Milch Cows and Dairy Farming / Comprising the Breeds, Breeding, and Management, in Health and Disease, of Dairy and Other Stock, the Selection of Milch Cows, with a Full Explanation of Guenon's Method; The Culture of Forage Plants, and the Production of Milk, Butter, and Cheese: Embodying the Most Recent Improvements, and Adapted to Farming in the United States and British Provinces. With a Treatise upon the Dairy Husbandry of Holland; To Which Is Added Horsfall's System of Dairy Management

by Charles Louis Flint

Red Water

is so called from the high color of the urine. It is rather a symptom of some derangement of the digestive organs than a disease of itself, and the cause is most frequently to be found in the quality of the food. It is peculiar to certain localities, and is of very rare occurrence in New England.

In the early stage of the difficulty the bowels are loose, but soon constipation ensues, and the appetite is affected, the milk decreases, and the urine becomes either very red or sometimes black.

The case demands treatment, for it is apt to prey upon the health of the cow. Purgatives are usually employed with most success. Take a pound of Epsom salts, half an ounce of ginger, and half an ounce of carbonate of ammonia. Pour a quart of boiling water on the salts and ginger, stir thoroughly, and, when cold, add the ammonia. If this fails to act on the bowels, repeat a quarter part of it every six or eight hours till it succeeds. Then a nutritious diet should be used till the appetite is fully restored.

If a cow is once affected in this way, the difficulty will be liable to return, and she had better be disposed of.