Cattle and Cattle-breeders

by William McCombie

If the calf is to be milked from the hand it should be taken from the cow as soon as it is dropt, and before the mother sees it; if allowed to remain with the cow for some time and then removed, it will be a cause of great irritation to the mother and very prejudicial to her milking. When it is to be suckled, the calf should be left quietly with the cow: and by licking the calf and eating the placenta the cow will be settled, the calf will get to its legs, and all may be expected to be right. A warm drink should be given—cold water must be avoided—and the cow made comfortable. She should be milked out after first suckling, and this will require to be repeated two or three times a-day for a few weeks, until the calf is able, and can with safety be allowed, to take all the milk. In a day or two after the calf is dropt it ought to be muzzled, and allowed a limited time to suckle the mother three times a-day. It must not be allowed a full allowance for the first fourteen days after birth. A confidential servant must remove the muzzle, stand beside the calf until it has taken a safe allowance, and then return the muzzle. When the calf has got the cud, which will be observed about fourteen days after its birth, it will then be safe to remove the muzzle. I muzzle all my calves, to prevent them from eating straw, hair, &c, which they cannot digest, and which accumulate in the stomach and prove the death of the animal. Many thousand calves are lost in this way, the owner never suspecting the cause. If the calf is opened up after death, there will be found in the stomach a large, firm, round ball composed of straw, hair, and other substances, with knots of curdled milk conjoined. After the calf has got the cud, and is fourteen days old, it may be allowed to suck at pleasure. It must be seen, however, that the calf has ability to clean out the udder of the cow; if part of the milk is retained, the cow must be milked by the hand.

Plenty of good milk is the proper foundation to make a good animal; if stinted when a calf, a year's growth is lost. Selling a great deal of butter and rearing a good bullock are incompatible. Many good calves are milked from the pail, and they thrive better after they are weaned; but it will generally be found that the sure way to make first-class calves is to allow them to suckle. There will be many drawbacks at the expense of the calf if it is brought up from the pail; drafts will be required by the housekeeper for milk, butter, and cheese for the family, which cannot be made if the calf is suckled by the mother in the field. The plan adopted by some of giving skimmed milk to the calf cannot be too much reprobated; and to give old milk to a new-dropt calf is perfectly preposterous: it is unnatural, and will probably prove the death of the calf.

The calf should be allowed to suckle or be fed from the pail for six or eight months. It has then strength to stand weaning, and, if properly cared for, will not be checked in its growth, and it will retain the good calf-flesh it has put on. The loss of the calf-flesh cannot be remedied, and great care should be taken to avoid this. If the calf-flesh is lost the animal will be reduced in value, and can never be made to yield first-class meat. Great care, therefore, must be taken by the breeder when his calves are weaned.

To guard against Black-leg, the calves should be immediately corded in the dewlap,[8] ] and receive, along with other nourishing food, each 1½ lb. of oilcake a-day. This treatment is absolutely necessary during their first winter. The open strawyard for calves is of great importance. If they are kept regularly growing on, black-leg will be prevented. While proper treatment is adopted, there will be little to fear from that dreadful scourge.

I have never lost more than two of my breeding stock from Quarter-ill. There is no question that the cause of this dreadful malady is sudden transition from a restricted diet to a full and nutritious one, from a poor pasture to a rich and luxuriant one, or from a poor pasture in autumn to a full allowance of turnips; the increase of blood on the system is so great that the constitution cannot stand it. I have seen almost every calf on several large farms carried off by black-leg. There is no secret as to its prevention. Keep the young calf gradually growing, never let him want; give 1 to 2 lb. of oilcake a-day; and keep up the irritation by cords with a good hold of the dewlap. After the first winter, black-leg is little to be feared. I have had a case or two in two or three year olds, but it is very uncommon. Prevention is the only safeguard, for I have never seen black-leg cured. To some 1 to 2 lb. of oilcake a-day may look an expense that the calves cannot repay; but if any of my friends will divide a lot of their calves, and give the one lot turnips and straw, and the other turnips, straw, and 1 to 2 lb. of oilcake daily to each calf, if they are dissatisfied with the result on the 1st of May I shall pay the balance. I shall not enter upon the point of the great additional value of the manure, but leave that to the chemist.

I allow my calves to suckle till October, and the late ones two or three months longer. Butter and even corn are but secondary to our cattle, and in these days of progression we must advance with the times or go down.

As to Navel-ill, much has been written on the deadliness of the complaint. I have never had any loss from it. Diarrhœa is a very common complaint with calves, and I have lost one or two by it, but, I believe, owing to carelessness. It will generally yield to a dose or two of castor-oil. The Knee-ill is more to be dreaded. The complaint is worse some seasons than others, and some, under the best treatment, will die. The calf gets down and is unable to rise; on examination it will be found that one or both, generally of the fore-legs, are very much swollen at the joints; the calf is very much pained, especially if moved, and the disease acts very much like rheumatic fever on the human body. I cannot assign any cause for this disease, as I have seen calves seized with it that were kept warm and comfortable. In some cases it may be attributed to some particular atmospheric influence. It is very difficult to remove. The calf will be down for weeks, and in some cases they never get up. Very little can be done for them, and any treatment I have seen adopted is of small value. Rubbing turpentine daily into the swollen joints is useful, but attention to the general health is of the greatest consequence—such as counteracting costiveness in the bowels, &c. I have seen splints of wood introduced, and also tying out the leg with bandages; but I have no great faith in any such treatment. Rubbing daily with turpentine, and attention to the general health, is all I can recommend. Costiveness of the bowels, if not counteracted, may end in serious consequences. I had a case of a calf that got very costive—so bad that it moaned dreadfully from pain. I lost all hope of saving it. I thought of injections, and had them administered repeatedly for hours; to my astonishment the calf recovered and did well. Castor-oil is the safest medicine for calves. Let me here record an observation for which I am indebted to Mr Sorely, late veterinary surgeon, Alford. (While I have seen some with as good hands as Mr Sorely, I have never had the fortune to meet another with as clear a head.) The first question he asks when told that a calf is ailing, is, "How old is it?" If the calf is very young, and violently ill of any complaint, the great chance is, that it will not recover; whereas, if it be three weeks, and, still more, two or three months old, the probability is that it will.

As to the castration of calves, it is such a simple process that it is unnecessary to say much on the subject. The only thing I would recommend is, that the breeder, if he does not castrate his calves himself, should not allow the operator to cut away any part of the purse, as it should be recollected a good purse in the London market will be the next criterion to the butcher after the flank, and a good purse is always worth £1 to a bullock in London. If the purse should get much swelled after castration, warm fomentations should be applied two or three times a-day, or even a poultice if the case be very bad. If there is an accumulation of pus, it may be necessary to puncture the purse, and the animal will soon be relieved.

Rheumatism, I have no doubt, is hereditary. I have seen it in the fourth generation; little, if anything, can be done for it. At certain seasons of the year it will appear, and wear off again. Howk is perhaps the complaint to which my cattle are most liable. I have repeated cases of it every year. The animal is observed to be stiff and staring in his coat, eats little, and, as the disease advances, retires from the rest of herd. When taken up, his skin along the back will be found adhering to the flesh, and if pressed on the spine he will nearly crouch to the ground. If a hold is taken of the skin—which is very difficult to accomplish—and it is lifted from the flesh, when let go it will give a crack similar to the sound that follows when you give a knock to the common corn-basket. This is a never-failing symptom. I treat the complaint very successfully with doses of salts and sulphur. If the animal is taken up in the early stages of the disease, the skin may only be adhering to a part behind the shoulder-blade; but in a day or two the adhesion will be found to extend along the whole of the spine; or, vice versa, it may begin across the kidneys and go forward to the shoulder-blade. I regard indigestion as the cause, and some cattle take it in particular fields worse than others. Diseases of the tongue are rare: I have had some half-dozen cases. A cure is utterly hopeless, and the animal should be sent to the butcher without delay. When examined, the root of the tongue, or one side of it, will be found very much inflamed, and warts will also generally be observed. The animal will be found frothing at the mouth in the field; and if in the stall, a great deal of frothy matter will be seen before him. I never knew one recover, and I have attempted all sorts of treatment.

Foul in the foot is very serious when it gets into a lot of heavy feeding cattle in winter; the loss it entails is sometimes very heavy. It assumes several phases. If there be but a crack between the claws without swelling, it is easily managed. The old plan of taking a hair-rope and drawing it several times through is very good practice, and with a little caustic applied, a cure is soon effected. There is another form of the disease more difficult to treat: there is the great swelling between the claws; it becomes a hard substance and very painful; the animal gets feverish and is scarcely able to rise, and if got up holds out the afflicted leg. He is off his food, and sinks rapidly in condition; and the pain is excruciating. I apply a succession of poultices, and when the lump breaks the danger is over: tow and tar are then applied to the sore, a cotton bandage put on between the claws of sufficient length to secure the application, and the ends made fast by a woollen garter cut from an old stocking. If the disease is neglected the consequences may be fatal; it is worst in winter when cattle are at the feeding-stall. I regard it as infectious. If it get into a byre of weighty fat cattle the loss will be heavy. I have seen a bullock drop in value £3, £4, or even £5; and several animals lost by carelessness. I had a bullock out upon turnips, which had been neglected, and was pronounced by my veterinary surgeon incurable.