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

In desperate cases it may be found necessary to make an incision through the paunch; but the chloride of lime will, in most cases, give relief at once, by neutralizing the gas.

Choking

is often produced by feeding on roots, particularly round and uncut roots, like the potato. The animal slavers at the mouth, tries to raise the obstruction from the throat, often groans, and appears to be in great pain. Then the belly begins to swell, from the amount of gases in the paunch.

The obstruction, if not too large, can sometimes be thrust forward by introducing a flexible rod, or tube, into the throat. This method, if adopted, should be attended with great care and patience, or the tender parts will be injured. If the obstruction is low down, and a tube is to be inserted, a pint of olive or linseed oil first turned down will so lubricate the parts as to aid the operation, and the power applied must be steady. If the gullet is torn by the carelessness of the operator, or the roughness of the instrument, a rupture generally results in serious consequences. A hollow tube is best, and if the object is passed on into the paunch, the tube should remain a short time, to permit the gas to escape. In case the animal is very badly swelled, the dose of chloride of lime, or ammonia, should be given, as for the hoove, after the obstruction is removed.

Care should be taken, after the obstruction is removed, to allow no solid food for some days.

Foul in the Foot.

—Cows and other stock, when fed in low, wet pastures, will often suffer from ulcers or sores, generally appearing first between the claws. This is commonly called foul in the foot, and is analogous to foot-rot in sheep. It is often very painful, causing severe lameness and loss of flesh, and discharges a putrid matter, or pus. Sometimes it first appears in the form of a swelling near the top of the hoof, which breaks and discharges foul matter.

The rough and common practice among farmers is to fasten the foot in the same manner as the foot of an ox is fastened in shoeing, and draw a rough rope back and forth over the ulcerated parts, so as to produce a clean, fresh wound, and then dress it with tar or other similar substance.

This is often an unnecessarily cruel operation. The loose matter may easily be removed by a knife, and then carefully wiped off with a moist sponge. The animal should then be removed at once to a warm, dry pasture, or kept in the barn.

If the case has been neglected till the pasterns become swollen and tender, the sore may be thoroughly cleansed out, and dressed with an ointment of sulphate of iron one ounce, molasses four ounces, simmered over a slow fire till well mixed. Apply on a piece of cotton batting, and secure upon the parts. If any morbid growth or fungus appear, use equal parts of powdered blood-root and alum sprinkled on the sore, and this will usually effect a cure.