwards. The head is then raised slightly above the horizontal and the fluid slowly poured into the mouth. Immediately lower the head if coughing takes place. It is not a good plan to rub or tap the throat to induce swallowing. A better method is to push the end of the halter shank back among the molar teeth to induce chewing, which then induces swallowing.

In drenching a pig it is a good plan to place an old shoe, with a hole cut in the toe, in the mouth and pour the fluid into this. The pig will chew on the shoe, and the fluid runs back into the mouth through the hole in the toe. Fluid can also be poured through

a rubber tube or hose-pipe from a funnel. The hose-pipe is placed in the pig’s mouth, and the fluid runs into the mouth. The pig usually chews the hose and swallows. Drenching Sheep Sheep are more easily drenched, but it is bad practice to sit the sheep on its haunches. Straddle the sheep at the shoulders, or have it in a narrow race, and lean over the side. The mouth can be opened by the left hand going round the lower jaw with the

thumb inserted into the mouth. The use of mechanical dosers is increasing, but many owners do not possess them.

When using the various types of drenching gun on the market at the present time it is necessary to see that the nozzle of the gun does not injure the inside of the sheep’s mouth. Many guns are now fitted with protective rubber to prevent injury, or the nozzle is slightly curved and blunt for the same purpose. It is easy to cause severe abscess formation in the gum and cheek if the point of the nozzle injures the lining of the mouth, especially when drenching with solutions containing copper sulphate or other worm medicines. In drenching a dog the main thing is to see that he does not bite. Apply a clove hitch round the jaws, and tie it at the back of the head. Pull out the angle of the lips, and pour the fluid into the pouch thus formed.

Disposal of Carcasses On the Farm

FROM a sanitary point of view no carcass should be left unburned ~ .. , m -mam the open on the farm. Blowflies breed very freely on such carcasses, and may cause some considerable loss through sheep and lambs getting “blown” and maggoty. :

The following is a simple and cheap method of burning a carcass where the necessary wood is available. Two trenches are dug crosswise> are dug crosswise, each being up to 7ft. long, about 15in. wide, and 18in. deep at the intersection, becoming shallower towards the ends.

The earth dug from the trench is piled at the angles of intersection to provide support for two pieces of railway iron or the chassis of an old motor-car, on which the carcass rests. Fuel is first placed at the intersection of the trench, and the carcass is placed on the top of the frame. A good draught of air comes down the trench, and the carcass can be entirely consumed provided there is an ample supply ,of fuel.

Sheep carcasses may be readily disposed of in this way, but the destruction of carcasses of cattle and horses is more difficult because of the very large amount of fuel that is necessary for complete burning, and burial may be found more satisfactory.

The method of disposal, whether by burial or burning, will depend upon the nature of the ground and the availability of a plentiful supply of cheap fuel. From a sanitary and hygienic point of view, in regard to the health of animals on the farm, one or other method of disposal should be practised on every farm:

Answers. to Correspondents

Blood Scours in Calves

“Enquirer,” Edgecumbe:—

Every year I experience a good deal of trouble with blood scours in calves, and I invariably lose one or two valuable calves, no matter how much care

I take. When the calves attain the age of two months they apparently are not affected. I have changed the calf paddocks around, and this year have put the calves on a paddock that has had no young calves on for six years, yet still the disease has broken out again. Is there any medicine that could be put in the milk to counteract the germ until they are two months old?

LIVESTOCK DIVISION:—

In some cases blood scours is due to the presence' of minute parasitic organisms (coccidia) which damage the lining of the gut and produce haemorrhages. This is not likely to be the cause in your calves, as coccidiosis is usually seen in older calves from two to 12 months old; also it is more common in old calf paddocks. In other cases it may be of the nature of dysentery, following undue scouring set up by indigestion. The scouring should be prevented in the first place by care in feeding, regulating the amount of milk (which should not be more than a gallon a day, in the first fortnight, divided into two or, better still, three feeds), and strict cleanliness of all utensils and pens or yards. Where scouring does occur a small dose, say, 2dz., of castor oil or raw linseed oil, with a level dessertspoonful of baking soda, shaken up with 2 or 3oz. of lukewarm water, is suitable. Milk should be cut out for one feed, allowing a little water with a teaspoonful of salt.

In view of the care you apparently take in feeding, it may be that the trouble is not due to indigestion, but to the condition of the bowel wall, and you might find benefit from limewater, which would tone up the bowel. Stir up a shovelful of lime, preferably burnt or slaked lime, in 4 gallons of water with 11b. molasses. Allow to settle and add the clear top portion to calves’ milk at the rate of a breakfast cup per feed for each. Commence this as soon as calves begin to be bucket fed.

For early spring calves that are valuable, the addition of codliver oil, at the rate of . a dessertspoonful per feed, for the first three weeks would be justified, and should help this condition.

Foot Trouble in Rams

“J.E.McK,” (Middlemarch):

I have several 2-tooth Romney rams which some time ago began to scald the cleft of the hoof. I applied power kerosene to those affected and shifted them to a drier paddock. Five days later one of them was “down” with a badly swollen foot and leg; the latter was soft and puffy to above the knee joint. The others had not improved, so I put seven of them on the grating in the shed and treated them with power kerosene. The ram with the swollen foot and leg died that night, and I continued to treat the other six for a week, at the end of which time five were cured and able to go out again. The sixth had one foot scalded and a small open sore had started when I started the treatment, and a swelling developed in the foot until in a little over the week it was three times the normal size, with a very small discharge of pus from the small sore. It is not a case of ordinary foot-rot, as the hoof appears quite sound. I have now given up the kerosene treatment and for the last four days have applied a bread and soap poultice once a day, which has lessened the swelling and drawn a great deal of pus from the foot. I doubt, however, if it will effect a complete cure. Could you tell me what this trouble is and the correct treatment for it? I assume that the ram I lost died of blood poisoning. Do you think that is probable?

LIVESTOCK DIVISION:—

The cases of foot trouble that have occurred among your rams are, as you suggest, not the usual type of footrot, but a type in which common pusforming germs gain entry to the foot through the scalded area or through minute wounds in : this softened tissue. The germs then commence producing pus within the foot, and as the pus accumulates it becomes forced by pressure through the tissues of the foot. The pus cannot escape through the walls or the sole of the hoof, and so it seeks the line of least resistance, passing up the hoof finally to burst through around-the upper surface of

the hoof. In treatment of these cases poulticing or fomentation is very useful. Fomentation is probably the better method, for although it takes more time, recovery is generally faster. The affected foot should be immersed in hot water' (not hot enough to scald), to which a reliable disinfectant has been added. Fomentation is used for the purpose of bringing the abscess formation to a head. The abscess will burst and so provide drainage to the foot, or if it shows no tendency to burst, the point at which the pus is near the surface may be opened , by making a cut with a clean, sharp knife. Once drainage for the affected area has been provided, the lesion is generally on the way to recovery. After the fomentation treatment the foot should be dried and the affected area . painted with weak tincture of iodine, or acriflavine solution, 1 in 1,000. If a small syringe is available, acriflavine solution may be injected into the openings from which the pus is discharging. If possible the fomentation treatment should be carried out three times daily, and until recovery the rams should be kept .on grating and hand fed. The majority of cases will recover under treatment, but occasionally animals do die from severe infection or develop a painful arthritis and permanent lameness.

Black Pox in Cattle “AS. McK.,” Whitianga: I am having considerable trouble this year with black pox in my herd. Could you advise me how to keep the teat canal open, and also a good reliable ointment for same. The ointment I am using is successful in some cases but not in others. LIVESTOCK DIVISION:— The following dressings are recommended for the treatment of black pox:— 1. A solution of 3 per cent, of salicylic acid in glycerine. 2. An ointment made as follows : — Salicylic acid .2 drams Benzoic acid 1 dram j Lanoline .......... 6 drams Petrolatum 1 ounce If this ointment is applied to the end of the teat after milking, it will prevent the formation of hard scabs and soften them if they are present. In some cases ordinary household vinegar has given good results. This is used by either dipping the teat into a vessel containing the vinegar or by painting on the affected parts twice daily. This disease is contagious and affected animals should be the last to be milked. x

■ Under no condition whatsoever should a teat siphon be used to withdraw milk, as it is almost certain to produce mastitis by carrying infection from the affected tip.