COMPLETE
CATTLE KEEPER;
FARMER'S AND GRAZIER's GUIDE .
IK rag . ; ' ..
CHOICE iND GENERAL MANAGEMENT !
■«T-
Neat Cattle Sheep.
■ . ' WTTIf . '
THE DISEASES TO WHICH THEY ARE SUBJECT
THE SYMPTOMS AND REMEDIES.
BY B. f.AYl'REKCE.
m
IP
m
'8
LONDON;
PUBLISHED DY DEAN AND MUNDAY,
TTRivAONEEDLE-STREET.
SB,
111
if!
11
PERKINS
AGRICULTURAL LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE
SOUTHAMPTON
THE
COMPLETE CATTLE-KEEPER,
OK,
FARMER'S AND GRAZIER's GUIDE
IN THE
CHOICE AND MANAGEMENT
'4,, '< . ;" ( ;> * . s ' of * *■ y ^v&db * '
NEAT CATTLE AND SHEEP;
INCLUDING,
USEFUL OBSERVATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
RELATIVE TO
THE COMPARATIVE VALUE OF THE VARIOUS BREEDS;
AND ON THE
INJURIOUS EFFECTS RESULTING FROM IMPROPER FOOD
AND IMPURE WATER.
HINTS TO DAIRYMEN,
ON THE
BEST CONSTRUCTION OF THE COW-HOUSE, OR STABLE; AND ON
THE MANAGEMENT OF MILCH COWS :
A DESCRIPTION' OP THE
INTERNAL STRUCTURE OF NEAT CATTLE,
AND OF THEIR DIGESTIVE SYSTEM,
THE DISEASES TO WHICH CATTLE ARE SUBJECT,
IN WHICH
THE CAUSES ARE POINTED OUT, THE SYMPTOMS DESCRIBED, AND
APPROVED METHODS OF CURE GIVEN.
THE PROPER TREATMENT OF CALVES AND LAMBS;
AND EVERY OTHER NECESSARY INFORMATION.
K II BELLISHED WITH SIX ILLUSTRATIVE APPROPRIATE ENGRAYINCS.
BY B. LAWRENCE.
HON©©]*!":
PUBLISHED BY DEAN AND MDNDAY, THREA.DNEEDLE- STREET.
Price Four Shillings, extra Boards.
CONTENTS.
Abortion, causes of, and prevention . . 102 120 121
Appendix ' .'.325
Bleeding, remarks on . . . . . , _ 323
Probang, remarks on the . . . . . . 330
instructions for using the . . . . 331
Rowel, to set a . . . . . . . . _ 327
Seton, to set a . . . . . . . _ 325
Setoning, a prevention of disease . . . . 326'
Sheep, to protect from snow, &c. . , . . 334
to construct sheltering-places for . . ' 335
Bleeding, the veins described and illustrated . . . . 329
Butter, effect of soil upon the quality of . . . . . . 23
Bulling, inordinate desire for, how prevented .. ..122
Bruises, external, remedies for . . . . . . .; 243
Cattle, proportion of land allotted to .. .. .. 31
Canilla, description and use of . . . . . , . , 333
Calves, directions for the management of . . . . 123
diseases to which subject, their causes, symp-
toms, and cure .. .. .. ,, 131 149
dry lodging, and cleanliness essential to . . 128, 129
treatment of by the cow when first born ' . . 123
in summer and winter . . . . 126'
for rearing .. .. .. 127
to open and cleanse the bowels of . . • . . 125
Calving, management of the cow at the period of 98
symptoms of, and treatment in 103 '
natural presentation of the calf . . .. ., 103
assistance in, when necessary . . . . . . 104
management of the cow, at delivery . . . . 105
after-birth, and cleansing, cautions relative to 106
heating drenches, injurious . . . . 105, 109
wrong presentation, what aid then required . . 112
assistance and medicines, when necessary .. 110
naval-string, treatment of .. .. ..117
falling-down of the calf-bed llfj-
swelled udder, how prevented . . . . . . 149
abortion, or slipping of the calf, causes of 102; 120
■ prevention of .. .. .. J21
Cow, annual produce from . . .. .. 13
profitable in all respects . . . . . . . . 14
at what age best adapted for the pail . . . . 21
4 CONTENTS.
Cow, sudden change of food injurious to . . 22
proper treatment and food of . . . . . .' 23
treatment of, when brought from a distance .' . 25
injurious effects of forcing milk in 35
over-feeding, cause of difficult labour, and death 38
summer treatment and food . . . . . . 43 71
a liberal supply of food essential . . . . 43' qq
instance and injury of contrary practice . . 56,' 66
injurious effects of heated green food, or husks of
grain .. .. 47
stinging of flies, and heat, injurious . . . . 53
gentle exercise, essential , , 53
confinement injurious . . . . . . 73
common food, how to be assisted . . . . 4.4
winter feeding and treatment . . . . * .' - 75
exposure to damp cold nights injurious . . . . 81
dry lodging, essential . . . . . , . . 81
cleanliness, a main source of health . . . . 82
Continental practice in this respect . . . . 82
internal structure, described
digestive process in, explained
udder, explained and described
heat in, symptoms of
over-breeding, injurious to . .
treatment, while pregnant
Cow-house, or stable, remarks on
necessity of cleanliness in
Dutch and Flemish construction of . . ' . .' 28
best construction of, illustrated by descrip-
tive engravings . . . . . . ..33
closeness of, injurious . . . . . . 32
Cabbages and carrots, useful for occasional food . . 76
Cattle, proportion of land allotted in Holland to . . 31
Cheese, effect of soil upon the quality of . . . . . . 2,3
Cobbett's mode of keeping a cow on the produce of a
quarter of an acre of land . . 86
raising cabbages for food . . . . 87
turnips for ditto . . . . 89
Dairy, choice of cows for . . . . . . . . . . 20
Alderney and Durham breeds, comparative
utility of . . . . . . • . , . '. _ _ 20
general treatment of cows in . . . . ..22
Dairyman, hints to, in his management of milch cows . . 64
Digesting-place for cattle, a prevention of disease . . 51
Digestive system of neat cattle, described and explained 150
.. 150
.. 153
.. 155
.. 100
.. 100
.. 101
26—32
27, 33, 82
CONTENTS. 5
Diseases to which calves are subject; with the causes,
symptoms, and cure . . . , . . . . 131
Canker in the mouth . . . . . , ... 145
Cords . . . . . . . . 132
Costiveness .. .. .. .. . 234
Diarrham, or dysentary 136
Hoose, or Cough . . . . . . . . . . 143
Inflammatory disorders . . . . . . . . 147
prevention of, observations on the 148
Disorders to which neat cattle are subject, with observa-
tions on their general nature . . . . 157
predisposition to, causes of 159
prevention, remarks on . . . . . . . . 158
Diseases which result from Indigestion ; with their symp-
toms, causes, and remedies . . . . . . 160
Atrophy, or Consumption . . . . . . . . 184
Bloody Flux .. .. .. .. .. 170
Chronic Indigestion .. .. .. .. .. 16'4
Clue-bound .. .. .. .. .. ..180
Diarrhoea, or Looseness . . . . . . . . ig7
Dysentary, or slimy flux .. .. .. ..170
Fardel bound, or pantas 180
Flatulent cholic, or gripes 181
Jaundice .. .. .. .. . . mo
Lethargy !7 3
Loss of the cud . . . . . . . . . . 1 7f>
Moor-ill .. .. .. .. 175
Paralysis of the stomach 173
Scoui-ing rot . . . . . . . . ' . . ..'180
Stranguary, or stoppage of water 182
Staggers, or Vertigo . . . . . . . 173
Swimming of the head .. .. .. ..173
Urine, retention of . . . . . . . . . . 182
Wood-ill, or evil .. .. .. .. .. 173
Yellows .. .. .. .. . jgQ
Diseases which arise from over feeding —
Blown, or blast .. .. .. .. .. 137
Choking .. s<„ ... . . jgn
Fog sickness .. .. .. .. .. .. 190
Hoven .... . . . . 187
Meadow sickness .. .. .. ,. ..192
Precautions by observing which, most diseases
resulting from overfeeding, may be prevented 193
Diseases which proceed from repletion of blood
Abscess of the Udder . . . . 202
a 3
6 CONTENTS.
Page
Blain, with swelling . . . . . . . . . • 204
Black water 195
Downfal of the udder . . . . . . . • 198
Fever, with swelling . . . . . • • ■ 204
Inflammation of the udder . . . . . . . . 198
womb . . . . . . 206
Milk, or puerperal fever . . . . . . ■ . 206
Murrain, or pestilential fever . . . . . . 211
common fever . . . . . . 216
After-treatment, or eradication of disease . . 217
Sore udders .. .. .. .. .. •■ 198
SsSV.V. Red water .. ..y .. ..*195.
**•'*• Udder-ill .. .;. . 198
Disorders, inflammatory —
Black leg, or black quarter . . . . . . 239
Catarrh, or cold . . . . . . . • • • 223
Cancer of the eye . . . . . ■ ' . • • • 238
Distemper, or Influenza . . . . . . ■ • 223
Epidemic fever . . . . • • - ■ • • 223
Fellon i • ■ . . 223
Inflammation of the brain 218
bowels .. .. ..231
heart . .
kidneys
liver
lungs . .
milt
shape . .
spleen . .
stomach
womb . .
Mad staggers
Phrenzy . .
Pleurisy . .
Peripneumony
Quarter-ill
Shoot of blood . ;
Diseases, external, wounds, and bruises
Angle-berries, or worts
Bruises
Chronic rheumatism
Chine-fellon
Cancerous ulcers
Foul in the foot
. . £.01
.. 228
.. 230
.. 233
.. 220
... 234
.. 235
.. 234
.. 220
.. 235
.. 218
.. 218
.. 220
.. 220
.. 239
.. 239
.. 258
.. 249
.. 243
.. 243
.. 255
.. 250
CONTENTS. 7
_ . ■ ' *^Bmb
Joint fellon . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
Joint Yellows . . . . . . . . . . 244
Locked Jaw . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
Lice in cattle . . . . . . . . . . 260
Mange . . i . . . . . . . . . 252
Sore teats . . . . ' . . . . 259
Strains . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
Tail rot . . . . 244
Warbles, worms, &c. ... . . . . . . 254
R^' ♦ Wounds .. ..' .. 247
Diseases, Miscellaneous — ■
Bull-burnt . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
Bites of venomous reptiles . . - . . . . . . 262
Cow pock ; .. .. . . ,. : .. '266
Poisons .. .. .. .. ; x' :-. . 261
Disease, concluding remarks on . . . . . . 270
Diseases to which lambs are subject, with their causes,
symptoms, and remedies . . . . . . . . 280
Costiveness . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
Diarrhoea, or excessive looseness . . . . ; . . 281
Staggers . . . . . . . . 285
Diseases to which sheep are subject: with their causes,
symptoms, and remedies . . . . . . . . 287
predisposing and exciting causes of .. ... 287
prevention of . . . . . . . . . . 287
Blindness .. .. .. .. .. .. 319
Blast, or bursting . . . . . . .... 294
Catarrh, or cold .. .. -.. .. .. 296
Debility, and indigestion . . . . . . . . 321
Diarrhoea, or scouring . . . . . . . . 322
Diseased eyes .. .. .. .. .. 319
Foot halt . . . . 316
Foot rot . . . . . . . . . . . . 316
Fly, to prevent . . . . . . . . . . 310
Giddiness . . . . . . . . . . . . 292
Goggles 297
Gargut, resp, or blood . . . . . . . . 290
Hydrocephalus . . . . . . . . . . 292
Inflammation . . . . ' . . . . . . . . 322
of the udder 323
Lice, or tick, to prevent . . . . . . . . 309
Maggots: .. •' '-ii. ■'. 314
Red water . . . . . . . . . . . . 288
Rot 300
Scab, or ray . . . . . . . . . . . . 306
8 CONTENTS.
Page
Sore heads •' . . . . . . . . . . 312
Yellows 298
Wounds .. . ...... .. 318
Fodder, best situation of stores for . . . . 33
general remarks on . . . . . . 36
Food most conducive to increase of milk . . . . 37
improper, a cause of difficult labour . . . . 38
mangel-wurzel, effects of feeding upon . . 39, 40
produce from two cows, fed on ditto and hay . . 41
consequence of over-feeding upon . . . . 42
different kinds of, described . . . . . . 45
substitutes for, in times of scarcity . . . . 45, 47
observations on roots, when given for food . . 46
steamed, preferred on the continent . . . . 47
green,' and heated, injurious .. .. 47, 48
steamed straw, an excellent substitute for . . . . 47
potatoes, ditto ditto . . . . 48
green, best period for cutting . . . . . . 52
dry, and mouldy or dusty, injurious . . . . 54
occasional substitutes for . . . . . . 55
valuable substitute in time of scarcity . . . . 57
summer feeding, remarks on . . . . 71
winter ditto, ditto 75
Garden produce, useful for feeding cattle . . . . 72
General observations on neat cattle . . . . . . 13
Grass, artificial kind, why productive of disease . . 49
second crop of, preferable . . . . . . 54
when most fit for cutting . . . . . . 52
fresh springing productive of mUk . . . . 54
economical management of . . . . 71
Grain, its effects on the animal system 70
bruised, useful to pregnant cows . . . . . . 102
Harley's (Mr.) dairy at Glasgow 14
Heifers, at what age fit for breeding 99
Lambing season, observations on the . . . . . . 275
fold-yard, essential in . . . . ' . . . . 276
treatment of the ewe in . . . . . . . . 276
injury from delivery, remedy for . . . . 278
Lambs, diseases to which they are subject . . . . 280
Manure, Dutch method of economising 28
Milch cows, in and about London . . . . . . 76
general mode of keeping ditto . . . . 77
Islington cow-keepers' practice described 79
injurious effects of damp air on . . . . 81
proper periods for milking . . . . 83
CONTENTS. 9
' ' Page
Milch-cow, to dry of her milk .. .. ., .. 267
Neat cattle, general observations on . . . . . . 13
uses to which their various parts are applied 15
for stock, of the choice of .. .. .. 16
soundness of issue on what de-
pendent . . . . . . 17
their age, how found by the teeth 18
horns 19
proper treatment and food of . . 23
exercise essential to the health of . . . . 24
unlimited quantity of food injurious to . . 24
how inured to a change of food . . . . 25
necessity of dressing and cleaning of 34
subject to blast, or hoven, from what cause 49
proneness to overfeeding in . . 49
should not feed on grass while dew is on it 52
internal structure of, described .. .. 150
disorders to which they are subject; with
their causes, symptoms, and methods of
v cure .. .. ... .. .. 157
Oats, why injurious, and when they may be given with
advantage . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
particularly useful to pregnant cows . . . . 102
singular instance of the effects of unbruised oats 67
recipe for the cure of the disease produced thereby 68
Oil-cake, bad eiFects of feeding on . . . . 76
Potatoes, steamed, an excellent article for cattle feed . . 48
effects of, when improperly given . . . . 76
Probang, general utility of . . . . . . . . 330
description and use of .. .. .. ..331
plate of explanation, description of . . . . 332
Recipe No. 1, opening drench, for cows .. .. .. 68
2, restorative drink, ditto .. .. ..116
3, strengthening do. ditto .. .. .. 119
4, purging do. ditto . . . . . . 121
5, strengthening do. ditto .. .. .. 122
6, ditto do. ditto 123
7, cleansing mixture, for a young calf . . 125
8, solution of potash, to make .. .. 133
9, opening draught for a young calf . . . . 134
10, cordial drink, for a calf .. .. .. 134
11, astringent do. ditto .. .. .. 137
12, ditto do. ditto 137
13, ditto do. ditto .. .. .. 137
14, ditto do. ditto .. .. .. 138
10
CONTENTS.
Page
15,
astringent drmk, for a calf
. 138
16,
purgative drink
ditto . . . . .
. 139
clyster for a calf
. 140
purgative drench
ditto
. 141
IS,
opening do.
ditto ..
. 142
19,
cordial drink
ditto
. 142
20,
cough ball
ditto
. 144
21,
purgative drink
ditto
. 145
22,
opening drench
ditto
. 145
23,
canker mixture
ditto
. 146
24,
saline draught
ditto
. 147
25,
opening clyster
ditto
. 148
26,
opening drench for
neat cattle
. 163
anodyne carminitive tincture, to make .
. 163
27,
stomachic drink for neat cattle . .
. 164
28,
purgative draught
ditto
. 166
29,
ditto do.
ditto ; .
. 166
30,
clyster
ditto
. 167
31,
opening drench
ditto
. 169
32,
cordial do.
ditto
. 169
33,
opening do.
ditto
. 172
34,
astringent do.
ditto
. 173
35,
opening do.
ditto
. 175
36,
clyster
ditto . .
. 175
37,
diuretic draught
ditto
. 176
38,
opening drench
ditto
. 177
39,
stomachic drink
ditto
. 179
40,
ditto
ditto
• 179
41,
restorative drink
ditto
. 181
42,
opening ditto
ditto
. 183
42,
gentle opening dittc
ditto
. 185
43,
cordial drink
ditto
. 189
44,
opening drench
ditto
. 191
45,
ditto
ditto
. 193
46,
ditto
ditto
. 193
47,
saline drench
ditto
. 196
48,
ditto
ditto
. 197
49,
astringent hall
ditto
. 198
50,
embrocation
ditto
. 201
51,
ditto
ditto
. 201
52,
purging drink
ditto
. 202
53,
cooling ditto
ditto
. 206
54,
clyster
ditto . ,
. 208
55,
cordial drink
ditto
. 209
Gruel, to make
. 210
CONTENTS.
Recipe No. 56, antiseptic drink for neat cattle
Fumigating mixture, to make
57, purgative drench for neat cattle
58, ditto ditt0
59, cordial drink ditto
CO, saline opening drench ditto
CI, ditto
G2, clyster
63, lotion
64, injection
65, eye lotion
66, eye ointment
67, saline draught
68, embrocation
C9, ditto
70, digestive ointment
ditto
ditto
ditto
ditto
ditto
ditto
ditto
ditto
ditto
ditto
. o '~-»u*i<ui. unco
/ I, salme purgative draught ditto
72, ointment
73, ditto
74, restorative drink
75, black oil
76, ointment mixture
77, ointment
78, linament
79, lotion
80, antidotal drink
81, linament
82, fomentation
83, lotion
84, powerful lotion
85, cooling ditto
8G, drying milk mixture
87, ditto ditto
88, oils for wounds in sheep
89, stomachic drink ditto
90, gruel for ewes
91 ; cordial drink for ditto
92, astringent draught for lambs
93, purgative ditto for ewes
94, astringent ditto for lambs
95, gentle purgative do. ditto
96, cordial drink ditto
97, purgative do. ditto
98, stomachic ball ditto
99, purgative drink for sheep
ditto
ditto
ditto
ditto
ditto
ditto
ditto
ditto
ditto
ditto
ditto
ditto
ditto
ditto
ditto
ditto
11
Page
. 215
• 217
• 220
• 222
• 225
. 227
• 228
■ 233
. 236
■ 237
. 238
. 239
241
243
249
249
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
259
260
262
• 263
■ 263
• 265
• 265
• 267
• 268
269
277
278
278
279
282
282
283
283
284
286
286
289
12
CONTENTS.
Recipe No. 99, purgative drink for sheep
100, ditto ""to
101, ditto ditto
102, mild ditto ditto
103, mixture for the rot, ditto
104, ditto ditto
105, ointment for ditto ditto
106, fly-powder ditto
10?', ditto ditto
108' ointment for sore heads, ditto
ditto
ditto
ditto
ditto
ditto
ditto
ditto
ditto
109, mercurial ointment
110, powder for foot rot
111, wound mixture
112, purgative drink
113, eye-powder-
114, opening draught
115, astringent drink
116, oil for sore ulcers
117, seton ointment
118, stimulating ointment
Rowel, to set a •■ -■ ••
where injurious to the animal
Sow, one to he kept to every cow .. •■
Sheep, quantity kept on a given space of land . .
general ohservations on • :
to ascertain the origin of diseases m
Weeding, directions relative to . .
to tent, or shelter .. •• ••
diseases to which they are subject
Seton, to set a • • •
Setonine, a prevention of disease . . • • • ■
TnrnTns generally, productive of thin poor milk
Turnips, g<^y, for growth and ffianag e
ment of . .
Trochar, description and use of . -
Udder, treatment of when swelled • •
Water, remarks on its effects on neat cattle
superabundance, a cause of disease
impure, a cause of abortion
directions for proper management ot
impure, instances of injury from the use of 61,
from ponds surrounded by trees, injurious
to improve by blanching
Wounds, see bruises external
Page
291
295
297
300
304
306
308
311
312
313
315
317
318
. 320
. 320
. 321
. 323
. 324
. 325
. 327
. 327
. 328
. 14
. 32
. 271
. 272
. 273
. 334
.. 287
.. 325
.. 326
.. 79
89
333
35
» 59
59
59
60
74
62
63
243
THE
Complete Cattle-Keeper.
NEAT CATTLE.
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS.
The bull, the cow, and the ox, animals all included
in, and designated by, the general term of neat
cattle, form an essential and important part of
every farmer's live stock; and, under good and
careful management, contribute very materially to
increase his comforts, and assist him in his-
means of wealth. Indeed, if we consider their
very great utility, and the wonderful variety of
productions these valuable animals contribute
towards the support of mankind, we must cer-
tainly rank them among the most useful of the
creation. A single cow, for instance, will, in the
course of a season, yield so much milk, that two
hundred pounds of butter may be obtained there-
from; and if to this be added the cheese, which
several of our countries are so famed for produc-
ing, we have two important articles of human
B
14
THE COMPLETE
sustenance, from the superabundance of milk
which these animals are capable of yielding.
Cows, indeed, are profitable in all respects, not
only in their present produce, but in their rear-
ing calves, and in fetching nearly their first cost,
when age requires that they should be fattened
for the market.
In a moderate establishment, where several
cows are kept, it will be found that, after sup-
plying the family, the surplus butter and cheese
will always pay the expences of keep, and leave
a something towards paying the first cost; so as
ultimately to make the fattening of the animal,
when no longer serviceable for the dairy, an ob-
ject of actual profit.
In Mr. Harley's dairy, at Glasgow, in which
ninety-six cows were kept, a large stock of pigs
were also maintained on the waste milk and
washings; and twenty roasters were selected
from them every Wednesday, and sold, gene-
rally at half-a-guinea each. Indeed, it is neces-
sary that at least one sow should be kept to
every cow, as the dairy always affords skim-
milk, butter-milk, whey, and other washings,
sufficient for her maintenance.
If the bull and the ox do not equal the cow in
CATTLE- KEEPER.
15
their produce while living, they put in a very
considerable claim for their share of general
usefulness, as beasts of draught, at least for
agricultural purposes, particularly in drawing
the wain, or assisting at the plough; they are
equally serviceable and more enduring than the
horse, and, after passing as much of their lives
in the service of their owners as may be consi-
dered useful or necessary, they are fattened for
the market, and supply our table with a most
substantial article of food.
There is, in fact, scarcely a particle of these
animals, but what is applied to some useful pur-
pose; even the blood is of service: the butcher
uses it to feed swine; the chemist employs it in
the preparation of Prussian blue; the- refiner in
purifying his sugar ; and the farmer for manur-
ing his land. Their fat is converted into tallow,
and made into candles; their hides, tanned and
curried, make leather of the best and strongest
kind; their hair improves and adds to the dura-
bility of the cement of which the walls and ceil-
ings of our dwellings are covered, and their
horns are made into combs, handles for knives,
and a variety of toys. Their bones, a cheap
substitute for ivory, are, by the mechanics of
16
THE COMPLETE
large towns, manufactured into a great number
of useful articles; considerable quantities are
also converted into ivory black, or are ground,
and used as a most excellent manure; and, lastly,
the flesh of these noble and useful animals forms,
in their infancy, one of the most tender and deli-
cious, and in their more mature years the best
and most substantial dishes, that ever graced the
table either of the prince or the peasant.
Of the choice of neat cattle for stock.
In selecting neat cattle for stock, two import-
ant considerations should invariably be kept in
mind ; — the first is, the health and soundness of
the stock from which they are purchased; and,
secondly, the nature and quality of the soil upon
the produce of which it is intended to feed them;
for unless these harmonize in some degree, it will
be useless to expect that certain advantage from
their possession which a more prudent foresight
would have rendered little less than secure.
For this purpose, it is essential that stock,
whether for breeding, for the dairy, or for the
shambles, should be selected, not from a chance
collection at a market or a fair, but from a breed
of which you either know, or can ascertain.
CATTLE-KEEPER.
17
every particular, not only as to the stock from
which they were bred, but also as to the manner
in which they have been reared, the nature of
the food upon which they were sustained ; and
last, though not least, the diseases to which they
or the breed from which they were produced
are or have been subject. This latter considera-
tion is particularly important; for if they are
much subject to disease, arising from constitu-
tional rather than accidental circumstances, you
will do better to have nothing to do with them;
but if their diseases be rather occasional than
periodical, and resulting merely from improper
food, poorness of living, or unhealthy situations,
you may hope by a better mode of treatment to
restore them to their best state of condition, and
improve them in the breed.
To afford fair prospects of a healthy stock,
neat cattle ought to be bred from cows of a good
make and shape; the bull should also be of the
same description; indeed it is considered that
the soundness of the issue depends more upon
the male than the female.
Much has been written, and, perhaps, much
more said, as to what breeds are the best; and a
considerably greater stress has been laid on this
b3
18 THE COMPLETE
part of the question;, than is borne out by any
positive result; there are good and bad of all
kinds; and provided you select sound and healthy
animals from warranted stock, you will, if you
treat them properly, have little to care for, and
less to fear.
Always purchase cattle that have been fed on
lands of a poorer quality than your own; but you
must not too suddenly put them to the richer
food, or they will be liable to several dangerous
diseases ; it rarely happens, however, that cattle,
purchased from rich lands thrive well on poor
soils ; but on the contrary, those from poorer
farms do well on good land. — The choice of neat
cattle, therefore, for the stocking of farms, must,
in a great degree, be regulated by the nature and
quality of the soil intended to feed them on.
It is also essential that the cattle should be
young, as well as healthy and of sound constitu-
tion ; for the younger they are, the more likely
they will be to do service; their age may easily
be known by the teeth: like sheep, they have
no fore teeth in the upper jaw; it is the lower,
therefore, by which this must be determined :
the horns also afford some guide in this respect.
The eight fore teeth of the lower jaw are
CATTI.H-KliBl'Ea.
19
shed, and replaced by others which continue
throughout life: the two middle fore teeth fall
out at about two years old, and are succeeded by
others not so white. At three years old, they
have two more, next to those of the previous
year; and thus, by the two succeeding years, all
the fore teeth are renewed; they are then termed
full-mouthed; and are five years old. At the
sixth year the row is even, the last two being
completely up. Besides these, they have ten
grinders in each jaw.
At the age of three years, the horns are
smooth and even; in the course of the fourth
year a wrinkle or circle forms round the basis of
the horn, near the head; this is every year suc-
ceeded by another, which always seems to move
the other forward. At looking therefore at the
horns of neat cattle,, if the first circle be consi-
dered as three years, it will be an easy task to
tell the age of the beast at any subsequent pe-
riod. An implicit reliance cannot, however, be
placed on these marks, particularly in purchasing
of strangers, or cow-jobbers, such persons hav-
ing been known to file down some of the animal 9
teeth, and alter the appearance of the horns, so
as to give them the semblance and marks of
20 THE COMPLETE
young cattle of the most valuable breeds, and
pass them off as such to strangers.
Of the choice of cows for the dairy.
In selecting cows for the dairy, the previous
remarks will be found particularly applicable; it
will therefore be superfluous to recapitulate what
we have there said; but the purchaser will do
well- to be careful that the cows he selects are of
a tolerable size, young, and of a form and dis-
position adapted for fattening — a use to which
they must of course be put when no longer ser-
viceable for the pail. By many the Alderney
breed are preferred, on account of the richness
and quantity of the milk they produce; but if
their high cost as milch cows, and their low
price with the butcher when done with, are
taken into the account, they will not ultimately
prove of so much advantage as has been generally
supposed; although, all things considered, they
may perhaps be best for a private family. The
use to which the milk is intended to be put, is
the criterion which should decide the choice —
the milk of some cows abounds with the oily
principle, or that of cream, much more than
others; if butter therefore be the object, these
CATTLE-KEEPER.
21
are decidedly preferable; but if cheese be more
worth attention, the choice should be given to that
kind the milk of which produces the curdy prin-
ciple in the greatest quantity. Near large towns,
and particularly in the vicinity of the Metropolis,
where the milk itself is a very important object,
the preference is given to the Durham breed, not
only because they are good milkers, but as being
generally of good size, mild temper, and easily
fattened when age renders them useless in the
dairy.
The particular age at which cows should be
purchased, has been repeatedly asked. If we take
the opinions of the best informed writers on the
subject, founded on the practice of the most
successful dairymen, we should say, not younger
than three, nor older than five, years: It is too
generally the practice to put cows to the bull
too young; this weakens the constitution, not
only of the cow herself, but also of her progeny;
and although they may be brought earlier to the
pail by this plan, it is certain that it produces a
premature maturity, and the animal becomes not
only more subject to disease, but its productive
ability necessarily is much sooner exhausted; in
22
THE COMPLETE
the end, then, it will be found to prove a loss
rather than a gain.
If the situation of the farm be cold and ex-
posed, it will be essential that the cows should
be such as are inured to the place; and it would
be adviseable to preserve or keep up the stock
by breeding ; but if the farm is in a southern or
more sheltered situation, and the pasture for-
ward and abundant, great care will be necessary
where cattle is brought from a colder or less
productive situation into luxuriant pastures.
Change of food, particularly of pasturage, has a
great effect on neat cattle; and when suddenly
made, is often productive of very serious conse-
quences. They should first be put into situa-
tions the most like that from which they have
been taken; if from better pasture, into the best
you have; but if from poorer, into the worst
and barest parts of the farm; and after a suffici-
ent time has been allowed to adapt the consti-
tution to the change, they may be gradually re-
moved into the pasture in which it is intended
they shall remain.
CATTLE-KEEPER.
23
Of the proper treatment and food of neat
cattle generally, and of cows in parti-
cular.
The profit and advantage that are to be derived
from the keeping of neat cattle, or from the
produce of the dairy, depend greatly on their
treatment and management. Soil has a sensible
effect on the quality of the pasturage, and this
also operates similarly on the animals which
graze thereon. In Exeter, the butter is excellent,
but the cheese the worst in the kingdom; while
in Somersetshire the reverse is the case; —the
cheese there manufactured is of a very superior
quality, while the butter is uniformly indifferent,
or bad. The richness of the butter made in
Scotland, is generally attributed to the cows
feeding upon the sweet and short pasture in the
glens; the soils of other parts of the kingdom
have also a similar effect on the animals fed
thereon; but, generally speaking, old pastures
are the best ; new-laid ones being often produc-
tive of disease.
In natural pastures, there is usually a suffici-
ent variety of good herbage; and if the animal
24 THE COMPLETE
be allowed to rove about, it will select such only
as instinct points out to be proper, or agreeable
to its palate; and in doing this uses such a de-
gree of exercise as is conducive to health and
perfect digestion. This is almost invariably the
case where the animals are inured to the soil and
climate; but when the farmer or dairyman is
obliged to have recourse to artificial food and
confinement, the animal becomes essentially dif-
ferent: an unlimited quantity of food is a temp-
tation which few animals can withstand; and
when it is not accompanied with a due portion
of exercise, often proves of bad, if not of fatal
consequences. It is a fact, equally applicable to
the brute, as it is disgraceful to the human being,
that where the inordinate appetite for food is in-
dulged, an inclination or sensation of thirst, is
invariably felt; and that by freely indulging in
either extreme, a capability for extension of ap-
petite is ingendered, which soon paralyzes the
powers of the digestive system, and produces a
train of disorders injurious to the whole animal
economy in their existence, and totally destruc-
tive in their effects.
When neat cattle, but particularly cows, are
brought from a distant county to the farm or
CATTLE-KEEPER.
26
dairy, they will require particular care and at-
tention until accustomed to the soil, food, and
other local circumstances connected with their
new residence. If they have travelled far, they
should, at first, be put into the stable, or cow-
house, and allowed a large quantity of litter, but
must he taken out of the stable several times a
day, for the benefit of fresh air. They should
also be well rubbed and brushed all over the
body, particularly about the joints; and if they
seem fatigued, their legs may be rolled in ban-
dages kept wet with warm water, in which a
little vinegar has been mixed.
They must not be put too quickly upon any-
particular diet; but gradually inured to that
system of feeding which it is intended they shall
follow. At first, food that it is easy of diges-
tion, is decidedly the best; and, if cooked, it
will be better still. Too much must not he given
at any one time; let them have it in small quan-
tities, and frequently. The water which they
drink should, at first, have the raw chill taken
off, and a little bran or meal may be put into it,
together with a small quantity of salt.
If either of the cows should be near calving,
let her be bled, but not too profusely; this will
c
26
THE COMPLETE
render her calving more easy, and less liable to
accident.
To render this important part of our subject
clear and distinct, we shall divide it into the fol-
lowing general divisions —
I. The cow-house, or stable.
II; The necessity of dressing and cleaning.
III. Foddering, or feeding.
IV. Water.
I. — Of the cow-home, or stable.
The most healthy stables are those which are
open to the east, or have an eastern aspect, and
are built on a dry and elevated situation. It is a
common practice to build them too close; and it
is an equally erroneous opinion, that cold is in-
jurious to cows, or that they should be carefully
guarded against it: this opinion is productive of
many of the worst disorders with which they
are afflicted. The cow-house is, in general, not
oidy very low, and with narrow openings, but
it is also shut up closely as possible, if the wea-
ther happen to be a little severer than usual. A
more pernicious or more fatal practice can
scarcely be conceived. Experience has proved
CATTLE- KEEPER.
27
that cows kept in the open air, without the
slightest shelter, suffer but little inconvenience,
except in damp or wet weather; it is better, no
doubt, to keep them in a more sheltered situa-
tion; BUT THE STABLE SHOULD NEVER BE COM-
PLETELY CLOSED UP, HOWEVER COLD THE WEA-
THER may be, although it is desirable that strong
draughts of cold or damp air should be guarded
against, especially in winter. It may be held as a
general rule, that the stable is too close, when, on.
entering, the breath is affected, or any smell
of urine can be perceived.
If it be'important to keep cow-houses or cat-
tle stables well ventilated, it is no less so to
keep them clean. Dung, if left therein, soon ren
ders the air unwholsome, and engenders a train
of putrid disorders.— Cows in a stable should
not be too close — a square space of six feet each
way should be allowed to each cow. Two or
three ventilators near the ground on the north
side, affords, at a trifling expence, an excellent
way of renewing or sweetening the air in stables
in the summer-time; and on the south side, in
winter, without occasioning draughts; and these
may be shut when necessary, either by means of
straw or otherwise. The ground of the cow-
28
THE COMPLETE
house should be of brick work or stone; with
the sides elevated just sufficient to cause it to
drain towards the middle, where there should
be a gutter, to carry off the urine and excre-
ment, and convey them into a water-tight tank,
or at all events into a large covered hole on the
outside; and by no means, as is too frequently
the case, into an open ditch, on the outside. By
these simple means, the animals and their habi-
tations may always be kept clean and sweet.
The Dutch and Flemish cow farmers keep their
farms in a state of the greatest neatness; and
by pursuing a systematic plan, obtain full three
times as much manure as the English farmers
do, being generally able to produce sufficient to
dress the whole of their lands every year.
The preparation of manure being very imper-
fectly understood in this country, and as many
of our farmers throw away or are annoyed by
what what is a source of wealth to the Dutch
and Flemish farmer, we shall give an outline of
the mode pursued.
To accomplish this important end, they are very
careful to make, at the back of their stables and
cattle sheds, a large round hole of about three feet
deep, and capacious enough to contain one
CATTLE-KEEPEfi.
29
month's dung; the sides and bottoms of this
are built water tight of brick clinkers, or stones.
The floors of their stables and cattle-sheds are
also made bard, dry, and water- tight, with
water-tight drains to lead to another pit made
in the same manner, also at the back of the shed
at a few yards from, and of a similar size, to
the dung-pit; so that all the liquid manure ne-
cessarily runs from the stalls into this cesspool
or tank;— to this place also drains are made from
the privies, and from the sinks in the kitchen
and washhouse; so that every drop of soap suds,
wash, and all dirty and refuse water, finds its
way to the cesspool; but which is never allowed
to run over.
The fields of corn stubble, and the second
year's grass land, whether of clover, ray-grass,
or sinfoin, are carefully pared into thin clods:
These clods, containing a proportion of the
roots of the plants which have before been har-
vested from them, and much garden mould, be-
come useful auxiliaries to the straw, bean haulm,
and any other waste 'produce, capable of being
dried for bedding, and spares the use of those
materials, which if solely applied would require
half the land of the farm to supply. This
c3
30
■tati COMPLETE
refuse, together with the parings of their lanes,
the edges of their walks, and sides of their
hedges," are dried, and then carried to their barns,
where they are piled in a kind of stack, and por-
tions of it are carried daily as it may be wanted
for bedding into the cattle sheds.
The bedding of the cattle is made with fresh
clods every morning and evening; that part
which has been under the heels of the cow is,
every morning, thrown under her fore feet, and
that which was under her fore feet, is thrown
into its place; and fresh clods, about one hun-
dred and fifty pounds weight, is added to the
bedding, and then straw, or other dry vegetable
produce is strewed over that; — the same is also
done every evening. The sheep and pigs are
only supplied with fresh bedding once a day.
The bedding lies under them seven days and
seven nights, when the stalls are cleaned out,
and the dung conveyed into the dung pit at the
back of the cattle sheds, where it lies till it has
had the four weeks' dung thrown into it.
This mass is thus composed of portions of
manure which have laid in the dung pit four
weeks, and upon which all the ashes and sweep-
ings of the house and premises are thrown daily.
CA'I'TLE-KEEPElt.
Si
The reservoir, or tank, into which all the drain -
ings of the stables, &c. are conveyed, and which
is necessarily contiguous, is, every other day, if
not full enoughj made so with water, and after
being stirred up, is thrown with a scoop over
the heap of dung. Now as this heap contains
four weeks' dung, fourteen wettings with such
rich fermenting liquid more than doubles the
value of the whole heap for agriculture purposes.
At the end of the fourth week, the dung hole,
or dung pit, is emptied, by which means the pit's
contents is again turned over, and its most rot-
ten parts brought to the top. It is now formed
into a heap from three to five feet high, and
carefully covered with sods; by this covering,
the heat and goodness of the dung is prevented
from evaporating, and the rain water is kept
from penetrating into it, which would otherwise
check its fermentation. When the heap has lain
and fermented during two or three months, it
is carried to the fields to be manured -with it, and
the sods which covered it to keep in its warmth,
are thrown into the bottom of the dung pit,
where they lay and become excellent manure.
The quantity of cattle kept upon most of the
Dutch farms, is at the rate of five cows or fifty
32
THE COMPLKTB
sheep, to every twenty acres of land; and the
quantity of manure produced is from ten to
twenty tons per acre, annually.
Pigs, rabbits, and poultry, should also be kept
away from the stable ; as they tend to make it
very unwholesome.— The dust of the thrashing
and winnowing also will get into the stables, if
too close to the barn; and, if too continually in-
haled by the cows, engender consumption.
We have said, that it is an erroneous opinion,
that cold is injurious to cows, and that some of
the worst disorders with which they are afflicted
are attributable to the effect produced by this
opinion. This may appear rather probematical
to dairymen, or to farmers who keep cows for
their milk; for their daily observation induces the
belief, that the secretion of milk is most abundant
in cows that are sheltered from the weather;
many, therefore, shut up the stable, and even de-
prive the animals of light and almost of air during
a considerable part of the year. Were they, how-
ever, to place in their account against this sup-
posed increase of produce the expence of pur-
chasing fresh cows, to replace those that have
been, we may almost, say, suffocated; they would
find their gain to be in an inverse ratio to what
CATTLJ3-KEBPJBR.
33
they had 'supposed; and then, perhaps,, they might
be induced to abandon this pernicious practice,
and suffer their cows to feel the truly-beneficial
effects of light, and sweet and wholesome air.
A stable or shed for cows should be so formed
that a space twenty-four feet in length should
be allowed to every four cows, and so in pro-
portion for any further number; the floor should
be placed above the level of the ground, the
sides slightly elevated, so that all moisture may
run off to a drain in the middle, which should
be conducted to a covered pit on the outside of
the building. The place should be lofty; and
to secure a free circulation of air, two windows
to every twenty-four feet will be necessary.
The stores for the fodder should be separated
from the stable or shed by a brick or stone wall,
if adjoining thereto; but if over the stable, by a
brick or tile floor, which by its compactness keeps
the dust and noxious fumes from the food.
Every precaution should be taken to keep the
place clean and wholesome; and in this respect,
it may not be amiss to imitate the practice of
the Dutch cow-keepers, who are as careful to
keep their, cow houses sweet and clean as the
English gentleman is in managing his stable.
34
THE COMPLETE
For the best formation or shape of the sta-
ble, — See plates II aud III.
II. Of the necessity of dressing and cleaning
neat cattle.
In the stable in which horses are kept, a
brush and curry-comb are indispensable requi-
sites; but in the cow-stable, these are rarely to
be found : this can only arise from an opinion
that cleanliness is not so essential to the cow as
to the horse. This neglect is the source of
many evils. — Cows cannot be healthy, unless
the insensible perspiration goes on regularly;
and this cannot be the case when they are put
into wet land, or kept in dirty houses, and no
care taken to remove the dirt or matter by which
the perspirable vessels or pores of the skin, are
obstructed. In dairies where the dressing of
cows is regularly practised, they are uniformly
stronger, and in better condition; are less sub-
ject to diseases, and yield more milk, and that
milk of a very superior quality.
Cows should be dressed once a day, and on no
account should any dung be left on their coats.
This operation will not be found difficult when
CATTLE-KEEPER.
35
it is regularly practised, and plenty of fresh litter
allowed, and their dung often removed, that
they may be prevented from lying down in it.
Cows thus managed, will be found much more
profitable than otherwise; and the improvement
will be observable both in the dung heap and in
the milk.
Many persons consider that if cows have suf-
ficient food, it is all that is necessary; but we
are convinced from experience — the best of all
teachers — that, however well cows are fed, they
will not be found near so profitable as they
would be, if the care and attention so essential
to their cleanliness and well-being were duly
attended to; while those that are thus taken
care of, will be found to thrive even upon more
indifferent food.
If the udder and teats of the cow are occasion-
ally washed with warm water, those hard swel-
lings, which are often so very troublesome, will
be prevented, as will also warts and other excre-
scences to which the udder is subject without
this attention. The udder, and especially the
teats, should be washed, immediately before the
cow is milked.
36
THIS COMPLETE
III. Of foddering, or feeding.
In the various publications which have ap-
peared relative to the management of neat cattle
generally, but of milch cows in particular, there
seems to be too much stress laid on the quality
of the food that should be given them, to the
exclusion of a much more important considera-
tion ; namely, the health of the organ that is to
digest and assimilate the food. This has been
a very common error, and has led to the opinion,
that the lactiferous powers of the cow may be
increased to a great extent, merely by supplying
the animal with that extra natural nutriment
which is so abundantly found in the artificial
grasses, and the various roots that are now
getting into use. This is, however, a great
mistake; the power of the digestive organ is
limited, and if we give the animal such food as
exceeds either in quantity or quality the power
of the organ which is to assimilate it, we are
sure to defeat the object we endeavour to obtain.
It has also been considered, and some experi-
ments have been published to support the opi-
nion, that by a judicious use of the artificial
CAT PL K-K 15EPJ4R .
37
grasses in summer, and of the saccharine and mu-
cilaginous roots in winter, the produce of milk
may not only be increased, but even extended
to a much greater length of time. A little re-
flection will, however, convince us, that in this,
as well as in many other farming concerns, peo-
ple want to take more out of a thing than its
nature is capable of yielding: they want to kill
the goose that has the property of laying the
golden eggs, in order to get them before the
proper time. But in this, as in every other
thing of the same kind, such persons are blind
to their own true interest.
The proper management of neat cattle, as
well as of milch cows, is a very plain and simple
thing. If we have a sufficient extent of old pas-
tures for them, very little reflection upon the
subject is necessary; but if we are compelled to
have recourse to what are termed, artificial
means, then it is that our skill and judgment
are brought into trial.
Perhaps, by a judicious use of mangel-wurzel,
and other nutritious roots, we may promote and
extend the lactiferous services of the cow in a
considerable degree; yet we must never lose
sight of the important truth, that the stomach,
D
38
THE COMPLETE
as well as the udder, are of limited power, and
that the former must not be oppressed with an
improper quantity of food, nor the latter with
too much blood, however wholesome and nutri-
tive the food may be.
It is one of the consequences of improper
feeding, that it is the cause of difficult labour
in the cow, and the occasion of the frequent
necessity for the assistance of the Cow-doctor
in the delivery of the calf. Mr. J. White, in his
Compendium of Cattle Medicine, describes the
appearance which presented itself on opening a
cow that had died from over-feeding. When
she was near calving, she was kept in the field,
and liberally supplied with hay (in winter) : one
morning, she was found dead, and her death
was attributed to her having fallen into a sort of
hollow, which was so inconsiderable, that, had
her stomach been free from the load that was
found in it, she could undoubtedly have got up
again. "I found," says Mr. White, "the rumen,
or paunch, weighing nearly one hundred pounds,
and the poor calf seemed to have been driven
into a corner, and suffocated. I am decidedly
of opinion," adds Mr. W. " that the cause of the
peculiar difficulty in parturition, or rather the
CATTi.E-KEEP.KR.
39
frequency of it, in the cow, is owing to impro-
per feeding."
If we observe the intimate connexion which
exists between the fourth stomach and the udder
of the cow, we shall soon perceive the fact, that
when the former becomes inflamed or disordered,
the latter is sure to sympathise with it; and also
that if the udder becomes materially injured,
the stomach inevitably participates. This is
another circumstance which should induce us to
be very careful in feeding milch cows when-
ever we are under the necessity of taking them
from their natural pastures.
When mangel-wurzel was first introduced, it
was given profusely and indiscriminately; and
considerable injury was done in consequence.
In the Farmers' Journal, (in 1814), it was stated,
that all Mr. Coke's cows were fed upon mangel-
wurzel, and that only, for a few days, strewed
upon grass land, in the same manner that tux-,
nips are given in some counties; and that they
were effected with the palsy, and some of them
lost their milk; but that as soon as the mangel-
wurzel was discontinued, they began to recover.
In the same Journal it is also stated, that when
mangel-wurzel was given by a practical farmer
40
THE COMPLETE
to his cattle in large quantities, and without
hay, it in many instances caused a partial para-
lysis of the hind parts, the animals appearing
as if they had been injured in the back. And yet
it is added, that Lord Crewe gave nearly sixty
pounds per day to milking- cows with a proper
proportion of hay, not only with impunity, but
with the best effects.
In another number of the Farmers' Journal, it
is stated, that in the spring of the year, Mr.
Birch gave each cow a bushel of mangel-wurzel
daily. A sweet flavour was soon distinguishable
in the milk, the quantity increased, and the but-
ter partook of the sweet flavour of the milk.
The cows were very healthy, and remained so
throughout the summer. The second year's
crop was given in part to the cows as soon as
taken from the ground, and the same improve-
ment was soon observed in the milk and the but-
ter, as well as an improved condition of the
cows. — Mr. Birch wished to save a pasture for
mowing that season, and reserved the other part
of the roots till the spring; and in the month
of May he found them as sound as when first
gathered, and they remained so until the cows
had finished them. The latter end of June, he
CATTLE- KEEPER.
41
gained his crop of hay, a ' 1( l delightful May but-
ter, and his cows had all the appearance of the
highest state of health.
The results of the following experiments will
we think, be worth the farmer's attention.
• On the morning of ths 18th of October,
two milch-cows, that had calved in the spring,
were turned into an over-eaten pasture, and fed
every morning and evening with hay only, and
the products being measured at each meal, the
result for one week was— one hundred quarts
of milk, eleven pints of cream, and four pounds
and a half of butter. The cows remained in the
same pasture another week, and were fed with
mangel-wurzel and hay, each cow having half-a-
bushel, sliced, and given to her morning and
evening; the week's result was then found to
be — one hundred and thirty quarts of milk, se-
venteen pints of cream, and six pounds and three
quarters of butter. The next week the cows
were fed upon hay only, and the result was only
eighty-seven quarts of milk, eight pints and a
half of cream, and three pounds and a half of
butter.
In Ireland, the quantity given to each cow
varies from twenty-five to one hundred and
d3
42
THE COMPLETE
twelve pounds daily; and this is given not only
without any bad results, but with considerable
advantages, both as to the dairy and in feeding
for the butcher: it is, however, accompanied by
a moderate quantity of hay, and sometimes by
an intermediate feed of turnips.
Mr. Pomeroy, an eminent farmer, ordered
three wheelbarrowsful of this root, fresh pulled
from the ground, to be thrown to his milch cows
on a pasture. The food was so delicious, that
they contended for exclusive possession; and the
strongest having succeeded, she continued to
devour the roots with avidity, till they were all
consumed, and herself gorged beyond the possi-
bility of recovery. But in this case, instead of
paralysis, the same symptoms took place as are
caused by unrestrained feeding upon fresh clo-
ver. The rest of the cows were subsequently
fed upon the same diet, but given in modera-
tion, vsath a proportion of hay, and they con-
tinued in perfect health.
From all the observations it would appear
that mangel-wurzel is a valuable, nutritious root,
well adapted to the feeding of cattle, and one
from which no injury need be apprehended when
proper care is taken in feeding the stock with
CATTLE- KEEPBR.
43
a moderate quantity daily; like clover, turnips,
and aftermath, it abounds in rich, nutritious mat-
ter, and when used for food must, like them, be
accompanied with a proportion of hay.
It has been suggested, and very properly, that
during the heat of summer, cows should be shel-
tered by suitable sheds, where they may be ad-
vantageously fed with tares, cabbages, turnips,
potatoes, mangel-Avurzel, &c; and it is most pro-
bable, that by indulging the animal in a little
variety with regard to food, its health would be
improved, and the formation of milk materially
increased.
It is certainly of importance and most profitable
to feed cows liberally, giving it them often and
in small quantities, especially such as have been
recently taken into the dairy; and it is no less so
that their food should be of the best quality. It
is an established fact, that a small quantity of
food, well chosen, and of prime quality, is infi-
nitely better than an abundance of such as is bad
or even only indifferent.
The fodder of cows is of two kinds : dry, and
green; — the former is given in the stable; the
latter usually in the fields. In the former case, a
small quantity only should be given at a time'
44
THE COMPLETE
but that the more frequently. Cows are by this
means prevented from gorging themselves; and
the consequences resulting from indigestion are
avoided; they are also prevented from weakening
their appetite, or from having a distaste for their
food from too much being put at one time be-
fore them, and blowing upon it. In eating'
only a small quantity at a time, they ruminate
much better and with more ease, whereby diges-
tion is greatly facilitated; and not only the health
and condition of the animal kept up, but an
abundance of rich milk also— the certain conse-
quence attendant upon good feeding and perfect
digestion.
We have given directions as to the proper use
of mangul-wurzel, and due cautions of the ne^
cessity of mixing it with hay; we shall also, as
we proceed, have occasion to shew the superiority
of steamed or cooked food, particularly potatoes,
were that given raw, and in what manner tur-
nips, cabbages, &c. may be given with most ad-
vantage; but there are times when all these may
run short, or cannot be conveniently procured;
it is also best occasionally to diversify the green
food of cows, or neat cattle generally. On these
several accounts, we shall state what plants may
CATTLE-KEEPER.
45
be given green, not only with safety, but in many
cases with advantage.
The plants mostly in use for this purpose are
lucerne, sainfoin, wild chicory,
trefoil, colewort, burnet.
the leaves and roots of
carrots, rape,
radish, cabbage,
pumpkin,
(or pompoin);
the leaves or tender twigs of
maize, (or Indian corn), lettuce;
the leaves, stems, and tubercles of
potatoes, and topinambour;
as well as the following generally : —
prickly broom, bistort, pea, and
parsley, vetches, bean-shells,
orach, lentils,
in short, almost all leguminous* plants, and the
greater part of garden plants, as well as those
which grow in the fields after the harvest.
Young thistles produce a rich, creamy milk.
The leaves and tender twigs of many kinds of
* Leguminous plants are those whose seed or fruit are en-
closed in a pod, as the pea, and hean, &c.
46
THE COMPLETE
trees, such as the
acacia, ash, oak, poplar,
elm, maple, melon,
and the leaves and tendrils of the vine are ali-
ments that may be occasionally employed -with
advantage, but only in very small quantities.
On the borders of the sea, in times of drought
and scarcity, cows or neat cattle may be fed with
the different species of Alga, and Fuci, and
Cristis marines, after the plants have been
bruised and boiled in fresh water. Buck-wheat
and nettles do well in the poorest land. Cows
readily eat the latter, either when mixed with
straw, or steeped in hot-water for a night, and
given in the morning altogether, the liquor being
much relished by cows; — they also produce a
large quantity of milk.
When roots are given to cows, it is necessary
to cut them in slices, as otherwise there is dan-
ger of their choking them — an accident that
often happens. There are. some mills made for
this purpose, which are simple, convenient, and
not expensive. It is a fact sanctioned by experi-
ence, and warranted by experiment, that roots,
when cooked or boiled, are far more nourishing,
and give more milk than when raw.
CATTLE- KEEPER.
47
. In several parts of England, France, Holland,
Germany, Piedmont, and part of Italy, they give
cooked food (by steam), and find great advan-
tage in it. Great caution is necessary in giving
the young shoots of oak, ash, elm, or other trees;
either of these, when eaten too freely, are apt to
bring on red water, dysentery, and other serious
and even mortal diseases.
Cows should never eat green fodder that has
been lying in a heap till it is become hot; not
only hecause.it is difficult, of digestion, but like-
wise from its being liable to bring on inflamma-
tory and putrid disorders.
Cut straw and chaff may be added occasion-
ally, but on no account should the husk of grain
be ever given, it being perfectly indigestible, and
consequently dangerous. Mr. Curwin, a respect-
able farming gentleman, says that he fed forty
milch cows, and forty oxen, occasionally with
cut straw well steamed; and remarks, as a proof
of its successful adoption, that they continued
in very high condition; which he attributed to
their warm food. He says, "The quantity of
food used is but trifling; and very few of my
milch cows that are not fit for: the butcher, at
the same time that the average of milk was be-
48
THE COMPLETE
tween twelve and thirteen quarts upon three hun-
dred and twenty days.
In the Bishop of Killalo, during a sea-
son of peculiar scarcity, fed his cattle upon his
Lincolnshire estate, upon steamed potatoes ; and
notwithstanding the cattle for many miles round
were generally in a deplorable state, his were
in the highest condition possible, solely from the
effects of the food given them. But some acci-
dent happening to the steaming apparatus, his
lordship was reduced to the necessity of feeding
them principally upon raw potatoes; the conse-
quence was, they immediately fell away to a state
that is hardly credible. This is a most im-
portant fact) and shews the superior advantages
of cooked food, even of the same kind, over that
in the raw state.
Green fodder should not be brought in or
out until the sun has dissipated the dew. It
would be very dangerous to give it when covered
with dew, as in that state it is difficult of diges-
tion, and very apt to ferment in the first stomach,
or rumen, and blow the animal, or blast it, as it
is commonly called — a disease that often proves
fatal, if not very shortly relieved.
Neat cattle are very liable to be blasted when
CATT LB-KEEPER.
49
first turned into clover, or any of the artificial
grasses. They are liable to this accident from
two causes — the state of the animal; and the
state of the grass.
1st. The state of the animal. If it be the first
time, and she have a good appetite and a strong
digestive power, she will eat with great avidity,
and digest quickly for some time; but at length
blood will be formed in excess, and the sensorium
will be oppressed. The digestive power will
then flag, but the appetite will continue until the
third stomach becomes distended, and incapable
of performing its office. The first stomach, or
rumen, will then be overloaded, and incapable of
bringing up the food for rumination, in conse-
quence of which its contents will ferment. The
air which is generated by the fermentation, will
so distend, or stretch the rumen, as to prevent
the descent of the diaphragm, and the influx of
the blood into the lungs, so that the animal be-
comes in danger of instant suffocation..
It seems a singular circumstance that the ap-
petite for food should continue after the digestive
function has ceased; and it may be fairly pre-
sumed, that it is a circumstance which would
never happen, were we to follow nature in the
E
50
THE COMPLETE
management of animals more carefully than we
do. In the natural pastures, a cow would not be
able to gorge herself in this manner: the great
variety of herbage which nature has provided,
induces them to move about, to find the herbs
most agreeable to their palate, and which varies
almost as much as our taste, owing, probably, to
the state or wants of their bodies. When an
animal that has been thus kept, is turned into a
field of artificial grass, as it is termed, it is like
a child in the shop of a confectioner, and eats
much more than is proper; and all the evil con-
sequences that would arise from repletion in the
child, arises, but with two-fold danger, in the
cow.
It has been remarked by an intelligent farmer,
that if cattle are turned into a piece of clover, or
vetches, when the wind is in the east, it is al-
most sure to blast them; for then, he says,
the leaf seems withered, and hangs down. In
this state, perhaps, it is tough, and less easily
chewed. He advises to turn them in when the
grass is a little wet with dew or rain, and not to
keep them at first more than ten minutes; they
are then to be taken off for about half-an-hour,
and put back again for about ten minutes; after
CATTLE- KEEPER.
51
another short interval, they are to be turned out
for good.
Mr. Lawrence advises farmers to keep a digest-
ing place for cattle; that is, a piece of short
grass, where they can find but little to eat, and
must consequently use sufficient exercise in get-
ting it. This advice is very good in all cases,
particularly, if such cattle be turned in, as have
been eating freely of the mangel-wurzel, turnip,
or the artificial grasses.
The second degree in which cattle are liable
to be blown, when turned into artificial grasses,
depends upon the state of the grass. If it be
young and tender, as when moistened with a
mild dew or rain, it is easily chewed, and being
as easily digested, it passes readily; but if it be
withered, it becomes tough, and not being so
easily chewed or thown up for rumination, lies
closer or more compact in the first stomach, or
rumen ; and is then, upon the slightest exciting-
cause, very liable to ferment. A knowledge of
these circumstances should certainly lead farmers
to adopt the most effectual modes of prevention:
to which end, in addition to those previously
mentioned, may be added, cutting the grass occa-
sionally, and feeding the cattle from cribs in
52
THE COMPLETE
some rough ground, or in a cow-house, or large
yard. It is, however, proper to observe, that
when the artificial grasses are used in this man-
ner, they should not be cut or brought in, till
the dew, if abundant, be dissipated} otherwise,
the animal will eat with as great a relish as in
the field, and overloading its stomach, will be
just as liable to be blown or blasted. Perhaps
this inconvenience would be most surely pre-
vented by giving the cattle but a proper quantity
at a time; and by spreading it out a short time,
particularly of a morning when there is no sun,
before it is given.
Generally speaking, neither grasses nor herbs
should be cut until the flowers begin to open; as
before this period they are watery, and contain
less nourishment: shortly after this, they become
more and more fibrous, stemmy, hard, tough, and
consequently less digestible. Grasses or herbs
cut too early, from having their juices more
abundant, but in a raw, crude state, are very
liable also to produce a diarrhcea, or looseness in
the bowels.
When cattle are put into a field, it should be
after the dew has dissipated. If the pasture be
short, they may. be left at liberty; but if it be
CATTLE-KEEPER.
53
abundant, and consist of the artificial grasses,
such as lucerne, vetches, clover, or the like, the
cattle should each be confined by a rope to a
picket or post fixed in the field, until they have
ruminated; they are then to be fixed in another
spot. This change ought to take place five or
six times a day; otherwise, by allowing them a
large space, and changing them only twice a day,
they will be very apt to gorge themselves, or
after satisfying their appetites, they will trample
upon and spoil the remainder. But cows may
be much benefited by being raced round the mea-
dow three or four times, gently, when first turned
in to feed.
Little and often, is a maxim which ought never
to be lost sight of in feeding neat cattle, particu-
larly milch cows. By this method they thrive
better, and give more and richer milk.
It is very necessary to take cows from the pas-
tures during the heat of a summer day; as the
great heat and the stinging of flies will cause a
considerable diminution of the milk. Cows
should be turned into a field, or exercised in some
way, every day, at at all times of the year, un-
less the weather be very bad: during their time
of exercise, their stalls should be well cleaned
e3
54
THE COMPLETE
out, and fresh fodder put in. When cows are
kept on dry fodder, it is of importance that it
should be of good quality, and dispensed to them
in proper quantity; and unless those conditions
be carefully observed, all other attention will be
of little use. Fodder, that has been badly kept,
or 'that has been heated, or become mouldy, or
dusty; such as the sweepings of barns, is little
better than the husks of grain mixed with dust,
and contains little nutriment, and is productive
of many disorders.
The second, or even the third crop of artificial
grass, when of good quality, and cut and saved
in a favourable time, appears to agree better with
cattle, than the first crop, of which the stems
are stronger, and more fibrous; and which are,
in consequence, more difficult of digestion, and
less productive of milk.
It is commonly remarked on this subject by
the most experienced dairymen, that the young
shoots of grass which spring up after hay-har-
vest, especially in or after showery weather, are
particularly productive of milk. It is the same
with the first shoots of grass in spring, or early
in the summer. It is, however, at these periods,
that cattle appear to be most liable to imfiamma-
CATTLE-KEEPER.
55
to.ry diseases, arising from an excess of blood.
The fresh, tender shoots are eagerly eaten, and
being readily digested, form an undue accumula-
tion of blood in the system. This superfluity of
blood, is, it is true, generally carried off by an
effort of nature, as it is termed; or in other
words, a diarrhoea, or scouring, or bloody urine,
takes place; sometimes, however, its effects fall
more immediately upon a vital organ, and inflam-
mation of the brain, the heart, or the lungs,
ensues; and the animal is too often lost from a
want of early and sufficient bleeding. '
All the plants previously mentioned as adapted
for green fodder, may also be given dry; as may
also the straw of barley and oats; and which, if
given unthreshed, is infinitely better, more re-
lishing, and more healthy; wheat-straw, when
good and fresh, the siftings of rye, peas, beans,
barley, especially when boiled, bran, chippings
or raspings of bread, oil-cake, hemp-seed, beech
mast, starch dregs, and brewers' grains, may be
occasionally given with advantage, but not too
much at a time, nor for a long continuance. One
or more of these things should be occasionally
mixed with boiled roots,— the mixture given in
56
THK COMPLETE
small quantities, six or seven times a day, by
which both the quality and quantity of the milk
will be increased, and the trouble amply com-
pensated.
Straw is made more palatable by mixing it
with the skimming, or second crop of hay, which
for this purpose should not be quite dry; but
mixed with the straw by laying it layer upon
layer at the time of stacking; and if sprinkled
with water in which a small quantity of salt has
been dissolved, it will be rendered more palat-
able; the sprinkling may be done at the time It
is given, or, which is perhaps better, a few hours
before.
It may be laid down as a rule, that when neat
cattle are stinted in food, farmers lose twice as
much by the loss of flesh and consequent deteri-
oration in the value of the animal, as he can ever
save in the price of the food. This remark is
particularly applicable to the dairyman, even in
a greater degree than to the farmer or the gra-
zier: a cow should never be stinted, no more
than overfed; for one that is well fed will keep
her flesh and yield twice as much milk as two
that are badly kept and stintingly fed. They
CATTLE-KEEPBR.
57
should never be suffered to gorge themselves, for
in that case they produce all the disorders aris-
ing from indigestion and repletion.
Give them their food
By little, and often, — but let it be good,
is the golden rule; and if this be properly at-
tended to, and the necessary cleanliness observed,
a healthy and productive stock will be the con-
sequent and certain result.
One thing essential to be observed in feeding,
is, that neat cattle, but especially cows, should
not pass too suddenly from green to dry food, or
the contrary; a sudden change injures the di-
gestive organs, and diminishes the quantity of
milk: this shrinking is particularly observable
when the change is from green food to that
which is less succulent. In this case, therefore,
as well as in changing one pasture for another,
great care must be used, and perhaps this cannot
be accomplished in a better way than in inuring
them to the change by degrees.
During the war, when agricultural produce
was high, a large sum of money was made by
the sale of the following receipt for feeding neat
cattle. It was recommended by Lord Somer-
58
THE COMPLETE
ville, and many other noblemen and extensive
graziers and agriculturists, as a most excellent
and economical mode of feeding. But we can-
not ourselves speak of it from experience, never
having tried it. The receipt was sold for five
guineas; and five hundred persons subscribed
before the particulars were made known to any-
one of them.
Cut good sweet wheat-straw into lengths of
about four inches, and strew it, about one inch
thick, over a very clean stone, tiled, or boarded
floor: sprinkle over the straw just enough clean
water to damp it, and add a thin sprinkling
of barley-meal, or any other good meal, upon it.
Then throw over the meal twice as much sweet
fresh-cut meadow-grass as you put of straw.
Again, strew an inch thick of cut straw, which
sprinkle with clean water, as at first; and then
add, as before, a thin sprinkling of barley-meal,
and fresh-cut meadow-grass. And so go on, —
cut straw, water, meal, and fresh meadow-grass,
till you get as much as you can use in a day.
This being done in the morning, let it lie
together till the evening, when it is to be turned,
and mixed together in a heap: it should be given
to the cattle on the following day.
CAT'IXE-KiiKPJBIl.
59
IV.— Of Water.
Improper feeding is, as we have endeavoured
to shew, injurious to neat cattle generally; but
improper management, with respect to water, is
productive of more serious consequences still;
and is the chief origin of what is called among
veterinary surgeons, predisposition to disease; in
other words, the animal structure is, by misma-
nagement, rendered peculiarly liable to disease,
and is then acted upon by the slightest cause.
Thus, a superabundance of water induces the
quarter-ill, red-water, and scouring; while a
smaller quantity than is proper, is often a main
cause of inflammatory disorders.
Filthy or impure water should be avoided, as
productive of the most serious consequences; it
has been proved, beyond all doubt, that impure
water given to pregnant cows is a more certain
cause of abortion, or slipping of the calf, than
any other, and also engenders bad udders, red-
water, and scouring, and materially diminishes
the quantity of the milk, and injures the quality
of the butter and cheese.
60
THE COMPLETE
Neat cattle, but particularly cows, should be
watered twice a day, and in summer three times;
this is the more necessary when they are kept on
drv food: the water should be pure and trans-
parent; the best of all is that which has been
agitated by passing through a mill, as it is then
softer, and more favourable to digestion. It is a
dangerous prejudice, that muddy or stangant wa-
ter is not injurious; we have just given a decided
opinion on this subject, and shall in the course
of our observations give several cases to support
that opinion.
It is always adviseable, when it can be conve-
niently accomplished, to pump the water intended
for cattle-drink into troughs of stone or cement;
the best ponds of water being liable to impurity
from several causes : as one of these, it may be
observed, that cattle invariably void their excre-
ment either in the pond, or near it, immediately
after drinking; and as there is generally a sloping
bank to the pond, the dung must, in some degree,
run down into the water, and by engendering
various description of the insect and vermin race,
render it impure and unwholesome.
On a farm in Gloucestershire, three successive
farmers were nearly ruined from the losses they
CATTLE- KEEPER.
61
sustained by their cattle dying, and for which
they could give no reason, and of course could
devise no remedy. The fourth occupant, how-
ever, a man of experience, finding in the first
three years that all endeavours failed to secure
him from the losses sustained by his predeces-
sors, and thinking that possibly the water might
be some cause of the evil, he fenced off his ponds,
and pumped the water into troughs, to which he
regularly drove his cattle to drink, morning,
noon, and evening; in a short time they became
healthy; no more deaths took place; and the
quantity and quality of his butter and cheese
were much improved.
At another place in the West of England, a
piece of good grass was reserved for some cat-
tle, they being at work on the adjoining land.
They were attacked, soon after they had been
turned in, with violent scouring. Supposing the
grass might be the cause, they were put into
another piece of pasture, where there was no
water ; on which account they were driven back
to the former field, to drink, no suspicion being
entertained that the water could in the remot-
est degree be the cause; it was a pond of spring
water, and considered very wholesome. The
F
62
THE COMPLETE
scouring, however, increased, so much so, that
they became much reduced both in flesh and
strength, and at last voided blood with their
excrement. It was now considered essential
that the water should be carefully examined,
and upon a closer investigation an immense
number of different kinds of reptiles were dis-
covered therein: a considerable quantity of lime
was then thrown into the pond and stirred about,
when an astonishing sight presented itself — my-
riads of reptiles were seen coming to the sur-
face, and leaping about to escape from the
almost-boiling water. After some time, the
pond was cleared out, and two or three wheel-
barrows full of various kinds of reptiles were
taken out of it. The pond was again filled, and
after a day or two, the cattle were put back
again into the field, and soon recovered from
their scouring.
The water of ponds surrounded with ash-trees
is often during the summer covered with the
cantharis or blistering fly, which the wind blows
from the leaves of the trees. These insects
when swallowed with the water are certainly
poisonous. This is particularly the case in
France, but not so much so in England; still, the
w
CATTLE-KEEPER. 63
same cause exists, though in a less degree,
wherever ponds are overhung hy banks of trees.
Water is rendered much softer, and produces
more milk by being blanched, as it is termed ;
that is, by having a little bran or meal stirred
into it; but water so prepared must not be kept
too long, as it is apt to fervent and become sour.
During the heat of summer, cows are very apt
to become costive, particularly where they are
kept principally on dry food] in this case it will
be necessary to give them water in which bran
and linseed have been boiled; and even if they
are not costive it will be proper to add, occasion-
ally, about a sixth part of a pint of vinegar to
every pail of water, and especially so when the
water is but of an indifferent quality, or when
the weather is very hot and dry.
It is a fact, that when cattle have been accus-
tomed to drink impure water, even the washing
of a dung-heap, they will acquire a relish for it,
and refuse good water, if offered to them: but
the consequences arising from this practice, al-
though not always immediate in their visible
effects, are certain, and sap the very vitality of
the animal's constitution. — We have stated that
such a practice is a frequent cause of abortion,
3
64
THE COMPLETE
and productive of various and serious diseases:
and we here repeat the caution, from a convic-
tion that no other water should ever be given to
cattle than what is pure, sweet, and wholesome;
and that the use of that which is impure, al-
though used for a time with apparent impunity,
will not only inevitably produce present dis-
ease, but will lay the foundation of a train of di-
sorders which will rarely if ever be eradicated.
HINTS TO DAIRYMEN
IN THE MANAGEMENT OF MILCH COWS.
We have already given general instructions as
to the choice and management of neat cattle; we
shall, therefore, in the present section confine
ourselves to those remarks which are more pe-
culiarly applicable to the dairy.
Where the routine of the dairy is properly un-
derstood, it yields a profit which makes it well
worth attention; but this profit depends in a
great measure on the diligence, experience, and
knowledge of the dairyman. A work, therefore,
which contains, among a fund of other useful
CATTLE- KEEPER.
8D
matter, practical information on the best means
of insuring an abundant supply of milk, and
a consequent improvement in the quality and
quantity of butter and cheese, must be an use-
ful companion: and it will be our duty to lay
before him such information only as the sources
from which it has been obtained, will warrant as
genuine.
We have guided the dairyman in the choice o
his stock; we shall therefore suppose them to be
now in the stable, or cow-house; of the best
formation of which we have partly treated, and
shall resume the subject more in the Appendix.
If they have been brought from a distant part of
the country, but particularly from a different
pasturage than that on which it is intended to
feed them, considerable care will be necessary,
and a gradual seasoning essential, until suffi-
ciently accustomed to the change: a neglect of
these precautions too often occasions a very
serious loss. We cannot, on this point, do bet-
ter than refer the reader to our instructions
for the management of neat cattle generally,
page 23.
The dairyman acts in opposition to his own
interest when he does not allow his cows suf-
f3
66
THE COMPLETE
ficient nourishment; for it is a fact warranted by-
experience, that one cow properly fed will yield
as much as two that are badly kept. In this
case it may be depended upon, that milk is
always of more value than the best cow-food —
stint the one, and the short supply of the other
will result as a certain and inevitable conse-
quence. A farmer some years since, kept eigh-
teen cows upon a common, and was often obliged
to buy butter for his family. Some few years
afterwards, the common was enclosed, and the
same person was then able to supply his family
amply with milk and butter, from the produce
of four cows well kept.
Properly feeding cows, without rushing into
the extreme of gorging them, must indeed be
considered as the primary concern of the dairy;
for such a constant daily drain upon the animal
cannot be kept up without severe injury to her
constitution, unless the most ample supply of
food, principally of the succulent kind, be af-
forded: If this be not attended to, the quality
and quantity of her milk will be deteriorated,
and the cow herself, when dry, will be ema-
ciated, and of little worth. Food of the more
solid kind will occasionally be necessary, to sup-
CATTLE-KEEPER.
67
port her strength, and stimulate her to precrea-
tion, which otherwise such cows are apt to be
very deficient in, and frequently to miss the
bull at the proper season. For this purpose, a
few oats may be given once or twice a week, with
good effect; but in this case, they must on no
account be given whole — they must be crushed, or
bruised, or they will inevitably produce obstruc-
tion and disease. Fine pollard, also, moistened
or mashed is a nourishing food; the milch cow,
however, should always have exercise, for which
nothing is better than a piece of open common;
and this is the more essential, when extraordi-
nary substantial food is allowed.
Mr-White, author of the Compendium of Cat-
tle Medicine, who is without exception, the best
farrier and cattle doctor in this kingdom, was
once called in by a dairyman, whose practice it
was to give each of his cows half a peck of un-
bruised oats twice a-day. In a short time his
cows, although apparently healthy, gave little
milk, and were at length more or less attacked
with what he (the dairyman) termed a sort of
chill, or rather, a touch of the yellows. The
cow to which Mr. White was requested to pre
scribe, had refused her food several times: in-
68
THE COMPLETE
deed, she was incapable of ruminating. She
appeared to be in considerable pain; her back
was drawn up, she was costive, and did not ap-
pear to have voided urine. She was very rest-
les s, rose up and laid down again, threw her head
round towards her belly, and attempted to strike
it with one of her hind feet: her ears were cold;
and her pulse high— about eighty — or ten above
the natural and healthy beat. It was a well-
marked, evident case of indigestion, attended
with symptoms of flatulent colic, or gripes, and
as such it was treated by Mr. White. — He first
threw up a clyster, of five quarts of warm water
in which one pound of salt was dissolved. He
then prepared the following drench:
RECIPE No. 1.
Barbadoes aloes, 4 drams ;
Powdered ginger, 1 dram;
Table salt, 4 ounces;
Water, 1 quart.
Into the first hornful of this mixture, he put
half an ounce of tincture of opium.*
* Mr. White, it should be observed, when he afterwards
used this drench, substituted two ounces of anodyne carmi-
native tincture, in lieu of the tincture of opium.
CATTLE-KEEPER.
69
This was the only medicine he administered.
He then ordered the cow to be turned out.
About three or four hours afterwards, she was
drenched twice with whey. This made her ra-
ther sick; she was, therefore, turned out again,
and nothing more given her. The drench soon
stopped the gripes; still, there was great uneasi-
ness, and evidently an obstruction in the third sto-
mach;* soon after taking the whey, she dunged,
and with her dung came a considerable number
of oats, as unchanged in form and substance as
when first taken into the stomach of the cow.
She continued very restless and uneasy during
the night; and was, in the dairyman's opinion,
getting worse; but towards morning, she was
relieved, and as the day further advanced, re-
covered so far as to be able to graze.
This practice, so evidently demonstrated as
injurious, was shortly after abandoned by the
dairyman; and a more rational and succulent
description of food adopted: the consequence
was, his cows soon become perfectly healthy, and
more capable of yielding an abundant produce.
* For a brief account of the several stomachs of the cow,
and a description of the digestive process, see a further
part of our work.
70
THE COMPLETE
This is not the only case on record, of the ill
effects of feeding cows on unbruised oats which
might be enumerated; we could add numbers of
similar examples; but this one will answer every
purpose, not only in shewing the method of treat-
ing a case of the kind, but to prove, likewise,
the impropriety of feeding cows in any such
manner. Grain, as we before stated, is used for
quite a different purpose than of nourishing
milch cows, — it has the very opposite effect to
what the dairyman just mentioned intended, —
grain promotes the formation of flesh and fat,
- — not of milk; and in so doing changes the dis-
position of the animal from that of providing for
her young, to that of increasing her species. —
Good milkers rarely carry an over-abundance of
flesh on their bones; and it is a vain attempt to
force, nature, — they are seldom made fat till they
are done with the dairy: but what then? — they
pay as they go; and, if properly managed, they
never retire in our debt.
In our observations on the foddering of neat
cattle, we have given general comparisons of the
merits of the various kinds of food; in our pre-
sent article we shall extend these remarks so
much further only as concerns the dairyman in
CATTLE-KEEPER.
71
the keeping properly his milch cows. For this
purpose, we shall divide our ohservations under
two heads, — Summer feeding, and Winter feeding.
Summer feeding. — Natural grass is the first
and best of all food for milch cows. Of the
artificial grasses, lucerne is to be preferred, and
green tares are a very succulent and nutritious
article of food: but like all other artificial grasses,
they must be used with care, giving with them
a little sweet hay, or other dry food.
The most economical method of managing
grass, (and it will be found particularly so, where
the dairyman may have only one or two small
meadows,) is to keep it constantly shut, and free
from the tread of cows, and to cut the grass as
soon as of sufficient length and substance, and
carry it to them; no more being cut at once than
can be consumed in the course of the day; the
cutting being made in the morning, about an
hour or two after the sun has been up. This is
to continue throughout the season, and as late in
Autumn as any growth can be obtained.
According to Mr. Curwen's experience, some
years since, three acres of grass cut and carried,
supplied thirty milch cows with two stone each,
or twenty-eight pounds, during two hundred
7-2
THE COMPLETE
days. This gentleman observes, that, to have
supplied a similar number of cows with a like
quantity for the same period, would, in the usual
way of management, have required seventy-five
acres of land for its production. And to have
grazed such a number of cows at liberty, that
length of time, must, it is obvious, have taken a
very considerable number of acres.
This vast produce from so small a piece of
land may at first appear very problematical; but
experience and good management will soon con-
vince the dairyman that he may realize the ad-
vantage, great as it may appear. To enable the
meadow to support this exhaustion from the
scythe, it should be cleared at the end of every
autumn, from all kinds of weeds and rubbish,
and fresh grass-seeds of the best kinds, cast upon
the bare places. A coat of good rotten manure
should then be allowed, consisting of all that
can be collected from the household, or pro-
cured elsewhere, mixed up and augmented with
virgin earth.
The garden, for we can hardly suppose that
the dairy will be unaccompanied with so usual
an appendage, will assist, by its superfluity, in
feeding a few cows; and cabbages, cabbage
CATTLE -KEEPER. 73
leaves, or lettuces, as a change of food, will help
to force the production of milk. — But it should
be recollected, that too much green food will
scour a cow, and injure her constitution, — a
little sweet, good hay must, therefore, be al-
lowed daily with such food, for the purpose of
preserving her in good health.
Never adopt a practice so much to be con-
demned, and so enfeebling, both to the health,
the comfort, and the constitution of milch cows,
as to keep them entirely in the house, both sum-
mer and winter, — besides, it is altogether against
the interest of the dairyman to persevere in a
system so objectionable in every point of view;
experience — that best of teachers — will, if he
give it a fair trial, convince him that exercise
abroad not only tends to promote and keep in
good health, but invariably assists in increasing
the quantity of milk.
Cows will do well if in summer they be turned
upon a common or waste, to remain, or come
home at their own pleasure, being full fed, morn-
ing and evening, with cut grass; provided the
constant caution be observed of allowing them
shelter in the fly season; or they may lie abroad
during summer nights, in a well-littered yard, or
G
74
THE COMPLETE
a secure waste, a sufficiency of cut grass being
at their command. If one cow be observed to
drive another, and to maintain a constant mas-
tery, let her be tied up to enable the others to
feed at liberty.
Pure water is of the utmost consequence to
the health and productiveness of milch cows;
they should never have any other, or the most
serious consequences will inevitably result.
Water for cows should be pumped into stone
troughs, which should be kept sweet and clean;
and they should be allowed to drink moderately
two or three times a day.
Dr. Jenner, who conferred that great blessing
on mankind — the cow-pock inoculation— consi-
dered that giving pure water to cows was of
more importance than persons are generally
aware. There were farmers in his neighbour-
hood, whose cows, while they drank the pond
water, were rarely ever free from red-water, or
swelled udders; and the losses they sustained
from these causes, together with the numerous
abortions their cows suffered, increased to an
alarming extent. One of them, at length, sup-
posing that the water they drank had something
to do with producing their disorders, sunk three
CATTLE- KEEP BR .
75
wells on different parts of the farm, and pumped
the water into troughs for the cattle. His suc-
cess was gratifying; the red-water soon ceased,
the swelling of the udder subsided; and the pro-
duce of the renovated animals increased both in
quantity and quality. The other farmers fol-
lowed the same practice; and in less than six
months, not a case of red water, swollen udder,
or abortion, was heard of in the neighbourhood.
For Winter feeding, the chief dependance
is, or should be, good, sweet hay, and occasion-
ally Swedish turnips, and sugar-loaf cabbages.
Some dairymen think after-math hay, or rowen,
as it is called, sufficiently good for winter -feed;
but others whose experience leads them to adopt
the most judicious plans, give their milch cows
the best hay they can get; wisely reasoning, that
an abundant supply of good milk is worth more
than the best hay; and certain it is, that animals
thus fed are very rarely deficient either in the
quantity or quality of their produce. There are
many nutritious and succulent vegetables, which
make an excellent change, or rather mixture,
with hay feeding, viz. cabbages, carrots, potatoes,
yellow beet, &c. Bruised furze-tops are also very
good, and assist to make capital winter butter.
7(5
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Cabbages should be given moderately; but
turnips, unless of the Swedish kind, notwith-
standing all that has been said to the contrary,
make thin milk and poor butter. Carrots are an
excellent winter- feed; so is yellow beet, and also
mangel-wurzel, but this must be used cautiously,
and never without sweet hay, as it is an astring-
ent, and sometimes, if eaten of too greedily, will
hove or blast milch cows. — Potatoes should al-
ways be well washed, and baked or steamed; or
if ever given raw, must be washed quite clean,
mashed, and mixed with good hay, or else they
are very liable to bring on the scouring rot. An
occasional feed of crushed or bruised oats, or fine
pollard, will be very useful. — Oil-cake should
never be used, — it produces greasy ill-scented
butter, and has a similar effect on the flesh of
the animal.
London, from the immense population it con-
tains, has, and always will, occasion a great
demand for milk: — dairy-farming, therefore, in
the environs of the metropolis, is an important
and generally a profitable undertaking. It has
been estimated that there are upwards of 10,000
milch cows kept in the environs of the British
capital, for the supply of milk alone; the high
CATTLE-KEEPER.
77
price demanded for the land on which they are
fed, on the one hand; and the ready sale of all
the milk they produce, on the other, equally
tending to prevent any part of it finding its way
to market either in the form of butter or cheese.
In several parts of the metropolis, there are
persons who keep from two or three to a dozen
cows, pent up either in a cellar, or a shed at the
back part of their premises : many of these ani-
mals never see a green field from the moment
they are purchased by the dairyman, as their
owner styles himself, to the day they are sold to
the butcher; others are occasionally treated to
an hour or two's crop of some neighbouring
close-trodden pasture; but they are all fed on
grains, mangel-wurzel, hay, and distillers' wash:
the consequence is, the milk is poor in quality,
and very different from the nourishing article
produced by those animals who graze in the open
air on the invigorating food plentifully bestowed
by the liberal hand of nature.
In the environs of the metropolis, however,
there are several large dairy farms, in each of
which some hundred milch cows are kept. Among
these, Islington, a large village, two miles north-
g3
78
THE COMPLETE
west of the city, has been celebrated from the
earliest periods for the great supply of this nou-
rishing article of early life which it has always
produced; in this place, before the building inno-
vations of modern times covered its extensive
and luxuriant fields with new streets, connecting
it even with the metropolis itself, there were a
great number of dairy farms of all sizes ; from
the humble owner of his solitary cow, to the
opulent possessor of nearly a thousand; they
have now, from the loss of pasture land, nearly
all merged into two, but those two are the most
extensive dairy farmers near London.
The proprietors of these two dairy farms, Mr.
Laycock, and Mr. Rhodes, each possess a stock
of from 500 to 700 milch cows, principally of the
large-sized, short-horned Holderness breed: that
sort being the most esteemed for the pail. The
land upon which they are fed, is principally of
the meadow and pasture kind, kept in a highly
productive state, and generally mown twice a
year; the great quantity of excellent manure
procured from the cows enabling the proprietors
to give it frequent and good dressings: the hay
obtained is consequently rich and nutritious; and
of a soft, grassy quality, being cut before the
CATTLE- K EEP B R .
79
seedling stems arise, — at least three weeks before
it would be advisable to do so for horse feed.
We have been favoured, from an authentic
source, with an accurate account of the manner
in which the principal Islington cowkeepers feed
their cows; this is as follows:
The cows during the night are confined in
stalls; about three o'clock in the morning each
has half a bushel of grains. From four till half
past six, they are milked by the retail dealers.
When the milking is finished, a bushel basket of
turnips is given to each cow, and soon afterwards,
the tenth part of a truss of fine, soft, grassy hay.
These feedings are all given before eight o'clock
in the morning, at which time the cows are
turned out into the farm-yard, or home-stead.
At twelve o'clock, they are again confined to
their stalls, and a similar quantity of grains
allotted as in the morning. At half past one,
the milking again commences, and lasts till about
three, at which time the same quantity of tur-
nips, and afterwards hay, is given as before.
This mode of feeding continues during the whole
of the turnip season, which is from September
to April, or May. During the other- months of
the year, they are fed with grains, cabbages, and
Si)
THE COMPLETE
tares, instead of turnips, with the same quantity
of rowen, or second-cut meadow hay, and are
continued to be fed and milked with the same
regularity as before described, until they are
turned out to grass; when they continue in the
fields all night, and even during this season
grains are given to them, which are kept sweet
and palateable by being buried in deep pits for
that purpose till wanted.
The calves are generally sent to Smithfield at
two or three days old; when they are bought by
jobbers and others to be reared, or fattened for
the butcher. Those cows that give the most
milk are not found, in general, sufficiently pro-
ductive to be kept longer than three or four years;
when they are fattened and sold to the butcher.
The quantity averaged from each cow is estimated
at about nine quarts per day.
Besides the keep already mentioned, the cows
on these two dairy farms have a portion of dis-
tiller's wash now and then mixed with their dry
provender. Their food is also occasionally varied
with potatoes, and mangel-wurzel, great quanti-
ties of which are now consumed by the cow-
keepers in the vicinity of the metropolis, and
sometimes procured from places many miles dis -
taut.
CATTLE-KEEPER.
81
The milk is conveyed from the cow-house in
tin pails, which are carried principally by strong
robust Welch girls and women, who retail the
same about the streets of the metropolis. It is
amazing to witness the labour and fatigue these
females will undergo, and the hilarity and cheer-
fulness which prevail among them, and which
tend greatly to lighten their very laborious em-
ployment. Even in the most inclement weather,
and in the depth of winter, they arrive in p?,rties
from different parts of the metropolis by three
or four o'clock in the morning, laughing and
singing to the music of their empty pails : with
them they return loaded to town; and the weight
they are thus accustomed to carry on their yokes,
for a distance of two or three miles, is sometimes
from one hundred to one hundred and thirty
pounds.
Milch cows should never be exposed by night
to the inclemency of the winter season, as it
chills them, lays the foundation of a train of dis-
eases, dries up part of their milk, and keeps them
backward in all beneficial respects. At any rate
they should have a well littered shed, in which
they may repose in comfort, and with their loins
dry — a matter of great consequence to their
health.
m
THE COMPLETE
We have divided feeding under two distinct
heads, summer and winter, because the subject
seemed to demand it, the remarks for the one
season not being so applicable to the other; —
but there is an equally-important consideration,
not so confined to time or season, but which is
alike necessary at all times, and at all seasons, —
and that is cleanliness. Not only must the cow-
house or stable be kept clean, and well venti-
lated both in summer and winter, but the animal
herself, if her health be a matter of considera-
tion, must also be kept perfectly clean in every
part. Upon the continent, milch cows are care-
fully attended to, rubbed down, and curry-
combed like horses; and their general improve-
ment, both in health and produce, well repays
the trouble. We do not insist on the necessity
of this extreme care; but we most earnestly
intreat dairymen to rub them down, at least
daily, with a wisp of hay or straw, and to be
careful that in every other respect they and their
stable are kept perfectly clean, sweet, and whole-
some.
It is of the utmost importance in the manage-
ment of a dairy, that cows should be treated
with gentleness, and soothed by mild treatment,
CATTLE-ICEBPKR.
83
especially when young and ticklish, or when the
teats are tender, in which case the udder should
be bathed with warm water before milking, and
touched with a little of the best salad oil. They
should then be milked with the greatest gentle-
ness, or they will be likely to become stubborn
and unruly. By some it is considered necessary
always to wash the udder before milking with
clean water; and there can be little doubt that
this practice conduces materially to render the
operation more easy to the animal.
It is the general practice to milk cows twice a
day only, viz. morning and afternoon, or evening;
but when they are abundantly fed with the arti-
ficial grasses, it is adviseable to milk them three
times a day, viz. very early in the morning, at
noon, and at night; for if only milked twice a
day when liberally supplied with succulent and
nutritious food, they will yield a much smaller
quantity of milk in the twenty-four hours, than
if milked three times. It has indeed been re-
marked by some attentive and experienced dairy-
men, on this head, that a cow in these circum-
stances will give nearly as much milk at each
time of milking, if milked three times, as if she
were milked only twice. And it has been clearly
84
THE COMPLETE
ascertained, that if the milk be not thoroughly
drawn off at each time of milking, not only will
the quantity be diminished, but the quality also
will be impaired; the last milk, moreover, is al-
ways the richest, according to the remark of au
experienced Cheshire dairyman — " Each succeed-
ing drop which a cow gives at a meal, excels the
■preceding one in richness." The milk that is left
in the udder seems to be absorbed into the sys-
tem, and nature generates no more than to sup-
ply the waste of what has been taken away; and
by persevering in that practice, the diminution of
milk continues, until at length no milk is formed.
This is the best practice when it is intended to
dry up the udder.
Dr. Anderson, a gentleman who devoted much
time and ' attention to the improvement of the
dairy, made a series of experiments to determine
this important question. He had ten cups, all of
the same weight, size, and shape, filled at ten
different intervals from one milking of a cow:
the first cup contained the first of the milk; and
the last, the dregs of the stroakings. The milk
in the first cup was a thin blueish liquid, similar
in appearance to mixed milk and water, and
yielded a cream of a thin tough film; while that
85
in the last cup was of a thick consistence and
yellow colour, more resembling cream than milk
in taste, and gave cream of a thick buttery con-
sistence, and of a glowing richness of colour
that no other kind of cream is found to possess.
The contents of the intermediate cups gave a
similar result; the goodness and richness of the
milk and cream increasing in a similar pro-
portion.
From this important experiment it is evident,
that a person who, by bad or part milking, loses
but half a pint of milk at the conclusion, loses in
fact as much cream as would be afforded by five
or six pints at the beginning, and loses besides
that part of the cream which alone can give
richness and high flavour to the butter.
The same gentleman made a second experi-
ment of a different nature, but equally important
in its results; which was, to ascertain the qua-
lity of the cream thrown up at various periods
from the milk; from which he proved that the
first cream thrown by milk put in a dish for the
purpose, was richer in quality and greater in
quantity, than that which rises in a second equal
portion of time; and the second more and
better than the third, and so on; the cream de-
H
86
THE COMPLETE
creasing in quantity, and declining in quality, so
long as any rises to the surface.
The previous observations apply to dairies in
which there are a dozen or more milch cows;
but there are persons who keep one or two cows,
to whom they are alike applicable.
Cobbett, in his " Cottage Economy," — a work
which, whatever opinions may be formed of the
writer, is really useful, and contains much valu-
able information, recommends every cottager to
keep a cow, — and gives some excellent instruc-
tions for supporting it upon the produce of forty
rods of land. The cow he supposes to be of the
small common kind, and to require about seventy
or eighty pounds of good moist food in the twen-
ty-four hours. The way in which this quantity
of food is to be raised from forty rods of land,
is as follows:
The ground being cleared of trees and bushes,
is to be dug deeply in spring, or, which is better,
to be trenched, and in April or May to be laid
up in ridges made high and sharp, about two feet
apart. When the weeds appear about three
inches high; the ridges are to be turned into the
furrows, never moving the ground but in dry wea-
ther: by this means the weeds will be buried.
CATTLE-KEEPER.
87
This is to be repeated as often as the weeds rise
to a similar height.
Being thus prepared, about the 26th of Au-
gust, but not earlier, prepare a rod of your
ground; put some manure into it, and sow one
half of it with early York cabbage-seed, and the
other half with sugar-loaf cabbage seed, both of
the true sort, in little drills eight inches apart,
and the seeds thin in the drills. If the plants
come up at two inches apart (they should be
thinned if they come up thicker) you will have
plenty. As soon as fairly out of the ground,
hoe the ground rather deeply; and repeat the
same in a few days. Now make fine and ma-
nure another rod or two, into which prick out
the plants as soon as they have six leaves, which
will be in a short time. Plant them four thou-
sand of each in rows at eight inches apart, and
three inches in the row. Hoe the ground be-
tween them often, and they will grow fast, and
be straight and strong. These plants so pricked
out, will, most probably take four rods of
ground.
Early in November, or, as the weather may
permit, a little earlier or later, lay manure be-
tween the ridges in the other thirty-six rods;
88
THE COMPLETE
turn the ridges over on this manure, and then
transplant your plants on the ridges at fifteen
inches apart, where they will stand the winter.
If any fail, prick more out to replace them.
Your thirty-six rods will thus take up your four
thousand plants. If the winter be severe, you
can cover your bed where your plants are, al-
though you may not be able to cover the thirty
rods of planted out. Litter, straw, dead grass,
or fern, laid along between the rows and the
plants, . so as not to cover the plants, will pre-
serve them completely. As often as any fail
later in the winter, supply their places. If you
find the ground dry at the top during the winter,
hoe it, particularly near the plants, and rout out
all slugs and insects. And, in March, when the
ground is dry, hoe deep and well, and earth the
plants up cloge to the lower leaves. As soon as
the plants begin to grow, dig the ground with a
spade clean and well, letting the spade go as
nearly as possible to the plants, without displac -
ing any of them. Give them another digging in
a month; and, if weeds come in the mean time,
hoe, and destroy them. By the beginning of
June, you will have turned-in cabbages; and,
shortly after, solid early Yorks.
CATTLE-KEEPEK. 89
It is at this time you are to purchase your
cow, — of the place you are to keep her in, we
shall speak by and bye. The present subject is,
her food. The thirty-six rods, if the cabbages
all stood till they grew solid, would yield food
for two hundred day^s, at eighty pounds per day,
which is more than she would want. At first,
however, some must be used that are not solid;
and afterwards some will split before you can use
them. You will, therefore, have pigs, to help
off with them, and to gnaw the heads of the
stumps.
In March, and again in April, sow more early
Yorks, and get them to be fine stout plants, as
you did those in the fall. Dig up the ground,
and manure it, and, as fast as you cut cabbages,
plant cabbages, in the same manner, and with
the same cultivation as before. Your last plant-
ing will be about the middle of August, with
stout plants, and these will serve you into No T
vember.
You have now to provide from December to
■May, and that, too, out of the same forty rods of
■ground: to do this, you must have arrived at
perfection by the month of November three
thousand turnip plants; these, without the
h3
90
greens, must weigh on an average five pounds
each, and will, at eighty pounds a day, keep the
cow one hundred and eighty-seven days, being
five days more than there are in the six months.
The greens will have helped out the latest cab-
bages to carry you into December; but for these
six months you must depend on nothing but the
Swedish turnips.
The plan you must pursue to obtain this quan-
tity of turnips from the same ground that bears
the cabbages, is simply as follows: When at
your outset, you plant your cabbages, first put a
row of early Yorks, then a row of sugar-loaves,
and so on throughout the piece. Of course, as
you are to use your early Yorks first, you will
cut every other row; and the early Yorks that
you are to plant in Summer will go into the in-
tervals, By-and-bye, the sugar-loaves are cut
away, and in their place will come Swedish tur-
nips, you digging and manuring the ground as in
the case of the cabbages; you will thus, at last,
find nearly sixteen rods not required for cab-
bages, it being not only now too late, but also
unnecessary to go further on with planting them.
Here, then, the Swedish turnips will stand in
rows two feet apart, and always a foot apart row
CATTLE-KEEPER.
91
from row. The required quantity of three thou-
sand turnips, will thus be easily obtained; and
if they do not average the weight given, the
fault must be either in the seed, or in your ma-
nagement.
These Swedish turnips are to be raised in this
manner : the plants left in the four rods in which
you sowed, and from which you pricked out, your
cabbage plants, will, in April, serve your family
for greens : your pig, also, (for where a cow is
kept, a pig may be maintained in addition at a
very trifling expence) will help you to get rid
of them. In the last week of May, prepare a
quarter of a rod of this ground, and sow it,
precisely as directed for cabbage-seed, with
Swedish turnip-seed; and sow, every third day,
a quarter of a rod, till two rods are sown. The
fly will sometimes appear; when this is the case,
cover the rows over in the day time with the
cabbage leaves, and take the leaves off at night ;
hoe well between the plants; and, when safe
from the fly, thin them to four inches apart in
the row. The two rods will yield you nearly
five thousand plants; From this bed draw your
plants, to transplant to the ground where your
cabbages were, as before shewn. Do not begin
92
THS COMPLETE
transplanting before the middle of July, and
finish not later than the middle of August. In
the two rods from whence you have drawn the
turnips for transplanting, you may leave the re-
maining plants to come to perfection, at two feet
distance each way; which will yield you eight
hundred and forty pounds weight of turnips,
over and above your demand, to provide for any
accidental failure, or as food for the pig. The
two remaining rods of the four, will be ground
sufficient to sow cabbages in at the end of Au-
gust, as directed for last year.
You are to observe that the turnip plants are
to be transplanted just in the same manner as
directed for the cabbage-plants; and that both
should be transplanted in dry weather, and in
ground but just fresh digged. Also that the
turnips are to be of the Swedish kind; for the
white turnip, which is at best but a poor root,
makes miserable butter; as does also the laige
cattle cabbage; both must therefore be avoided;
and the best way to do so, is, perhaps, to follow
implicitly the directions previously laid dozen, not
only as to the sorts of seed required, but also as
to the manner of their cultivation; and then you
may depend on having as sweet milk and as good
CATTLE-KEEPER.
93
butter, as can be obtained from any cow, upon
whatever she may be fed. And the only way in
which your butter can imbibe any ill taste, is
from your suffering any sluttishness in any of
the dairy tackle. Churns, pans, pails, wall,
floor, and all in and about the dairy, must be kept
sweet and clean; and, above all, the pans must be
boiled.
As, however, in spite of your best efforts, you
may be deceived in the purchase of your turnip
seed; (and if you are, all your after labour is
thrown away), the best way is to get a dozen of
fine turnip plants, perfect in all respects, and
plant them in a situation where the smell of
the blossoms of nothing of the cabbage, or rape,
or turnip, or even charlock kind, can reach them.
Seeds thus obtained will keep good for four
years.
When the Swedish turnips are ready to take
up, the tops must be cut off, if not cut off be-
fore, and also the roots ; but neither roots nor
tops should be cut off very close. Put as many
as you can (say ten or twenty bushels) of the
bulbs in the house or shed; heap up the rest
upon the ground in a round form, and let it rise
up to a point; putting ten bushels only in each
94
THE COMPLETE
heap. Lay over it a little litter, straw, or dead
grass, about three inches thick, and then earth
over all, about six inches thick. Then cut a
thin round green turf, about eighteen inches
over, and with it cover the crown of the heap,
to prevent the earth being washed off. These
heaps, thus stored, will remain uninjured till
wanted for use. When given to the cow, it will
be best to wash the Swedish turnips, and cut
each into two or three pieces. If in the. spring,
they should be found sprouting, open the remain-
ing heaps, and expose them to the sun or winds;
then cover them again slightly with straw or
litter, and they will generally keep good till
wanted for use.
The shed in which your cow is kept, should
be so built, as to afford her at all times a warm
comfortable lodging; the floor should be paved
with stones, of some sort or other; and sloped,
but not too much. A broad trough, or box,
fixed up at the head of the cow, is the thing to
give her food in; and she should be fed three
times a day, always at daylight, at noon, and at
sunset. If her shed be near a common, she will,
of course, be turned out in the day time, except
in very wet and severe weather; but if there is
i.
CATTLE-KEEPER.
95
no common near at hand, there is, most likely, a
green lane, and she may be suffered to graze or
pick along its sides.
According to the present practice, a miserable
". tallet" of had hay, is in too many cases the
wretched winter sustenance of too many labour-
er's cows, in addition to what they can pick up
from the green lanes, or road sides: this can
hardly be called food; the consequence is, the
cow is both dry and lousy, nearly half the year;
instead of being dry only about fifteen days be-
fore calving, and being sleek and lusty at the
end of the winter, to which a warm lodging
greatly contributes. For, observe, if you keep
a cow, at any time between September and June,
continually out in a field or yard, to endure all
chances of weather, she will not, though she
have food precisely the same in quantity or qua-
lity, yield above two thirds as much as if she
were lodged in her house; and in wet weather,
she will not yield half so much. It is not so
much the cold, as the wet, that is injurious to
all our stock in England.
The manure required for these forty rods of
land is easily obtained: . at first it must be pro-
vided by collections made on the road, and by
96
THE COMPLETE
the results of the residence in his cottage. Let
any one clean out every place about his dwelling,
and rake, scrape, and sweep all into a heap, and
he will find he has a great deal. Every act that
tends to cleanness and neatness in or about a
dwelling, tends to the creating of a mass of ma-
nure. Every thing of animal or vegetable sub-
stance that goes into a house, must go out of it
again, in one shape or another. The very emp-
tying of vessels of various kinds, on a heap of
common earth, makes it a heap of the best
manure. Thus, for the outset; when you have a
cow, your trouble of collection will be all over;
you will then have ample, and especially if you
have a pig. Enough will be created by these
two animals, with a common degree of attention
on your part to their cleanliness, for an acre of
ground. And,- let it be observed, that, after a
time, it will be unnecessary, and would even be
injurious, to manure for every crop, for that
would produce more stalk and green than sub-
stantial part. You ought to depend more on the
spade and the hoe, than on the dung-heap. Ne-
vertheless, the greatest care should be taken to
preserve the dung-heap. The best way to pre-
serve manure, is to have a pit of sufficient di-
CATIXE-KEEPER.
97
mensions close behind the cow-house and pig-
stye, for the run for these to go into, and from
which all runs of rain water should be kept.
Into this pit would go the emptying of the shed,
and of the sty, and the produce of all sweep-
ings and cleanings round the house; and thus a
large mass of manure would soon heap together,
more than you will require; the residue you may
exchange for straw, of which you will require
one good load of rye or wheat straw, for the
winter, and half a load for the summer: unless
the neighbouring common will supply you with
rushes, grassy furze, or fern.
Such are the excellent directions given by
Cobbett, in his useful work, " Cottage Economy;"
and we have only to remark, as an opinion of
our own, that the addition of a little sweet, good
hay, to the greens and turnips, is all that would
ever be required to preserve the cow in health,
strength, and flesh; and to ensure an abundant
supply of good milk.
In concluding our hints to dairymen we will
just add, that if he have a sufficient range of
good grass land, he can, as a matter of course,
best afford to keep the largest breed of cows;
but if he possess but little, and that little of
i
illHWW
i
98
THE COMPLETE
ordinary quality, he had better make choice of a
small stock, which will shift with a moderate
bite, and are not too heavy to labour through the
day to fill themselves : however, he must recollect,
that the poorest heath-croppers will make but a
sorry figure at the pail, without a good allowance
of extra provision.
OP THE MANAGEMENT OP COWS
BEFORE, DURING, AND AFTER
CALVING.
Breeding is an important process in the ani-
mal economy; and in most of the domestic ani-
mals it is encouraged by mankind as a source of
profit. — To none can this remark be more appli-
cable than to the cow; for not only does she
produce an offspring whose worth is a matter of
consequence ; but she also continues to enrich
her keeper by abundantly yielding her rich lactife-
rous store — converted by his interest from being
the source of nourishment to her progeny into a
source of profit to himself.
This same feeling, of making the most of the
CATTLE-KEEPER.
99
animals in his possession, often urges the incon-
siderate owner to attempt to outstrip, or rather,
to force nature; but the attempt in such case
recoils on himself — for instead of obtaining the
daily golden egg, he too often finds his prema-
ture haste has destroyed his bird, eggs and all.
These remarks apply with greatest force to
those inconsiderate persons who, anxious to an-
ticipate their most sanguine hopes, injure their
stock by putting their heifers prematurely to
breed, and who, did they but endure another
season of necessary delay, would give time for
nature to perfect her work of maturity, and en-
sure a healthy offspring ; but those persons, by
an injurious and injudicious haste, destroy the
stamina of the animal's constitution, entail a
feeble and unhealthy issue, exhaust the powers
of the devoted animal, and not only shorten her
life, but occasion many and serious disorders.
Heifers should not on any account be put to
bull before they have passed the second year of
their existence ; indeed if three years be allowed,
the much better condition of the calves will am-
ply repay the one year's delay. — Cows may be
expected to produce a calf every year, but if an
occasional year be allowed to pass without their
100 - THE COMPLETE
breeding, it will much improve their condition ;
as over breeding, like over-working, exhausts
the powers of the animal's constitution. The
general rule with regard to milch cows, is, not
to put them again to bull before they cease to
give milk; cows that are not in calf are generally
in heat every three weeks; at which time, and
at the moment they are most in heat they should
be put to the bull, as they will conceive more
readily. — There are cows which continue in heat
only a very short time ; with such this attention
is the more necessary. They are known to be in
heat by the following signs : they are continually
lowing, and mounting each other, or upon the
bull; they are restless, and often running about;
there is also an elevation of the tail, a swelling
of the genital parts, and a slight discharge of
white glairy matter from the shape. After they
have taken the bull, they should be taken away,
and not brought to him again, unless they are
again in heat.
There are cows that never conceive, but yet
continue to be in heat about every third week ;
and it has been observed, that weak, fiat sided
cows, or such as are consumptively disposed,
are often in heat again, after being bulled. Va-
CATTLE-KEEPER.
10!
rious reasons may be assigned to account for
these circumstances; but as they are rather hypo
thetical than practical, we shall merely observe
what experience has proved, that cows which
are kept from breeding for several years some-
times fall into a consumption; and become
thereby ever afterwards incapable of producing
issue, although more and oftener inclined to re-
ceive the bull.
The cow goes nine months with calf; some
give milk during the whole time; others lose it
about the seventh or eighth month : it is, how-
ever, adviseable, as a general rule, to cease to
milk them at seven months, unless the udder
should swell; in this case only half the quantity
in the udder should be drawn off, and that more
from relief to the animal than from any service
to which the milk can be applied; as it is now of
little value, and necessary to the nourishment
of the fcetal calf.
Cows that are with calf should be kept in
fields where the ground is nearly level, and where
there are no large ditches; as abortion is often a
consequence of their leaping over ditches, or
slipping on very hilly or steep ground, when
driven into the stable at the time the fields are
i3
102
THE COMPLETE
laid up, or in situations where it is necessary to
employ dogs to keep them.
Pregnant cows, and especially such as are
near calving, ought to be fed with better and
more substantial food than usual. Grain of any
kind is now useful, but it must be bruised, or
crushed; barley and oats are the best kinds.
Some good soft fragrant hay of the second crop,
or skimmings, should be reserved for this pur-
pose.
When pregnant cows are kept together in the
same pasture, they should be carefully watched,
as they are very apt to quarrel and hurt each
other, and even to cause warping or slipping
the calf.
Cows are more liable to abortion than any
other domestic animal; perhaps this may result,
in a great measure, from the want of exercise,
the great size of the rumen, or first stomach,
and the hardness of the third ; it is also some-
times caused by the stomach being too much dis-
tended with improper food; straw and bad hay
being very injurious, and, if not always the
cause of abortion, is generally productive of dif-
ficult labour. Impure or unwholesome water,
fog-grass, coarse tough grass in wet situations,
CATTLE-KEEPER.
103
too much exposure to cold and wet, fighting
with each other, and leaping over eminences or
ditches, are all likely to produce abortion : too
much care cannot, therefore, be used in looking
after pregnant cows, in order to secure them
against either of these accidents.- Above all,
give them sufficient gentle exercise, treat them
kindly and soothingly, and feed them with food
that, is easy of digestion, and which contains a
good deal of nutriment in a small bulk; give
it them a little at a time, and that little, often.
Straw, chaff, and bad hay, afford but little nou-
rishment, load the stomach and bowels, im-
pede the gradual growth of the calf in the womb;
and when the calf has acquired a moderate size,
the pressure of a loaded stomach causes its
death, and sometimes endangers the life of the
mother also.
The approach of calving is known by the cow
bellowing, the enlargement of the udder, the
restlessness of the animal, and the falling of the
flank and croup. The cow should then be con-
stantly watched, that she may have assistance,
if necessary, at the time of calving.
The most common manner in which the calf
comes forth from the womb, or the natural pre-
104
THE COMPLETE
sentation, as it is termed, is with the head and
two fore-feet foremost. From the causes before
noticed, however, this natural presentation is
often changed ; sometimes the hind legs and tail
present: in either of these cases the calving may-
take place without • assistance. But if only a
single leg present itself, or the head only, or any
other single part, the cow should not be left to
her own unavailing efforts to expel the calf, but
the veterinary surgeon or experienced dairyman
should be immediately called in, to give the ne-
cessary assistance.
Never, however, be in too much haste in af-
fording manual assistance for the delivery, as
there is often mischief done by violent and ill-
timed interference. Violence of any kind should
indeed always be avoided: when the presenta-
tion is natural, the efforts of nature and the
labour pains are generally sufficient for the ex-
pulsion of the calf; and where unnatural, more
effectual service is rendered by care and prompt
assistance than any kind of violence can afford.
Besides, violent efforts of extraction often prove
fatal to the cow, or cause a prolapsus, or falling
down of the womb, and is infallibly fatal to the
calf.— When the calf-bladder appears, it should
CATTLE-KEEPER.
105
be sufficient to break it, and let the water flow
out of its own accord; and then the only assist-
ance proper is, to draw the calf very gently at
those times that the labour pains are observed to
be on, but at no other period.
■ It is of importance, also, to abstain from giv-
ing the cow any kind of heating drench, such as
wine with sugar and nutmeg, which are often
given to hasten the discharge of the after-birth ;
but which rather retard it by the irritation they
excite: drenches should only be given when the
animal appears very enfeebled, and then only by
the advice of a competent judge.
If the labour be tedious, and continue for
some time, unaccompanied with any other more
unfavourable symptoms, it will be sufficient to
give small quantities of nourishing food, such as
oatmeal gruel, warm, and a little salted. Take
care that there be an ample allowance of litter,
that the calf may not hurt itself in falling, for
cows almost always calve standing. Calving
often happens in winter; it is then necessary to
cover the cows, and not let them go out for some
days, and especially not to expose them to cold
and rain.
Cows being in a good condition during the
106
THE COMPLETE
period they are with calf, may be considered as
a presage of a fortunate delivery ; it also indi-
cates good management on the part of the pro-
prietor, and renders any particular assistance
seldom necessary. By good condition, we do
not mean full of flesh, by feeding to satiety;
on the contrary, we mean that healthful habit
which invariably results from giving them a pro-
per quantity of good food, such as is most easy
of digestion, and which contains a sufficiency of
nutriment in a small compass, and by allowing
or gently urging them to moderate exercise.
Immediately after calving, the cow should have
a little warm water, in which a few handfuls of
meal have been stirred; when the thirst is con-
siderable, which is often the case, a little more
of this thin gruel should be given in half an hour,
and repeated from time to time, taking care not
to load the stomach.
It' is a common practice, as soon as cows are
delivered, and the umbelical cord, or naval- string
is broken, to attach a small weight to it, to pre-
vent its return into the womb. Though this is,
perhaps, seldom necessary, it may, nevertheless,
sometimes facilitate the expulsion of the after-
birth, and prevent its being retained too long.
CATTLE-KEEPER.
107
It may, therefore, be done, especially in feeble
cows, which, when exhausted by calving, make
but weak efforts for the expulsion of the after-
birth or cleansings.
The after-birth, or -placenta, is a large bladder
which encloses the calf in the womb; and being
a body foreign, after delivery, to the cow herself,
it cannot remain without the most serious con-
sequences to her. A quick expulsion of the
after-birth, however, although very desirable, is
not an essential condition of a good or natural
calving. In general, when cows go their full
natural time, and the delivery happens without
accident, the after-birth comes away with scarce-
ly any effort of the cow, in about from two to
fifteen hours, more or less. These efforts are
not always the same; they resemble labour pains
in some measure, being weak at first, then gra-
dually increasing, becoming longer and more
considerable; at last, a more violent and pro-
longed effort than those preceding accomplishes
the discharge, or cleansing, as it is termed.
When the animal is in health, the cleansing
should be left entirely to nature; and on no ac-
count, without the most positive advice, and that
of an experienced person, should the hand be in-
108
THE COMPLETE
traduced, in order to hasten the discharge. Cases
might be enumerated, where days, even a week,
have passed, without the cleansing being ex-
pelled, and not the least danger result to the
animal; notwithstanding that in the latter in-
stance, the proprietor used the most earnest
entreaties, that the' veterinary surgeon who
attended should draw it off. It is sufficient to
pull the umbilical cord which hangs out of the
part, gently, whenever there is a labour pain,
but not to continue to draw it after the pain has
ceased; and the force with which it is drawn
should accord with, or be in proportion to, the
effort which the animal makes : if it is too weak,
it will be of no use, and if too violent, there is
danger of breaking the cord, and losing this
resource for assisting nature in the discharge of
the after-birth, while, at the same time, it tends
to weaken the cow. It is only when the animal
appears ill and depressed, and when the natural
efforts are evidently insufficient, that it becomes
necessary to introduce the hand for the purpose
of drawing off the after-birth; but this must be
done with great care, and should not be attempted
except by an experienced person.
It is improper to administer any heating
CATTLE- KEEPER.
109
drench, such as that composed of urine, wine,
savin, and rue, (given as cleansing drenches,)
by some ignorant people, as they often excite
fever and inflammation of the uterus; there are
very few cases indeed in which it is at all safe to
give them, nor should such ever he employed
except when prescribed by an experienced vete-
rinary practitioner. Inflammatory affections of
the intestines and womb, are invariably the result
of such bad management in or after calving; and
if we would prevent these, we must be content
to follow nature and reason, and not be always
striving to force the one and outrage the other.
Gentle walking exercise, when the weather is
favourable, often repeated; and brushing the
body, especially the loins and under the belly,
with a whisp of hay or straw, or a piece of cloth,
will promote the expulsion of the after-birth.
When cows are weak, or too long in cleansing,
the only thing to be given is toast and weak wine,
good cider, or perry. If wine be preferred, mix
it with an equal quantity of water. This toast
should consist of four pints of wine and water,
and about a pound and half of bread toasted:
cows generally eat this freely: an infusion of
two handsful of camomile flowers in two quarts
K
11.0
THE COMPLETE
of water, with the addition of half a pint of
wine, if there appear to be occasion for it, and
given as a drink every two or three hours, is
sometimes given with success. Some hours
after, half a pailful of warm water with a little
meal or fine bran stirred into it. This blanched
water, as it is termed, should be continued for
five or six days, and if the cow be very weak,
and there is great difficulty in restoring her, the
wine or cyder toast may be given for a few days.
It is necessary, also, in such cases, to adminis-
ter clysters, daily, of red wine and water, or of
an infusion of camomile flowers in water. And
some of the same liquor may be injected into the
womh. These clysters and injections give that
tone or strength to the uterus, and parts con-
nected with it, which is required for the expul-
sion of the after-birth.
It is of importance not to confound the weak-
ness which is the consequence of the exhaustion
of vital power or strength with that which results
from oppression only. In the former case, all
the external parts are relaxed and cold; the eyes
are pale, there is but little heat in the mouth and
vagina; the muzzle is cold and moist, the pulse
small and weak, and the respiration slow; in this
CATTLE-KEEPER.
Ill
case, the strengthening toast and wine before-
mentioned is necessary- but in the second case,
on the contrary, the breath from the mouth and
nostrils is hot; the eyes are red and rather fierce;
the mouth hot, dry, and parched; the muzzle
dry; the thirst excessive; breathing very quick;
the vagina red and inflamed; the skin dry and
tight; the pulse hard and quick; this is a real
inflammatory fever, which can only be subdued
by bleeding, cooling drinks with nitre, acidulated
drinks with honey, and by emollient clysters.
These are the only means that can be employed
under such circumstances to promote the dis-
charge of the after-birth. Some persons suffer
the cow to eat the after-birth: this we consider
an absurd custom, and best prevented.
It sometimes, but very rarely happens, that
cows have two calves, which they do not bring
forth at the same time, but after some interval.
After the first is born, it may be known that
another is in the womb, by the cow continuing
very restless or agitated, looking continually
round to her flanks, having labour pains, and
appearing to pay little or no attention to the calf
already born. If she continue a considerable
time in this state, it will be necessary to assist
112
THH COMPLETE
nature by giving the animal a pint of strong
warm ale; and by irritating the nostrils with a
pinch of snuff, or by tickling, so as to excite
sneezing. If those means fail, the veterinary
surgeon should be called in.
It sometimes happens that toward the latter
end of gestation, or immediately after calving,
the vagina comes out, and sometimes the womb
follows it; this is, generally caused by using im-
proper force in extracting the calf, or after-birth.
In this case, it is necessary to call in the aid of a
person who has been accustomed to put back the
parts; as it is an operation not easily performed
by an inexperienced person. When the vagina
only comes out, it will generally be sufficient to
raise the hind part of the cow considerably, by
means of litter, or otherwise, and keep the fore
parts as low as they can be.
How to extract a calf when it presents in a
wrong position.
Farmers and dairymen, or other persons who
have the care of milch cows, ought to be well
acquainted with the manner in which a calf
CATTLE-KEEPER.
113
should present itself, when in a natural or pro-
per position.
When the calf is presented with the head and
fore-feet first, and its back towards the cow's
back, it is termed a natural position; all others
are unnatural, and are attended with more or
less danger botb to the cow and the. calf, unless
immediate and skilful assistance be rendered.
Sometimes, however, this assistance may not
be at hand when wanted. In this case the best
that can be obtained must be resorted to. We
shall, therefore, give a few of the most common
wrong positions, with directions how best to
avert any danger therefrom.
1. — When the waters are broke, and only the
head and one foot presented, lay hold of the calf's
head, and wait till the throes are off, then gently
push it back, and rectify the other foot : It may
■be then extracted without danger.
2. — If the head only present itself, and both
feet are left behind, — the head must as in the
former case be pushed back with a gentle hand
as soon as the throes are off, and the feet pro-
perly placed with the utmost care, or you will
wound and tear the arteries.
3. — If all the jour feet be tamed where the back
k 3
114
THIS COMPLBTK
ought to be, towards the top of the uterus,— in
this situation it will be impossible to extract the
calf until it be put in a proper position. The
hind parts of the cow must be raised with straw,
or with bags of that or other soft material that
is soft and easy to lie on, and properly placed
under her. By this means the person will be
very much assisted in putting the calf in a suit-
able posture for extraction; afterwards wait the
return of the cow's throes, and then give nature
your best assistance. In operations of these
kinds, every thing depends upon the manage-
ment and activity of the person employed in
putting the beast in a favourable position.
4. — When the hind legs make the first appear-
anC e } — it will be found better to extract the calf
in this position with care, than to attempt to
turn them.
5. — The shoulder sometimes first presents itself .—
This is a difficult case, and requires the hand to
be introduced in search for the fore legs : or the
hind legs may be brought forward, if they ap-
pear most conveniently placed: but this must be
left to the care and judgment of the party em-
ployed.
These are the most usual cases of unnatural
115
presentations : and may, with care and a little
experience, be surmounted; but when the calf is
dropsical in the head, which may be known by the
largeness of that part, and the wasting away of
the others, or if it be dead, instrumental aid will
then be necessary, and prompt and experienced as-
sistance must be obtained .- it will be worse than
useless, therefore, to give any directions in cases
where the slightest error would be fatal, and
where no other aid than that of the most expe-
rienced veterinary surgeon can be of slightest
avail.
Horn to treatthe naval-string after extraction.
When the calf is taken from the cow, and
been properly cleaned, either by the animal lick-
ing it, or with a clean linen cloth, let the um-
bilical cord or naval string be properly secured,
with a ligature, in the following manner: —
Tie a waxed thread of several thicknesses,
several times round the naval string, about two
inches from the body; secure it with a double
knot, then take a pair of scissars, and clip it
off a little below the tied part. Be careful not
to tie the thread so tightly, that it cut the naval
116
THE COMPLETE
string, or it will cause an effusion of blood
which may prove difficult to stop, and perhaps
endanger the life of the young animal. If the
animal's strength appear exhausted, the follow-
ing restorative drink will be found serviceable:
HECIPE No. 2.
Peruvian bark in powder, 2 drams ;
Ginger, fresh powdered, 2 drams ; _
Mix, and give it in half a pint of new milk.
The falling down of the calf-bed.
This is a complaint, or rather an accident, of
frequent occurrence among cows, at the time
of calving, and consists in the calf-bed being
turned inside out, and falling down. It fre-
quently proceeds from the force employed in ex-
tracting the calf in labourious parturition, and
drawing away the cleansing immediately after-
wards, before the womb has bad time to con-
tract, or lessen itself. . >
In these cases it will be proper to support the
calf when just out of the shape, and then tie the
naval-string a few inches from the naval, with
CATTLE-KEEPER.
117
a little thick twine, and to let the cleansing
be subsequently expelled by the throes of the
beast.
We would advise the adoption of this plan in
laborious parturition, where no manual force
has been used. — For when a cow has once had
this complaint, she is always liable, at any fu-
ture period, either to slip her calf, or to a recur-
rence of the accident.
Cows that rise considerably on the small of
the back, in the form of a curve, and begin to
lower towards the tail, with the hip, rump, and
sirloin for the most part straight, are the most
liable to this complaint. Cows thus formed de-
note great weakness in £hose parts; and, with-
out great care and proper management at the
time of calving, are almost sure of having this
complaint.
By observing the following rules, this may,
generally, be prevented.
The floor or pavement of the cow-house should
be made level at the time of calving; and it will
be greatly to the advantage of some cows, if
they be placed so that they stand higher behind
than before for a considerable time before calv-
ing; as that position will enable them, when
U8
THE COMPLETE
down, to rise with more ease, and with less dan-
ger of straining themselves.
If the falling-down of the calf-bed be sus-
pected, the cow ought to be carefully watched,
particularly at the time of calving, and it should
be prevented, as far as possible, by the mean*
above- mentioned.
Treatment. — As soon as the falling down of
the calf-bed takes place, care should be taken to
have in readiness a clean sheet well-aired, to put
underneath and around the calf-bed, if she lay
down; or to support it, if standing; and likewise
to protect it from particles of dirt, or straw ad-
hering to it, as also from^the effects of air. Then,
if any portion of the cleansing adheres to the
womb, it must be removed in the gentlest manner
possible, lest you tear the calf-bed. Then bathe
the exposed parts with diluted spirits of wine, or
any kind of spirits will do, if they can be pro-
cured almost immediately; if not, it will signify
very little. — As soon as the parts have been
bathed, endeavour to return them to their natural
position by the method following :
The calf-bed is to be raised, and the person
who replaces it should clinch his hand, or have
CATTLE-KEEPER. ]J9
1'
a large sponge in it, and press gradually in the
middle part of the womb, until it is returned
into its proper situation. He must throw it
forwards, as far as he can possibly reach, and
turn his hand round to feel that it is properly
•eplaced, and hold it there for some time; which
will stimulate the womb to contract, and prevent
it, in a great measure, from falling down again.
When the calf-bed is properly replaced, the
following strengthening drink may be given to
the animal, to assist her, and remove those vio-
lent after-pains, to which cattle in this state are
particularly liable.
RECIPE No. 3.
Gentian, fresh powdered, 1 ounce;
White ginger, ditto, 1 ounce;
Aniseeds, ditto, 2 ounces;
Solid opium, cut small, 1 dram;
Treacle, 4 table spoonsful.
Pour a quart of hot ale upon the ingredients, in a
pitcher; and give it to the cow when new-milk-
warm.
This drink should be repeated once a day, or
every other day, for two or three times, Warm
120
THE COMPLETE
mashes, and proper management, must strictly
be attended to.
Abortion, or slipping of the calf
Abortion, or slinking or slipping the calf, is a
misfortune to which cows are particularly sub-
ject, in the early periods of gestation; and occa-
sions not only a serious loss to the owner, but
produces a weakness in the cow herself, which
is often injurious to her constitution to the latest
period of her existence.
Some few of the causes to which slipping the
calf is generally attributable, have been already
given; we shall add one. or two more, equally
producive of this misfortune. Cows are most
liable to slink their calves towards the latter end
of the year, while feeding on fog, or autumnal
grass, or on low marsh and fenny ground. In
such situations, the air towards the end of a\i-
tumn becomes too moist for the right perform-
ance of the animal functions; the body in con-
sequence becomes relaxed and debilitated, the
perspiration diminished, and the blood watery,
which frequently produce a preternatural deter-
mination of blood to the calf-bed, that impairs
CATTLE- KEEPER.
121
the healthy actions of that organ, and occasions
abortion. It appears to originate, in these in-
stances, from the same causes as the red water
does; only in the one, the calf-bed is affected;
in the other, the kidneys.
At other times, it has proceeded from the smell
of carrion, either exposed on the pasture, or
buried too slightly in the earth. — The sense of
smelling in horned cattle is remarkably acute;
any very disagreeable scent annoys them sadly,
and, if it be not removed, will produce abortion.
Treatment. — Cows that are in danger of slip-
ping their young, should be taken from the
pasture or stable the over night, and from two
to three or four quarts of blood should be taken
from each beast, which, unless the weather be
damp, ought to stand in the open yard, or open
shed, till next morning: then give the following
purging drink:
RECIPE No. 4.
Epsom salts, 1 pound ;
Nitre. 2 ounces;
Ginger and aniseeds, in powder, 1 ounce, each,-,
Treacle, 4 ounces;
Pour three pints of boiling water upon the ingredients,,
and give when new-milk warm.
122
After it has operated, give her the following:
RECIPE No. 5.
Alum, in powder, 4 ounces;
Nitre, 1 ounce;
Grains of paradise, and
aniseeds, fresh powdered, 1 ounce each ;
Solid opium, cut small, \ a dram;
Treacle, 4 tablespoonsful.
Mix for one drink.
Puc the drink in a pitcher, and pour a quart of boiling
water on it; cover it down till new-milk warm, and
then give it the beast.
Repeat this in about eight or ten days, and
there is little doubt of its producing the desired
effect.
Some cows are constantly a bulling every two
or three weeks, during summer : a better drink
cannot be given to put a stop to this than No. 2,
and also to make her hold to the bull. It should
be given to her about two hours after bulling: it
strengthens and braces the parts of generation:
if she be in good condition, let two quarts of
blood be taken from her.
If a cow should slip her calf, separate her
immediately from the herd, or she may possibly
affect them; and give her the following drink:
CATTLE-KEEPER. 123
RECIPE No. 6.
Spermaceti, 2 ounces;
Spirits of turpentine, 1 ounce;
The yolk of one egg:
Beat them in a marble mortar till well incorporated;
then add
Grains of paradise, and ear-
raway seeds, fresh powdered, 1 ounce, each ;
Treacle, 4 ounces:
Mix the whole in a quart of warm gruel, add a wine-
glass full of gin, and give it new-milk warm.
Repeat this drink every third day for about
three times.
ON THE
MANAGEMENT OF YOUNG CALVES,
AND THE
TREATMENT OF COWS AFTER DELIVERY.
Care should be taken that the cow, after the
extraction of the calf, should have a suitable
place to lie down in; and one that will also easily
enable her to lick her calf, which not only the
better excites her maternal feelings, but the
124
THE COMPLETE
friction of her tongue puts the young animal in
motion, and enables it to rise much sooner than
it otherwise would. If she should shew any
aversion to this action, which she should, and
generally does, do very shortly after calving,
it will be necessary to sprinkle on the calf a
little salt, rubbed up with crumb of bread, or
bran.
It is a prejudice very generally entertained,
that the first milk is injurious to the calf, on
account of its supposed bad quality. This is
acting contrary to nature, which has provided at
first serous and yellowish milk, termed beestings,
of a laxative or opening quality, in order to carry
off from the stomach and bowels of the calf an
injurious dark, viscid matter, termed meconium,
which has collected in them while in the womb.
It is therefore essential that the calf have instant
and free access to the cow. If the calf does not
readily take the teat, put it into its mouth: but
do this gently and with great care.
If, however, the first milk of the cow should
not produce the desired evacuation from the
bowels of the calf, recourse must be had to
medicine; the following will be suitable for this
■purpose:
CATTLE-KEEPER. 125
RECIPE No. 7.
Castor oil 1 ounce;
Prepared kali, \ a dram;
Ginger, in powder, 1 tea spoonful;
Mix, and give it in half a pint of warm milk.
This drink may be repeated the next day., if
the bowels are not sufficiently open.
The diet and treatment of cows, at the time
of calving, must be regulated according to the
season of the year. It is, however, considered
of consequence to the dairy, that cows should
not drop their young too early in the season ; as
when that happens, they fall off their milk in
the autumn, when from its superior richness it is
more valuable than at any other time. From the
end of March to the end of April is considered
the best time in the northern districts; as the
cow soon gets into condition upon the early
grass, and yields a greater quantity of milk in
the course of the season than those that calve
either much earlier or later; but in the southern
parts, the advantage is found in calving much
earlier. But as nature will not always be con-
fined by any rule which man can lay down, he
must act accordingly.
326
THE COMPLETE
If it be in winter, or early in the spring, they
should be housed as soon as possible; for new-
born calves are particularly fearful of cold, and
must be guarded from its intensity; not to the
degree of confining them in close, hot stables,
and injuring them by the reverse of too much
heat. Warm water, and meshes of scalded bran,
mixed with a little ground corn, should also be
given to the cow, twice or three times a day.
If the calving be in summer, the cow and calf
require to be kept under a shade, where they can
be protected from the sun in the day, from the
cold in the evening, and from damps and fogs at
all times ; and the cow must be treated with
meshes and warm water, for two or three days,
the same as in winter, but will not require so
many of them.
If the calf be intended for the butcher, it may
be taken from the cow after about a week or ten
days, and fed the remainder of the time by hand
as hereafter directed; but this time of taking the
calf away must he determined by the state of the
cow's udder; for unless that be free from kernels
and indurations, the calf must be allowed to suck,
as the jolting of its head is the means of healing
or restoring the udder, and. preventing the. down-
CATTLE KEEPER.
127
fall, or inflammation in this part, -which might
cause much trouble, and even endanger the life
of the cow.
But if the calf is intended to be reared, it
should not be weaned until at least six weeks or
even two months old, whether male or female.
For such, there is no food like the cow's milk;
and if she does not yield a sufficient quantity,
that of another ought to be had recourse to. It
is an incontrovertable fact, that the longer a calf
sucks, not only the larger and stronger will it
become, but it will also acquire a much better
form, and more robust health.
Calves which come early should be preferred
for rearing. Those which come late, do not
acquire sufficient strength to bear the cold of
winter: they languish, and are reared with dif-
ficulty. Calves should not be weaned too sud-
denly, but by little and little. The less they are
able to eat, the more they should be allowed to
suck; or after awhile they may be brought to
take it from the pail. This is done by placing
the hand in the milk, with the palm upwards,
and under the milk, while the fingers are raised
above the surface of the milk for the calf, to lay
128
the complete
hold of with its mouth, which it does very rea-
dily, and sucks up the milk with great ease.
When they are completely taken away, they
should he fed with a little bran, and some of the
best soft fragrant hay of the second crop ; they
should be allowed plenty of the skimmed milk,
and now and then a little water, in which barley
has been boiled and broken up, or a little butter-
milk, occasionally. There is at first some dif-
ficulty in bringing them to drink, but a little
perseverance will accustom them to it.
Moderate warmth and dry lodging are of the
utmost consequence to young calves; and if we
would turn them to any good account, they must
not be stinted either in these or in their food.
Some persons feed calves that have been weaned,
only twice or thrice a day : this is not enough : give
less at a time, but more frequently; and take care
that they have enough. In summer, skimmed
milk, thickened with oat or wheatmeal; and in
winter, carrots, or Swedish turnips, sliced, will
make them excellent food, adding at all times a
little good sweet hay.
As soon soon as they are fit to follow the mo-
ther, let them out; nothing does them more
good than exercise, and there is nothing, per-
CATTLE-KEEPER.
129
haps, more injurious than keeping them too long
in a stable.
Calves that acquire a habit of sucking them-
selves, may be prevented by separating them. — :
This is the only effectual method. — They some-
times also contract a habit of licking themselves,
and swallowing the hair, which forms balls in
their stomach; and, being indigestible, are the
cause of many serious diseases. — Of these habits
they must be broken; or they will, in spite of the
best care and keep, lose flesh, become covered
with lice, and subject to worms, as well as to
a disease similar to farcy.
Calves cannot be kept too clean, or have fresh
litter too often; for besides the evils already
mentioned, if they are suffered to lie on their
own dung and urine, they will become mangy,
and scarcely ever thrive. — They are subject to
several disorders, as the diarrhoea, or dysentary,
costiveness, hoose, &c. but- these we shall de-
scribe in their proper place. As a means, how-
ever, of preventing the greater number of these
diseases, we would advise the adoption of a few
simple but useful rules.
130
1st. — Let the young calf suck the first milk. —
This will cleanse its bowels, and prevent
costiveness.
2nd. — Let it suck from the mother at least two
months before it is weaned, and then
wean it gradually.
3rd. — Let its first food be such as is easy of di-
gestion, and let it have plenty of sweet
skimmed milk and good hay.
4th. — Keep it very clean, well rubbing it occa-
sionally with a whisp of hay or straw.
5th. — Keep its stable clean, and perfectly free
from all impurities.
6th. — Let it have gentle exercise; the best will
be in following the mother in the meadow
or pasture.
7th. — Do not stint it, either in good food or
good drink, and change its litter often
enough to keep it clean, sweet, and dry.
CATTLE-KEEPER.
131
DISEASES
TO WHICH CALVES ARE SUBJECT.
It is an observation founded on experience, that
calves born in the open air, suffer much less
from weakness or illness, than those that are
kept, from the moment of their birth, in closely-
confined barns, or sheds. Those brought up by
hand are also much more delicate than those
which are allowed to suck and follow their mo
thers. Calves and lambs require exercise and
fresh air; and where they are not restrained,
nature directs them to take a great deal; and it
is surprising to see how long a calf will run
about, and with what vigour it plays and frisks,
if left at liberty. Free, unconstrained, and plen-
teous exercise, out of doors, evidently makes
them thrive, and, indeed, seems essential to their
very existence.
Where the cow is much weakened in calving,
or long in giving milk, or if the weather be cold,
it will be necessary to warm a little before the
fire m a pan until it is about blood warm, and
then to give it in this state to the calf, a little at
132
THE COMPLETE
a time ; about a pint and a half, four times in
every twenty-four hours. If cold milk be given
to a calf, it occasions a trembling; and the cords,
or some other malady, inevitably succeed.
Calves are subject to several disorders during
the time of sucking, when weaning, or while
they are fattening for the butcher. These dis-
orders, or rather symptoms, have obtained dif-
ferent names, as cords, diarrhoea, costiveness, &e.
but they are really evidence of one disorder only —
indigestion.
I.— Cords.
Cause. — Calves sometimes are of a sickly or
weak constitution, and require care as to the
quantity of milk they take at each time; for if
they exceed a proper quantity, their stomachs
become disordered; and the acid formed on the
stomach for the purpose of effecting a change in
the milk necessary to digestion and the formation
of chyle, is increased in quantity, and altered in
quality. In consequence of this, the milk, in-
stead of being changed very gradually, is coagu-
lated, and large indigestible curds are formed
from it. This produces almost all the early dis-
orders of calves.
CATTLE -KEEPER.
133
Symptoms. — Extreme weakness, disrelish of
food, sometimes accompanied with griping pains.
When the disorder has arrived at a certain height,
the muscles are affected with spasms, and drawn
into cords, as it is termed; that is, they contract
with violence, and feel hard and knotted in seve-
ral parts. These cords frequently remain in the
stomach a considerable time, and are sometimes
so compressed, as to be absolutely formed into
cheese, perfectly solid, and smelling like new
cheese, a little sourish. Hence arises the obsti-
nate costiveness. Flatulency now takes place,
the calf becomes blown up, and affected with
flatulent colic. This, if not checked, resolves
into confirmed diarrhoea, and terminates in in-
flammation, from which death generally ensues.
Cure. — First attack the morbid acidity in the
stomach. This is to be done by the following
medicine:
RECIPE No. 8.
Unslaked lime, a piece the size of a pigeon's egg;
Water, sufficient io slake it;
Boiling water, one pint;
Subcarbonate of potash, (salt of tartar,) two
ounces :
M
134
THE COMPLETE
Put the lime into a jug with a cover, pour cold water
on it; when slaked add the boiling water, stir it up,
and cover it up close.
Into an eight ounce (or half-pint) bottle, put the
subcarbonate of potash, and fill it up with the lime-
water, having first shaken the jug so that it may be a
little thick. Keep the bottle well corked, and mark it
" Solution of Potash."
This is the best thing that can be given for
correcting the acidity of the stomach. Let it
be administered in the following manner:
RECIPE No. 9.
Solution of potash (as above) two teaspoonsful;
Epsom salts, two ounces;
Thin gruel, or warm water, half a pint.
Dissolve the salts in the gruel, or water; add the solu-
tion of potash, and give it daily, until the curd is
carried from the stomach, and the acidity destroyed.
If the disorder be accompanied with griping
pains, give with it one of the following cordials :
RECIPE No. 10.
Tincture of opium, . a tea-spoonful;
Brandy a table-spoonful;
Or, Anodyne carminative tincture, a table-spoonful.
CATTLE-KEEPER.
135
This will very soon relieve the griping pains,
without preventing the laxative from operating.
When the calf is relieved, feed it carefully for a
few days; and if its howels he loose, gruel made
of arrow-root, or fine wheaten flour, should he
given with a little of the solution of potash, or
powdered chalk, in each feed. This should be
left off gradually.
Remarks. — Calves brought up by hand, even if
not of delicate, weak constitutions, are liable to
all these affections, merely from being improperly
fed, that is, from having too much milk at a time,
from that milk not being sufficiently fresh, or
being in a bad state from a disordered stomach
of the cow, she being fed on bad hay or stale
grains. An intimate connexion exists between
the udder and the cow's stomach, and the milk
is very liable to become altered in quality as well
as quantity, by feeding her upon bad hay : we
cannot, therefore, wonder at this. There is an
acid formed in the stomach of the cow, and of
all animals, when that organ is weakened in a
certain degree, which by irritating the fourth
stomach, will disorder one or more of the quar-
ters of the udder, and spoil the milk in that
136
THE COMPLETE
quarter. To cure these disorders, is one thing,
and requires much trouble; to prevent them,
another, of less trouble, but of infinitely more
importance. The prevention, then, is simply,
good, wholesome food, and pure water. In Scot-
land, particularly, where there is but little grass,
and plenty of bad hay, this disease has at times
been very prevalent, and proved very destructive.
II. —Diarrhoea, or Dysentery.
This disease attacks young calves from the
age of two to six weeks old; it makes them thin,
and sometimes settles into a dysentery, which
often terminates fatally.
Cause— Change of diet, particularly when
stinted in good food; some careful housewives
being so thrifty as not to allow them a sufficiency
of proper subsistence, which nature requires at
so early an age.
Symptoms. — Great weakness; loathing of food;
with continual purging: every thing taken into
the stomach acidifies, or becomes sour, and co-
agulates therein. In the last stage of the di-
CATTLE-KEEPER.
137
sease, the stools become fetid and bloody; a large
portion of the defensive mucus of the intestines
is mixed with them; if unchecked, a gangrene
or mortification ensues, and terminates in the
death of the animal.
Remedy.' — Give, in a little gruel, the following;
RECIPE No. 11.
Tincture of rhubarb, one tablespoonful ;
Laudanum, one teaspoonful.
or, .. ■ ' - /M "^, :
RECIPE No. 12.
Dover's powders, two scruples;
Compound cinnamon powder, three scruples ;
Prepared chalk, two drams.
Mix for one drink, and give it morning and evening, as
long as the purging continues.
If there be a continual motion to dung, add to
this a teaspoonful of laudanum ; or,
RECIPE No. 13.
New-laid eggs, with their shells, two;
Milk, one pint.
M 3
138
THE COMPLETE
Mix, and give it new-milk- warm, two or three times a
day, until the scouring ceases.
If these means fail, an ounce of diascordium
electuary should be given every morning; and
if, notwithstanding all that you have done, the
excrement becomes bloody and fetid, give one of
the following, every morning, for a few days :—
RECIPE No. 14.
Diascordium electuary,' one ounce;
Good red wine a wine-glass full,
Or,
RECIPE No. 15.
Diascordium electuary, one ounces
Elder-flower water, a wine-glassful;
Crude sal-ammoniac, half a dram.
Dissolve the sal-ammoniac in the elder-flower water)
and then add the electuary; mix, and give.
If feverish symptoms accompany of appear in
this complaint, or if the calf lie down, kick at
its belly, and appear in pain, take away half a
pint of blood, or more, if the age of the calf
CATTLE-KEEPER.
139
will allow it, and give the following purgative;,
with a teaspoonful of laudanum therein.
RECIPE No. 16.
Glauber salts, three ounces;
Powdered ginger, half an ounce;
Aniseeds, fresh powdered, half an ounce;
Treacle two tablespoonsful.
Put the whole into a pitcher, and pour upon it a pint
of boiling water; cover it down, and give it when
new-milk warm. This is sufficient for a calf about
six weeks old.
Remarks.— The time of change of diet with
calves is a critical and trying period; care should,
therefore, be taken to change it very little for
the first fortnight; and in every subsequent
change to inure it by degrees; - or a dysentary
may be expected, which, if not timely checked,
will inevitably prove fatal.
Ill — Costiveness, or Obstruction in the
Bowels.
Calves are liable to this complaint from the
first moment of their birth; and also at every
140 th"e complete
IL U .LI.IH.IIIMIMII ■■ m m 11111111.1 ii iii ■ b^miiwim iMawBigamw
subsequent stage; in every one of which its life
is in danger, unless timely relief be given.
Cause. — Not allowing the calf to suck the first
milk from the mother; or the mother being fed
upon too dry meat, will induce this complaint
in the first few weeks of the calf's existence; but
in a more advanced age, it may result from impro-
per feeding, exposure to damp, change of diet, or
labouring under some latent internal disease.
Symptoms. — In very young calves, not being
able to dung, or even sometimes to void urine;
they cease to suck, stamp with their hind feet,
become short-breathed, and generally die in a
short time. In older calves, nearly the same
symptoms occur; which, if not timely checked,
resolve into inflammation, the complaint becomes
more serious, and terminates fatally.
Remedy. — If the calf be very young, draw the
dung out of the fundament with the finger, the
finger being first oiled, and introduced carefully,
and the hard excrement taken out gradually:
when this has been done, one or two clysters
should be thrown up, composed of infusion of
CATTLE-KEEPER.
141
mallows or camomile,* and a little sweet oil. If
this be not effectual, the previous purgative
drink, No. 16, may be given at twice, half the
quantity prescribed at each time, morning and
evening. Of course, if the calf be six weeks
old, it may be given as there directed, at once';
but if it be eight weeks old, then the following
should be given: —
a
RECIPE No. 17.
Glauber salts, four ounces;
Rhubarb, powdered, two drams;
Ginger, carraway, 1 . /one-third of
and aniseed / eacn \ an ounce ;
Treacle, three tablespoonsful.
Put the whole into a pitcher, pour a pint of boiling
water upon the ingredients, and give when new-milk
warm.
* Infusion of camomile, or of other herbs, is made in the
same way as you make tea, merely by pouring boiling water
on the herb, and suffering it to stand awhile, covered closely,
to extract the principal strength of the herb. If the quantity
be more than the tea-pot will contain, a clean jug will answer
the same purpose, the top being covered over with a doubled
cloth. When the infusion cools to about new-milk warmth,
it may be poured off for use.
142
THE COMPLETE
If the case be inflammatory, then the following
may be substituted: —
RECIPE No. 18.
Castor oil, four ounces;
Rhubarb, powdered, two drams ;
Prepared kali, one dram;
Ginger, fresh powdered a quarter of an ounce ;
Aniseeds, fresh powdered, a quarter of an ounce;
Treacle, two tablespoonsful.
Mix, and give it in a pint of warm gruel.
In a more advanced age, the salts or the castor
oil should be increased; the other ingredients
may remain the same.
After purging give the following cordial drink,
which will not only invigorate the system, but
produce a healthful tendency in the blood.
RECIPE No. 19.
Aniseeds, fresh powdered one ounce ;
Carraway-seeds, ditto one ounce;
Coriander-seeds, ditto half an ounce ;
Ginger, ditto half an ounce ;
Grains of paradise, ditto half an ounce;
Treacle, two table-spoonsful;
Fresh butter, a lump the size of a walnut:
CATIXE-KEEPEK.
143
Put the ingredients into a pitcher, and pour upon them
a pint of boiling ale. Cover all down till new-milk
warm, and then give it.
This will be found an excellent drink to remove
indisposition and flatulency in the stomach ; it
also strengthens the stomach, and by promoting
the digestive process— the best method of pre-
serving health in young animals—restores the
appetite, and secures health.
IV. — Hoose, or Cough.
Cause. — Exposure to cold, moist atmosphere,
or an insufficiency of wholesome food. It ge-
nerally attacks young calves during the first year;
is not very difficult to cure, if attended to early;
but if neglected at this period, almost invariably
terminates fatally.
Symptoms. — A continual ticklish sensation in
the throat, caused by very small worms being
engendered in the branches of the windpipe, and
clustering together in a thick, whitish fluid, cause
the young animal to be in an almost constant
144
THE COMPLETE
state of hoosing or coughing; by which the
digestive powers become so much impaired, as
to render the chewing of the cud impracticable :
if this disorder be not subdued by proper medi-
cines, the animal languishes and pines away, as
if in a consumption.
Remedy. — The following ball and drink will,
if early administered, generally remove this com-
plaint.
RECIPE No. 20.
Calomel, eight to twelve grains;
Gentian, in powder, two drams;
Syrup, enough to make it into a ball.
Give it in the morning, fasting, and let the calf be kept
from food for two hours : half a pint of gruel should
be administered at the time of giving the ball, to
wash it down.
If the hoosing continue, repeat the ball in
about four or five days. After each ball, give
the following purgative drink:
RECIPE No. 21.
Epsom salts, four ounces;
Ginger, in powder, two diams ;
CATTLE- KEEPER.
145
Pour a pint of boiling water upon these, and give it
when new-milk warm.
The following is also an excellent drench,
which may be poured into the calf's nostrils.
RECIPE No. 22.
Oil of turpentine, a table-spoonful;
Sweet oil, a tea-spoonful ;
Warm water, a quarter of a pint.
V. — Canker in the Mouth.
Cause.— Heat of the body, induced probably
by costiveness; and, like most other disorders
to which calves are subject, it arises from im-
proper food, or that which is not easy of di-
gestion.
Symptoms.— The mouth is so affected, that the
young calf cannot eat properly. The inside of
the cheeks and gums are tender, red, and ulcer-
ated, and the teeth loose. It is sometimes ac-
companied with fever, and then internal remedies
must be applied.
N
146
THE COMPLETE
Remedy. — The following mixture is generally
a cure for this complaint :
RECIPE No. 23.
Burnt alum, half an ounce;
Roch alum, half an ounce;
Common salt, half an ounce;
Armenian bole, in powder, half an ounce ;
Honey, two ounces.
Pour a pint and a half of hot vinegar upon these ingre-
dients in a covered jar: close it down, and when cold,
put it into a bottle for use.
The mouth must be well washed;, two or three
times a day, with this mixture, in the following
manner: — round one end of a cane or stick, two
feet long, fold a small lump of linen, or fine tow :
secure it well with strong thread: then shake
the bottle well: pour some of the mixture into
a pot ; dip the end of the cane or stick into the
gargle mixture, and apply it all oyer the mouth.
If feverish symptoms appear, administer the
purgative drink, No. 16, page 139; and, after
that has operated, give the cordial drink, No. 19,
page 142j and repeat if necessary.
CATTLE-KEEPER.
147
T V . — Inflamma lory Disorders.
Cause. — Though indigestion, from improper
feeding, is the cause of most of the disorders of
calves, yet sometimes they thrive too quickly,
or form so much blood, as to be attacked with
inflammatory complaints. This is not often the
case during the time they are fed on milk, but
frequently when about one year old.
Symptoms. — Heaviness, hanging of the head
and ears, watery eyes, cough, loss of appetite,
and quick and difficult breathing, or rather
wheezing.
Remedy. — Bleed freely, even to fainting, and
afterwards give the following saline draught:
RECIPE No. 24.
Epsom salts, six ounces;
Water, one quart.
Mix, and give it either at once or twice, according to
the age or constitution of the calf.
This may be repeated, if necessary; and if
148
THE COMPLETE
the costiveness he not removed, give the fol-
lowing clyster:
Observations. — When calves are about a year
old, great care must be taken to prevent these
inflammatory diseases, by keeping them on the
barer pastures. This is more effectual than all
the medicinal preventives. Thousands of calves
have been destroyed by forcing them, as it is
termed; that is, by keeping them too well.
Moderation in food is particularly essential.
Writers on cattle medicine generally recommend
drenching and bleeding, when young stock are
turned into good pasture: this is very good ad-
vice; but we will give better — keep them out of
it; for certainly prevention is much better than
cure. Neat cattle at all ages, are, from going
too suddenly into good pastures, very suscepti-
ble of inflammation; and calves in particular
Suffer from too hasty a change. They require
good feeding, but that feeding must be of the
nutritious, rather than of the succulent, kind.
RECIPE No. 25.
Table salt,
Warm water,
four ounces ;
two quarts.
CATTLE KEEPER.
149
We have thus been very explicit in the treat-
ment and disorders of calves, because we consi-
der that, by care and attention in their early
days, a good constitution may be secured, and
the greater part of the disorders which affect
their more mature years, altogether prevented.
Before we close this part of our subject, how-
ever, we have one more remark to make on the
treatment of the cow after calving: —
Some cows, from an abundance of milk, are
liable to a swelling of the udder after calving.
It is necessary, is such cases, to draw off the
milk several times a day, if the calf does not
suck a sufficient quantity, and wash the udder
with warm water, or with a decoction of marsh-
mallows. These means are generally sufficient;
and there is no danger of their causing inflam-
mation and abscess — diseases which require con-
siderable time and trouble to cure, and which are
oftentimes brought on by the application of but-
ter, lard, or some rancid ointment; which are
too generally the applications made use of on
this occasion.
n3
150
THE COMPLETE
OF THE
INTERNAL STRUCTURE OP THE COW,
AND THE ECONOMY OF THE
DIGESTIVE SYSTEM.
In the brief outline we are about to give of the
internal structure of neat cattle, we shall not
enter into an anatomical dissertation ; but merely
describe so much of the digestive system as will
enable the reader to comprehend the ruminating
process; by which means he will not only be the
better qualified to prevent many complaints to
which neat cattle are subject from improper
treatment, but he will also be the better enabled
to understand the symptoms of the complaints
with which they may be attacked, and to adopt,
with greater probabilities of success, the pre-
scribed methods of cure.
Neat cattle belong to the ruminating tribe of
animals; that is, they masticate or chew their
food a second time, and then in a. more perfect
manner ; thereby obtaining from it every possi-
ble particle of nourishment. For this purpose
they are furnished with four distinct stomachs,
CATTX.E-KKEPE It.
151
into which their food passes in the several stages
of digestion. These will be more fully ex-
plained.
When neat cattle first swallow their food, it
passes down their throats in very coarse and
large mouthfuls; when they have taken enough
in this state, they lie down to ruminate, or, as
it is termed, to chew the cud at their ease. To
render this process easily to be understood, we
shall briefly describe the four several stomachs.
The first stomach, called the rumen, or paunch,
is a very large receptacle for the food, where it
is retained until the animal ruminates. There is
a place in the paunch contiguous to where it
joins the second stomach, which seems to act
as a valve, and prevent the escape of air during
the maceration of food in it. It is to this sto-
mach that the food passes on being first swal-
lowed by the cow.
The second stomach, called the honey- comb,
or bonnet, is much smaller than the paunch,
and in its internal structure resembles that of
the honey-comb; from whence it takes its name.
It is situated rather to the right side of the gul-
let, near to the midriff, or skirt, and on the
upper and fore part of the paunch. The honey-
152
comb is internally covered with a sort of net-
work, which seems to act as a grate or strainer
to keep back any hard or foreign bodies that
may have been swallowed ; pins, nails, and bits
of wood and stick, having been found therein,
entangled in the grate-like entrapment. This
stomach seems designed as a receptacle for the
more fluid parts of the food, as well as to mois-
ten and press on the ruminated morsel in its
progress to the third stomach.
The third stomach, termed manyplies, or mani-
folds, is situated on the upper and right side of
the paunch, and is generally found filled with
food. It then approaches in shape to the globu-
lar form; but after a fast of twenty-four hours,
or more, bears more resemblance to that of a
kidney. This part of the system may be consi-
dered as a strong muscular bag, supplied inter-
nally with numerous leaves, from whence it de-
rives its name, and between which the food
passes to undergo a further preparation.
The fourth and last stomach, called the maw,
resembles the pouch of a bagpipe in form,
with its right and smaller extremity connected
with the intestine. It is in this maw that the
digestive process is completed — the former three
CATTLE-KEEPER.
153
being only preparatory. This stomach is very
capacious, being thrown into large plaits or
folds, from whence a peculiar fluid, called the
gastric juice, is secreted, which mingling with
the ruminated food, converts it into a substance
which then takes the name of chyme : this chyme
is conveyed into the smaller intestines, and in
its passage yields the nutritive principle neces-
sary for the sustenance of the animal. The fourth
stomach derives, from the gastric juice, the pro-
perty of curdling milk: the maw of calves, when
dried, is called rennet.
The digestive process is that change which the
food undergoes in the four stomachs and intes-
tines, and by which a fluid is separated from
it for the nourishment and growth of the body.
Grass, hay, or any other kind of food that
the animal eats, passes directly, without much
chewing, into the paunch, where it is retained
until a sufficient quantity be collected. The
food, while in the paunch, mixes with a fluid se-
creted in this receptacle, in which it is mace-
rated, and thereby undergoes a peculiar change,
which destroys its texture, and converts it into
a pulpy mass.
When the animal lies down to ruminate, or
154 THE COMPLETE
chew the cud, as it is termed, the paunch con-
tracts, and by that action propels some of its
contents into the honey-comb, and from thence
a portion of it is transmitted, by a voluntary act
of the beast, through the gullet into the mouth,
to be more intimately mixed with the saliva, and
more perfectly masticated by the grinders.
The beast having chewed the cud, swallows
it, and it now passes into the maniplies, to be
.reduced to a still finer pulp, and incorporated
with the fluid secreted in that stomach. The
alimentary mass is gradually pressed from the
manyplies into the true digesting stomach, the
maw, in which it undergoes a change that is
absolutely necessary to the separation of the nu-
tritious part from it. The food, after being de-
tained some time in the maw for this purpose,
is expelled into the intestines, and in them the
digestive process is completed.
In the intestines it becomes intimately mixed
with the bile and other secretions, which pro-
duce a further decomposition in it, the result of
which is the separation of the nutritious from
the excrementitious part, which action is go-
ing on throughout the long track of the intes-
tinal gut, or canal.
CATTLE-KEEPER. 155
The nutritious fluid extracted from the food,
is of a white, or milk-like colour, and is termed
chyle. This chyle is taken up by myriads of
minute vessels, and conveyed at length to the
left jugular vein, and there it mixes with the
mass of blood to supply that waste which the
body is continually sustaining fr om the neces-
sary actions of life; while the excrementitious
part is propelled along the intestinal canal, and
at last expelled the body.
The Udder.
The connexion subsisting between the fourth
stomach and the udder of the cow, is so inti-
mately blended, that the one cannot be affected
without the other being materially influenced:
hence we may see the necessity there is of feed
ing cattle properly and in attending to their
health, if we would avail ourselves of the profit
to be derived from their produce.
If we examine the udder of a milch cow, we
shall find it composed of cells of different sizes,
becoming larger as they approach the teats. In
a cow that has had several calves, we find two
large veins proceeding from the udder, and pass-
ing up under the belly. These are remarkably
156
THE COMPLETE
large, when the udder is full of milk, and are
commonly called the milk veins hy dairymen. In
consequence of the fourth stomach being so in-
timately connected with the udder, it partakes
of its sympathies, and is affected hy whatever
disarranges that part of the system ; so that if
the fourth stomach be disordered, the milk in one
or more of the quarters will be spoiled.
The udder consists of four quarters, or divi-
sions, each having an excretory duct, or teat,
at the extremity of which there is a contrivance
for confining the milk, but in a limited degree ;
for if the milk be suffered to accumulate in the
udder by neglecting to milk at the proper time,
it will at length force its way, but imperfectly,
through the teat, and be seen passing off in
drops or in a small stream. This voluntary act
of nature, is, however, a source of pain and
injury to the cow ; and should be prevented by
timely assistance.
CATTLE-KEEPER.
157
OF ' .
THE DISORDERS
TO WHICH
NEAT CATTLE ARE SUBJECT;
WITH THE
CAUSES, SYMPTOMS, AND METHODS OF CURE.
Observations.
The works which have hitherto appeared on
this important subject, have generally described
the diseases of neat cattle under so many (and
sometimes such very absurd) names, as to in-
duce the belief that they were both numerous
and complicated. — The truth is, however, that
they are very few in number, and a knowledge
of them is not at all difficult to acquire. We
may, indeed describe the whole of them under
two or three heads,— viz. those resulting from
indigestion; those consequent upon over-feed-
ing; and those attendant upon repletion of the
blood-vessels. Of course, we are considering
internal disorders only; for if we include wounds
and similar accidents, we must extend our list-:
to a fourth- class.
o
158
THJB COMPLETJi
The two first are, however, almost alike in
character, and may indeed be referred to one
and the same cause, namely indigestion — for
partial overfeeding would rarely be productive
of serious consequences, were not the digestive
organs in a state of relaxation from previous
improper feeding.
But before we enter into a minute detail of the
causes, symptoms, and cure of diseases gene-
rally, it will be very useful to say a word or two
on their prevention, and at the same time throw
in a few ideas on a subject which is but little
understood, namely, the causing or engendering
in neat cattle a pre-clisposition to disease.
The prevention of disease in cattle is an easier
task than many people imagine, — it consists of
nothing more than taking care, while they are
young, that they have good food in moderate,
but sufficient quantities; a due allowance of pure
and wholesome water ; to be kept clean, and
free from impurities both of the stable and the
field ; to be protected from damp and unwhole-
some influences; and to be allowed moderate
and free exercise. — All this is very simple — it is
merely taking nature for our guide, and follow-
ing implicitly her plain dictates in preference to
CATTLE- KEEPER.
159
our own opinions ; but its adoption will be at-
tended with the advantages of laying a sound
constitution, which will not only render the ani-
mal less subject to many diseases, but will also
be proof against many others.
A contrary practice, of slighting them while
young; or of feeding them indiscriminately; — of
suffering them to drink excessively, or of drink-
ing standing and impure -water; — of allowing
them to remain dirty in their coats and stable; —
of subjecting them to all weathers and influ-
ences; — and of restraining them in their exer-
cise; — all, or any of these practices weakens their
constitution, and lays the foundation of a train
of disorders; — the nervous system becomes de-
pressed, the digestive organs impaired, and the
strength of the whole body diminished. In this
state of comparative enfeeblement, they are
susceptible of nervous diseases ; or, in other
words, more liable to their attack. This is what
in medical language is called pre-disposition to
disease, and may be considered as the remote
cause of nearly every complaint to which they
are in after life subject.
Such are the causes which induce a pre-dis-
position to disease : — the disposition or founda-
THJ5 COMPUBTfl
tion existing, it can be easily understood that a
very slight exciting cause is capable of calling
a disease into action or existence; cold, damp
weather, or improper food or water,- — circum-
stances . which, in animals of sound and healthy
constitutions, would be productive of but slight
inconvenience, are here sufficient to produce
serious and even fatal diseases.
DISEASES
WHICH RESULT FROM INDIGESTION.
Indigestion is the most varied of all diseases ;
beginning from simple and apparently unimport-
ant deviations from health, it gradually becomes
so complicated, and often at length so under-
mines every power- of the system, that is diffi-
cult to give a view of its symptoms, which
shall at once be sufficiently full and distinct. 1 —
It is an affection of the central part of a most
complicated structure, capable of influencing
■even the remotest, and each through many chan-
nels, and in various ways. ..
The Yellows, or Jaundice.
This disorder often occurs to neat cattle, and
CATTLE KEEPER. 161
especially to milch cows; it attacks them mostly
in the spring, or autumn; and consists of a
disordered state of the third and fourth sto-
machs, and sometimes of the first.
Cause. A debilitated state of the stomachs,
arising from slow and imperfect digestion, by
which the bile, being obstructed in its proper
passage, gets conveyed into the circulating
mass of blood, and is diffused into the system
^ itself. A weakness of the digestive organs,
arising from improper feeding, seems to be the
pre- disposing cause, and the variable state of the
weather in spring and autumn, the immediate or
exciting cause.
Symptoms. — In the first stage of this disease
the whites of the eyes appear of a yellow tint,
and as it increases, the whole skin becomes im-
pregnated with the same yellow hue; the ears,
tail, eyes, and mouth, are the parts where it is
most conspicuous to the sight; — after a while,
the bowels become costive, and the teeth loose.
In every stage of the disease the animals have a
weakness, and great debility of the nervous sys-
tem, an aversion to move, and want of appetite.
o3
162
THE COMPLETE
When in the pasture, they wander about by
themselves, frequenting the side of hedges or
fences in- a dejected manner. If a milch cow,
the secretion of the milk is lessened, and what is
yielded is of a yellowish and stringy quality;
generally from one quarter only, and that quar-
ter is hard, more or less swollen, and tender.
As soon as want of appetite and the dull and
languid appearance of the animal comes on, the
milk is changed into a fluid somewhat resem-
bling matter, and smells offensively. .
If the disorder be neglected, or improperly
treated, the udder sometimes bursts, and, after
discharging matter .for some time, a large fleshy
fungus grows out of it, which remains for a
time, and then gradually separates and falls off,
while the sore which ensues gradually heals.
Sometimes the udder remains in a hardened,
condensed state, and becomes useless ; or, in the
language of dairymen, that quarter is lost.
Cure. — In the first attack of the yellows, let
the following drench be given; and if the wea-
ther be open, turn the animal into a field where
there is but bare pasture.
CATTLE- KEEPER.
163
four ounces ;
half an ounce;
one dram; .
one quart;
two ounces.
TO MAKE THE ANODYNE CARMINATIVE
TINCTURE.
Best Turkey opium, one ounce;
Cloves, bruised, one ounce;
Best Jamaica ginger,' one ounce;
Best Cogrriac brandy, one quart.
Mix them together in a well-corked bottle, shake it
. frequently for about three weeks; when settled,
■ strain it through blotting paper, and it will be ready
for use as wanted. Keep it well corked..
In very violent attacks of this disorder, the
drench should be assisted by giving the animal
whey every three or four hours, and throwing
up a clyster. The swollen udder may have some
olive oil gently rubbed thereon. And if the ani-
mal be in good condition, two or three quarts of
•blood may be taken with advantage; but it must
RECIPE No. 26.
Common salt, • .
Barbadoes aloes,
Ginger,
Water,
Anodyne carminative tincture,
164
THE COMPLETE
not be turned out to pasture the same day it is
bled. After this disorder has yielded to medi-
cine and attention, the following is an excellent
stomachic to invigorate the system :
RECIPE No. 27.
Cummin seeds, powdered, two ounces;
Aniseeds, ditto, two ounces;
Gentian root, two ounces ;
Grains of Paradise, in powder, one ounce,
Salt of tartar, one ounce,
Treacle, four table-spoonsful.
Mix, either in a quart of warm water, or a quart of thin
gruel, for one drink, and give it new-milk warm.
Chronic Indigestion.
The predisposing cause of this disorder may be
referred to the method of feeding cattle during
the winter. Hay is then had recourse to, as a
substitute for grass, — but all hay is not good;
on the contrary, some is very deficient in nou-
rishment, fibrous, and bad. If cows that are
tied up, eat much hay of this kind, the coarse
parts of the fibre accumulate in the third sto-
mach, and at length weaken the digestive system.
CATTLE- KEEPER.
165
Those which are more at liberty, are enabled
through exercise to digest bad hay better: still
the same effects, year after year, impair the di-
gestive organs materially; for although the sum-
mer feeding restores the animal to health, the
return of winter brings on a recurrence of the
complaint, and each year's effect is an addition
to those of the preceding. The exciting causes
are those which follow: —
Cause. — Exposure to wet and cold weather;
the grinding teeth injured by the stalks of dock,
or bramble, mixed with hay, renders mastication
difficult for a time; drinking freely of cold water
after being heated by exercise, or worried by
dogs. From either of these may indisposition
proceed, they being often followed by a chill, or
cold, which, if not timely removed, is some-
times productive of serious, and even fatal dis-
eases. . ' ' • •
Symptoms. — The first symptoms are, listless-
ness of manner, followed by a gradual disrelish
of food; the animal appears dull and heavy, and
sometimes feverish symptoms are induced. If
the costiveness which usually accompany these
166 THE COMPLETE
symptoms, be not removed, an inflammation of
the bowels may be expected, and must be treated
accordingly.
Cure. — As soon as you perceive that any of
your neat cattle are affected by cold, or that they
are costive, give either of the following purga-
tive draughts :
RECIPE No. 28.
Glauber's salts, one pound;
Ginger, powdered, two ounces;
Treacle, four ounces.
Or,
RECIPE No. 29.
Epsom salts, one pound ;
Aniseeds, powdered, one ounce;
Ginger, powdered, one ounce;
Treacle, four ounces.
In either case, put the ingredients into a pitcher, pour
upon them three pints of boiling water, and give it
when new-milk warm.
In a day or two, repeat the drench, and if it
do not remove the costiveness, administer the
following clyster :
CATTLE-KEEPER.
167
RECIPE No. 30.
Thin gruel, (new-milk warm) three quarts;
Common salt, eight ounces;
Sweet oil, half a pint.
Bleeding may also be applied to, if feverish
or inflammatory symptoms appear. If the ani-
mal be affected with a cough, quick pulse, a
discharge from the nostrils, and soreness of the
throat, it has settled into a catarrh, and must be
treated accordingly. «b'ee Catarrh.
Diarrhoea, or Looseness.
Cattle are most subject to this complaint in
the months of April and May, especially if the
season be wet and cold: cows after calving are
very liable to its attacks, if exposed to wet situ-
ations about this time : cattle which have been
improperly or poorly fed during the winter, are
also particularly subject to its influence. — It is
mostly soon cured; but if not speedily attended
to, or improperly treated, settles into Dysentery,
and often terminates fatally.
Cause. — The remote or predisposing causes
168
THE COMPLETE
are as before-stated; but the immediate or excit-
ing causes exist generally in the changeable state
of the weather, and the want of sufficient vigour
in the animal to resist those changes; or from a
weakness of the bowels, induced by bad or poor
keep, and hastened by the debilitating effects of
milking.
Symptoms. — Frequent and copious evacuations
of their dung, sometimes of a slimy or mucous,
and at others of a bloody, appearance. As the
disease advances, the beast becomes reduced in
flesh, and loses its appetite, the dung has a glairy
appearance, and the complaint becomes settled
into dysentery. It may be distinguished from
the latter, however, or known if it has- termi-
nated in that complaint, by the purging in dy-
sentery being accompanied with very severe
gripings, and painful efforts to expel the dung;
besides which, the latter is mostly prevalent, in
autumn.
Cure. — In the first place, if the weather be
unfavourable, put the affected animal into a cow-
house, or in a situation sheltered from the wea-
ther, and give the following drench:
CATTLE- KEEPER.
169
RECIPE No. 31.
Barbadoes aloes, four to six drams ;
Common salt, six ounces;
Ginger, powdered, . one to three drams;
Anodyne carminative tincture, two ounces ;
.Water, one quart.
Mix, and give it early in the morning.
If the weather be favourable, turn the animal
into pasture which has but a bare, short bite.
In the evening give the following cordial, astrin-
gent drench :
RECIPE No. 32.
Powdered catechu, two drams;
Allspice, fresh powdered', two drams;
Carraway, ditto half an ounce;
Good beer, or good table ale, a pint.
The first three ingredients must be simmered for a few
minutes in half the beer, and when it is ready to be
given, the remainder of the beer should be added.
These drenches should be continued three or
four days after the scouring has ceased, and until
the dung resembles that of healthy cows: the
feeding, meanwhile, should be such as is easy of
v
170
THE COMPLETE
digestion; if your hay be very good, give it, a
little at a time, and often, with a little fine bran,
or pollard : and let the water given to drink be
just slightly warmed.
Dysentery, Slimy Flux, or Scouring Rot.
Cattle kept in low, damp, and swampy situ-
ations, are at all times subject to the attacks of
this disease; but it is most prevalent in autumn.
It is also the complaint into which diarrhoea
generally resolves, when improperly treated, or
neglected.
Cause. — Dysentery is mostly brought on by
the perspiration being suppressed by exposure
to damp, or sudden vicissitudes of the weather.
Cattle, also, that have been overheated by driv-
ing, or worried, and afterwards lie down upon
the wet grass, are very liable to its attacks. If
the system be predisposed by bad feeding, or
weakened by previous complaints, a very slight
exciting cause will be sufficient to produce the
complaint; a cold, or chill may be the first ap-
pearance that disease is present; and if those
symptoms be disregarded, a diarrhoea, or dy-
CATTLE-KEEPER.
171
sentery will inevitably succeed; and the more it
is neglected the more difficult and obstinate will
be the cure. ■
Symptoms. — The animal is seen to make fre-
quent and painful efforts to expel the dung, which
is thin, slimy, and altered in colour; sometimes,
indeed, nothing but slimy or liquid matter is
ejected: flatulency succeeds, accompanied with
severe gripings of the bowels, evident from the
restless state of the animal, frequently lying
down and soon rising again: a rumbling noise is
also heard in the intestines, from wind generated
in them. As the disease increases, the beast
becomes reduced to a weak and debilitated state;
its appetite is lost, the dewlap hangs down, and
has a flabby appearance; the dung runs off with
a putrid and offensive smell, and as it falls upon
the ground, rises up in bubbles, and a membrane-
ous or skinny-like substance is seen on it; the
hair all over the body assumes a staring appear-
ance, feverish symptoms ensue, the eyes become
dull and heavy, the pulse quick, inflammation
succeeds, and the disease terminates in death.
Cure. — Timely bleeding, purging drenches, and
172
THE COMPLETE
clysters. The animal affected must be put under
shelter, and fed on dry meat, such as good hay,
ground oats, crushed barley, or beans, given, a
little at a time, and often. If little appetite
exist, give stiff gruel through a horn, once or
twice a day.
As soon as the disease is observed, give the
following opening drench:
RECIPE No. 33.
Epsom salts, one pound;
Ginger, in powder, half an ounce ;
Aniseeds, ditto . half an ounce;
Solid opium, cut small, one dram;
Pour three pints of boiling water upon these ingredi-
ents, and when cooled to new-milk warmth, give it
to the animal.
If this does not speedily allay the symptoms,
give the drench No. 30; and if the eyes be in-
flamed, the twitchings of the belly painful, and
the expulsion of the excrements accompanied
with severe gripings, take away three or four
quarts of blood from the beast, and give a pint
of salad oil.
When the physic has operated, the following
CATTLE-KEEPER.
173
astringent drink may be given with advantage,
and repeated every other day, for three or four
days, if necessary: —
RECIPE No. 34.
Prepared chalk, four ounces;
Bole armenic, in powder, two ounces;
Aniseeds, powdered, one ounce;
Ginger, ditto, one ounce;
Solid opium, cut small, one dram.
Mix for one drink, in a quart of warm ale or gruel.
In the worst stage of the disease, the surface
of the body should be kept warm with a rug or
woollen cloth.
Staggers, Vertigo, Lethargy, Swimming of
the Head, or Paralysis of the Stomach.
This disorder has many names, but the symp-
toms are unequivocal, and too evident to be mis-
taken. It is the highest degree of disease in the
digestive system, in which the muscular power
of the stomachs have been so exhausted, that
they are incapable of contracting upon the food
p3
174
THE COMPLETE
taken in by the animal; for although from habit
the beast may continue to feed, the appetite is
so depraved, that it no longer chooses its food,
but eats, with apparent equal relish, or rather,
indifference, from hedges aud ditches, the coars-
est and most indigestible food. It mostly attacks
those animals who have been poorly fed in the
winter, and are in spring turned into a fertile
pasture.
Cause.-— The exhausted state of the digestive
faculty is the remote cause, while the vital power
that remains^ or the temptation of a change of
food, inducing a continuance of appetite, by
which the animal loads its stomach with im-
proper food, is the exciting cause. The immedi-
ate seat of the complaint is in the brain, — a
superabundancy of blood being determined to
that organ, which, if not speedily checked, ter-
minates in inflammation of the brain, phrensy,
or sough.
Symptoms.— Heaviness of the head, and con-
stant disposition to sleepiness, the animal some-
times resting its head upon or against a gate or
hedge, and appearing almost insensible; aiid if
it attempts to walk, it reels or staggers.
CATTLEKEKPiHl.
175
CVe:— -The first thing necessary is to give the
following drench, (No. 35): a clyster of salt
and water, (No. 36,) must then be thrown up,
and three or four quarts of blood taken away.
RECIPE No. 35.
Barbadoes aloes, six drams;
Common salt, eight ounces;
Flour of mustard, one ounce;
Brandy, rum, or gin, a wine-glassful.
Mix the first three ingredients in a quart of water,
slightly warmed, add the spirits, and give it imme-
diately.
The following clyster will also be necessary
for expelling any hardened excrement which may
be lodged in the bowels.
RECIPE No. 36.
Common salt, eight ounces;
Warm water, four quarts,
If the purgative drench does not act in the
course of twenty hours, give about half the
same quantity every eight hours, until the effect
be produced: and if the complaint does not
176
THE COMPLETE
subside under the united treatment of purgatives,
clyster, and bleeding, each repeated at intervals,
let the following be given to act upon the kid-
neys, and thereby divert the blood from the head:
RECIPE No. 37.
Powdered rosin, two ounces;
Powdered nitre, one ounce;
Cream of tartar, one ounce;
Powdered ginger, one ounce;
Powdered aniseeds, one ounce ;
Treacle, four ounces.
Mix, and give it in a quart of ale, and repeat it, if
necessary, after an interval of two days.
Loss of the Cud.
Rumination, or the chewing the cud, is, as we
have before stated, that motion of the rumen, or
first stomach, by which the food is forced back
into the mouth to be perfectly masticated. This
motion is not sudden, nor violent, like that of
vomiting; but gradual and gentle, when the ani-
mal is healthy. When, therefore, an animal
ceases to perform this essential act of digestion,
it is an evident proof that the stomach is out of
CATTLE-KEEPER.
177
order; it may depend on the state of the first
stomach, or it may proceed from the third. It
will require little argument to prove, that nei-
ther of these stomachs can remain disordered,
and the others be free from disease; and it re-
quires as little to shew that early attention to
symptoms of indigestion are equally as essential
as the evil is at first easy to remove.
• Cause. — An accumulation of * dry fibrous mat-
ter in the third stomach, or 'an adhesion between
the first stomach and the side, originating in the
animal having been stabbed on that side, to let
out the confined air, when blasted, or hoven:
either will cause imperfection in the digestive
process; and which, if neglected, will bring on
fever and even inflammation.
Cure.— The drench prescribed for diarrhoea,
(No. 31,) should be administered. If there be
quickness of breath, hot horns, and other symp-
toms of fever, or inflammation, the animal should
be bled freely, and the following drench adminis-
tered: —
RECIPE No. 38.
Epsom salts, ten ounces;
Whey, one quart.
178
THE COMPLETE
Afterwards, if the weather be favourable, turn
the animal into a field with a short bite of grass :
but if it be wet, keep it under shelter.
Moor III, and Wood III, or Evil.
These, or rather this, disorder, for it is merely
two names for the same disease, viz. weakness
of the digestive system, is mostly prevalent
among those cattle that are left to pick up a
scanty subsistence on moors and common; with
now and then a small allowance of indifferent
hay; and is the inevitable consequence of poor
and insufficient keep.
Cause. — Wood evil proceeds from debility,
brought on by taking cold when exposed in bleak
and barren situations; and the moor ill is occa-
sioned by a want of sweet fresh water.
Symptoms. — Much the same in both; debility,
and costiveness, succeeded by pain and stiffness
in the joints.
Cure. — Remove the cattle to a better situation,
where the grass is good and' sweet, and where
CATTLE-KEEPEK.
179
good and wholesome water can be obtained:
give the following drink, and it is most likely-
nothing more will be necessary.
RECIPE No. 39.
Grains of paradise, powdered, two ounces;
Aniseeds, ditto two ounces;
Carraway seeds, ditto two ounces;
Fenugreek, ditto two ounces.
Mix in about two pints of warm water, and give it at
once with about two spoonsful of treacle, or coarse
sugar.
Or,
RECIPE No. 40.
Infusion of wormwood in ale,* one quart;
Long pepper, pounded, six drams; .
Grains of paradise, six drams.
Or, if very costive, yon may give the drink
prescribed for Red-water, Recipe No. 3], or 47-
And a few drenches with ginger given afterwards
will serve to complete the cure, and re-establish
a perfect digestion.
* Infusion of wormwood in ale is made by putting two
handsful of wormwood in a clean stone pitcher, and pouring
one quart of ale boiling hot upon it, then cover it close with
a plate, and a cloth over that, till nearly cold, when it is fit
for use.
180
THE COMPLETE
Clue-Bound, or Fardel- Bound, and Pantos.
These are all different names for one and the
same complaint; and its origin may generally
be traced to a similar source as the proceeding.
Cause. — The same as wood-evil.
Symptoms. — The animal is said to be clue or
fardel bound, where, in addition to the symp -
toms of wood-evil, it is disposed to costiveness;
and when, as is often the case in the first, stage
of fevers, the thin excrements force their way
through the middle, or on one side of the more
hardened part. When this is observed, speedy
relief must be afforded to the animal, or its life
will be in danger.
Cure. — The animal must be removed into a
better situation, the same as recommended in
the cure of wood-evil; and the draught No. 29,
should be given, and repeated, if necessary.
The following restorative drink will be found
very serviceable in this, as well as in many other
disorders, after the purgative drinks have suf-
ficiently operated, and the animal become re-
duced by disease and medicine.
CATTLE- KEEPER.
181
Gentian,
Nitre, . .
Salt of steel,
Aniseeds
Carraway-seeds
Ginger,
Treacle, '
RECIPE No. 41.
one ounce;
half an ounce ;
half an ounce;
one ounce ;
one ounce ;
one ounce.;
four table-spoonsful.
Powder each of the above, mix for one drink,
and give it in a quart of warm gruel.
. . Flatulent Cholic, or Gripes.
This, though not a common complaint, is one
that gives the animal much pain, but is easily re-
lieved by prompt assistance.
Cause. — Eating unbruised corn of any kind,
particularly oats, or the dry, fibrous kind of
bad hay: particularly if at the time the diges-
tive organs be in a weak state.
Symptoms. — The animal seems in great pain,
often lying down, and getting up again she turns
round her head to her hind parts, and endea-
Q
182
THE COMPLETE
vours to strike her belly with her horns, or hind
leg : her appetite fails, and is indeed lost, being
in too much pain to be able to eat any thing.
Cure. — Give the opening drench, recipe No.
31 ; a moderate quantity of whey may be given ;
and, if necessary, a clyster of half a pound of
salt diluted in four quarts of water.
Stoppage of Water, retention of Urine, or
Stranguary,
Is the consequence, generally, of the sto-
mach and bowels being loaded, and thereby
blown up with air; and is attended with intense
pain to the animal.
Cause. — In neat cattle, it proceeds from the
first stomach, or rumen, being blown up, or
blasted; in which case, the urine is stopped by
the bladder being pressed downward, so that its
neck rests upon the bones which form the brim
of the pelvis, and is thereby completely closed.
Pregnant cows, during the latter period of ges-
tation, are subject to stoppage of urine, when
tied up, and fed wholly on hay; and especially
when fed too liberally on grains.
CATTLE- KEEPER.
183
Symptoms. — Being a part of the complaint
termed hoven or blown, see those diseases. — We
may add, that the animal labouring under this
additional disorder, often strides as if endeavour-
ing to void its urine, hut without more effect
than a few drops, and those not without consi-
derable pain.
Cure: — The recipe No. 1, being a powerful
opening drench, may be administered with good
effect ; if that cannot be conveniently had, the
following will be an excellent substitute :
RECIPE No. 42.
Common salt, six ounces ;
Flour of mustard, a table-spoonful;
Water, one quart ;
Gin, a quarter of a pint :
A little grated ginger may be added, and, instead of
the gin, strong beer may be substituted, when it is
more readily obtained.
A clyster, similar to that described in flatulent
cholic, is indispensible. There is no difficulty,
with a cow, in passing the fore finger into the
bladder, and letting the urine flow off.
184
THE COMPLETE
Atrophy, or Consumption.
This is an incurable disorder, unless taken
early, and the 'animal kept in a good sheltered
pasture. Some stock are tender, and of weakly
constitutions from their birth; and, therefore, if
placed in more exposed, and much colder situa-
tions than they were bred in, will be more liable
to consumption, having less vital energy.
Cause. — The pre-disposing cause of atrophy
is bad keep, but especially bad hay or straw.
The chyle formed from such food becomes acri-
monious, and inflames and obstructs the mesen-
teric glands, and produces a dreadful disease,
even of the great mesenteric artery,, which will
always be found full of worms. Its exciting
cause is, generally, a neglected cold.
Symptoms. — This disease is first discovered by
the animal having a hoose, or cough, and poking
out of the neck : if it be now examined between
the jaws, the glands there are swollen, which,
pressing upon the head of the wind-pipe, cause
the beast to poke out its neck for breath. If
the disease be not checked, or if it does not
CATTLE-KEEPER.
185
yield to medicine, the lungs become affected,
producing a wheezing and difficulty of breathing
on the least exertion. When the lungs are once
attacked, no remedy can be applied ; the knife,
of the butcher, is, therefore, the only resource.
Cure. — As soon as this disease is noticed, the
animal must be taken from the field, particularly
at night, and kept in a sheltered place; it should
then be bled gently, and have administered the
purging drink, receipe No. 28. — If not success-
ful in this treatment, set a seton* in the dew-
lap, and keep its bowels gently open, and give
it but little solid food, and that of the best, and
easiest digested. — The following drink may as-
sist in the cure:
RECIPE No. 42.
Nitre, two ounces ;
Salt of steel, one ounce ;
Glauber salts, four ounces;
Ginger and aniseeds, powdered, each one ounce;
Treacle, four ounces :
Mix these for one drink, put it into a pitcher, and pour
a quart of boiling- water on it : give it milk warm. It
may be repeated every third day.
* For the proper mode of setting a seton, see the Appendix.
Q3
186
THE COMPLETE
DISEASES
WHICH ARISE FROM OVER-FEEDING.
In the diseases of which we have treated,
there generally existed a pre-disposing cause in
the constitution of the animal ; and which, in a
greater or less degree, tended to induce indis-
position; a very slight cause, would, in such
cases, be sufficient to excite or produce the next
serious consequences. — In those which we are
about to describe, the pre-disposing cause is not
always so apparent ; on the contrary, they gene-
rally have their origin, developement, and ter-
mination in sudden causes, as too freely indulg-
ing in rich nutritious food, or over eating after
a previous cornparative abstinence.
Neat cattle are most subject to these com-
plaints in spring and autumn ; the fresh spring-
ing grasses, and especially clover, tempt them
to feed more greedily than usual; and their di-
gestive faculties, enfeebled by winter feed, or
other cause, are incapable of the extra exertion
required of them. In such cases, the system
becomes oppressed, and its action paralized : the
effects are not always the same, but vary ac-
CATTLE-KEEPER.
18/
cording to the nature of the disorder.- — Of these
the most common is,
Hoven, Blown, or Blasted.
. In our description of the digestive system of
neat cattle, we stated, (in page 155), that there
was in that part of the rumen which joined the
second stomach, a kind of valve, which, during
the mastication of the food, prevents the escape
of air. In this complaint, the animal's stomach
being filled by an unusual quantity of food, be-
comes distended beyond its capacity; the food
then ferments, air is evolved, the whole body
becomes swollen, rumination is completely put
a stop to, and a considerable pain is produced.
Symptoms. — The beast swells, and a difficulty
of breathing is produced, with much apparent
uneasiness : if relief be not quickly afforded, the
symptoms increase, the animal becomes unable
to stand, and generally dies from suffocation.
Remedy. — The best cure is the probang,* a
* A more particular account of this useful instrument will
be found in the Appendix.
188
THE COMPLETE
flexible instrument made for this purpose, and
sold by most saddlers and farriers. This being
passed into the stomach, the confined air rushes
out, and the animal is, for the time, relieved.
When this useful instrument is not at hand, a
very good substitute may be made with three
small canes, each about six feet long. Bind
them together with a waxed packthread, firmly
securing, at one end, a ball of wood, about a
pigeon's egg in size. To introduce this into the
stomach, the bullock's nose should be held out
as nearly in a straight line as possible with the
throat; let an assistant hold it firmly in this
posture, and at the same time let him grasp the
partition of the nostrils with the fingers and
thumb of his right hand j the operator can then
easily force the ball into the stomach, and let
out the confined air.
Some farriers afford relief by plunging a
sharp knife into the distended rumen, on the left
side, between the last rib and the hip bone. As
soon as the knife is withdrawn, the air rushes out,
and relief is afforded: the wound is then closed
by a plaster of Burgundy pilch. — 'This is a bad
practice : a second attack becomes more difficult
of cure, as the wound adheres to the side : and
every repetition increases the danger.
CATTLE- KEEPER.
189
Either of the draughts, No. 28, or No. 29,
may be given with good effect : or the cordial
drink No. 39, may be administered : the beast
should then be turned into a bare pasture, where
it must work well for a belly-full, and the cure
will be complete. The following
RECIPE No. 43.
Mild ale, . one pint ;
Ginger, powdered, a . dessert tea-spoonful :
Is an excellent cordial drink to renovate the digestive
faculties. .
Choking.
Neat cattle are very subject to being blasted
or hoven, from eating too greedily of artificial
grasses, or succulent roots, — in the latter case,
also, they are very liable to have a piece of tur-
nip or potatoe stick in the throat. When this
happens, which may easily be known by the
animal's efforts to swallow the obstructing piece,
it should be forced into the stomach ; — this may
be done by a moderate sized rope, about seven
feet long; by which means also any air confined
in the rumen, will escape.
The principal cause of this, which is rather
190
THE COMPLETE
an accident, than a disease, is a disposition in
the animal to eat greedily and voraciously,
where tempting food offers. The cure may be
completed by giving the recipe No. 43, and a
bare pasture for a while, to renovate both its
appetite and digestive faculties.
Fog Sickness.
At the latter end of summer, and in autumn,
when the rainy season sets in, the grass gene-
rally becomes abundant; and, shortly after, the
morni--gs are frosty. At this season, the diges-
tive faculties, as well as the whole system,
are weakened from the effects of the summer
heat, the appetite becomes morbid and irre
gular, and some cattle will then eat voraci-
ously. They then lie down to ruminate, proba-
bly when the grass is covered with hoar-frost;
and this, together with the cold and damp of the
atmosphere, so depresses the strength of the
stomachs, as to put a stop to the digestive pro-
cess. The body then swells, the animal is evi-
dently in great pain, appears stupid, and breathes
with difficulty. — Such are the cause and symp-
toms, which so far differ from hoven.
CATTLE -KEEPER. 191
Cure.— The first thing to be done, is to bleed
freely, the habit being at this season generally
redundant. The probang, as used for hvven, or
blown cattle, should be then employed, and
either of the drenches No. 28, or 29, may be
given: when this is operated, the cordial drink
No. 39, should be administered, and the cure
may be considered as effected. — Or the following
drench may be substituted in this case, if more
handy than either of the others: —
RECIPE No. 44.
Common salt, ten ounces;
*Flour of mustard, two table-spoonsful;
Water, one quart;
Gin, one quartern:
Mix, and give as one draught.
A clyster of salt and water will also be of
great service ; and when the animal is a little
relieved, it should be turned into a bare pasture;
above all, do not suffer cattle to lie abroad at
this season, but shelter them for the night either
in a shed or out-house.
* A tea-spoonful of ginger in powder, may be substituted,
when flour- of-mustard is not readily attainable.
192
THE COMPLETE
Meadow Sickness.
Mr. Bromedge, of Lower Stone, Gloucester-
shire, put several cows into a piece of rich
aftermath. Shortly after, when he went to see
them, he found six of 'them ill, and appearing as
if they wanted to vomit. He immediately drove
them all from the meadow into a bare pasture,
in which were a number of mole casts. The
sick cows, led by instinct, went immediately to
the mole heaps, and eat of the earth very gree-
dily. — Mr. B. did not interrupt them, but awaited
the effect ; and, in short time, had the pleasure
to see them all recover. — He observed, also,
that the other cows did not attempt, to touch
the mole heaps.
This circumstance being communicated to Mr.
White, that gentleman was led to an enquiry,
the result of which proved that when animals
gorge themselves, an acid forms, which passing
into the fourth stomach, causes considerable irri-
tation and pain. This acidity is corrected by
chalk, or carbonate of lime. Under these con-
victions, Mr. White was induced in cases of this
kind, as well as when cattle were hoven, to pre-
scribe either of the following draughts: —
CATTLE-KEEPER.
193
RECIPE No. 45.
Common salt, four ounces ;
Carbonate of soda, one ounce-
Powdered aloes, half an ounce ;
ginger, two drams;
Water, one q uar (;.
An odyne carminative tincture, two or three ounces :
Mix for one draught.
Or,
RECIPE No. 46.
Common salt, six ounces ;
Carbonate of soda, one ounce and a half* ;
Flour of mustard, one ounce and a half;
Ale, one pint ;
Water, one pint :
Mix for one draught.
Precautions, by observing which most of the
diseases resulting from over-feeding may
be prevented.
When cattle are first put into clover, vetches,
rich aftermath, or into any pasture much better
than that from which they have been taken, let
them remain not more than an hour at a time,
particularly if clover, and then drive them into
R
194 THK COMPLETE
a bare pasture ; by which means they may be
gradually inured to the change, and the evil con*
sequences will be averted.
Generally speaking, a bare pasture is the only
remedy required to renovate the digestive sys-
tem, when impaired by previous excess. — And
to keep it good, let them feed well, and often,
and but a little at a time. And, whenever the
brain is oppressed by repletion of blood, which
is indicated by heaviness or evincing a disposi-
tion to. sleep, bleed freely, or more sparingly,
according to the emergency.
DISEASES
WHICH PROCEED FROM
REPLETIOM OF BLOOD.
This class of diseases comprehends the in-
flammatory, and other similar attacks, which are
consequent upon the whole habit being op-
pressed by a superabundance of blood. Bleed-
ing, and that promptly and freely, even to faint-
ness, is the general and only cure : other reme-
dies may be useful, and even essential to reno-
vate the system ; but it is upon copious bleed-
ing that the life of the animal generally depends.
CATTLE-KEEPER.
195
Red and Black Water.
These two complaints are but different stages
of the same disease ; the- one proceeding from
indigestion, and the other resulting from a ne-
glect of removing the early symptoms, and ter-
minating in inflammation of the kidneys.
The pre-clisposirig cause may be laid to the ac-
count of the bad hay or other indifferent food,
upon which the animal has been kept, perhaps
during the winter, and which contained more
fibre than nourishment. These fibrous particles
accumulate in the third stomach, and thereby
depress and weaken the digestive system : some-
times they form into cakes of matted fibre, and
altogether prevent the action of the third sto-
mach. — While in this state, the animal feeds
greedily, particularly on grass lands, and drinks
as freely; hence it is that blood is quickly
formed; and the action of the stomach being
impeded, the kidneys are oppressed by an unu-
sual suffusion of blood; the consequence is, that
blood passes off with the urine, sometimes so
copiously, that the animal bleeds to death. In a
cow, the milk is soon reduced in quantity, and,
196
THE COMPLETE
as the disorders advances, becomes discoloured ;
the beast is also frequently so weak, as to be
unable to rise when down.
Symptoms. — The symptoms have been very
generally described in the above statement; in
addition, we may observe, that the excrement
is sometimes discharged with considerable force,
but in a small stream, watery, and mixed with
hard knobs, forced from the matter accumulated
in the third stomach : sometimes, these stop up
the passage of the fundament; and then the fin-
ger must be introduced to remove the clots, or
a clyster thrown up.
Cure. — A saline laxative medicine is most
proper in this disease, to open the bowels ;
recipe 31, (page 169,) or either of the following,
will answer the purpose :
RECIPE
Barbadoes aloes^,
Glauber's salts,
Calomel,
Carraways, powdered,
' Water,
Mix, and give
No. 47.
six drams ;
six ounces ;
one ounce and a half;
one ounce ;
one pint:
it milk warm.
CATTLE-KEEPER.
197
Or,
RECIPE No. 48.
Epsom salts,
Water,
Castor or olive oil,
six to eight ounces ;
one pint ;
six to eight ounces ;
Ten ounces of common salt may be substituted for
eight of Epsom, when more handy.
Where the medicine given does not operate
freely, assist it by drenching the animal with
whey. Take two quarts of blood, or more, ac-
cording to the state of the animal's habit.
When you succeed in removing the hardened
excrement from the third stomach, and in put-
ting a stop to the discharge of blood with the
urine, attention should be paid to the animal's
diet, as the digestive system is in a very wea-
kened state. Nothing is better adapted for this
purpose than a field where the grass is short and
sweet, and where it must exercise itself to obtain
a proper quantity of food.
This disease being of an inflammatory nature,
bleeding is indispensible; take about twojquarts
of blood, and if necessary repeat it the next
day. Mr. White pursued this practice success-
fully, and never lost one through red water after-
wards. If it be accompanied with looseness, or
r3
198
THE COMPLETE
symptoms of pain, as a straining or holding out
of the tail, give in preference the recipe No. 31,
and afterwards administer the cordial drink?
recipe No. 39.
The following hall, being of a more astringent
nature, may be administered with good effect,
after the costiveness has been subdued.
RECIPE No. 49.
Venice turpentine, four ounces;
Nitre, in powder, two ounces;
Bay-berries, do. two ounces ;
Armenian bole, do. two ounces;
Alum, do. four ounces :
Make into one ball. Then slice the ball into a pit-
cher, and pour over it a quart of hot gruel ; when new-
milk warm, give it.
This ball may be repeated every other night.
Red water is often brought on by drinking
turf or peat pit water.
Downfal, Udder III, Sore Udders, Inflam-
mation of the Udder, fyc.
From what we have said of the digestive pro-
cess of the cow, and the intimate connection be-
CATTLE -KEEPER.
199
tween the fourth stomach and the udder, the
reader will he at no loss to understand that when
that is out of order, the udder, and consequently
the quality and quantity of the milk, must be
materially affected.— These, or rather this com-
plaint, for they are all one, or different stages
of the same disease, of which the pre disposing
cause was bad feeding, and the exciting cause,
a cold, or inflammation of the udder, is essen-
tial to be taken in time, and of the utmost con-
sequence to owners of young cattle, who are
very liable to its attack, especially at the time of
calving
Cause. — This disease may not only proceed
from the above causes, but may also be induced
by the animal drinking freely of cold water,
when heated by exercise;— or by exposure and
lying down in cold and damp grass at the latter
end of the year, when the nights are cold and
f °ggy, and at a time when the stomach is loaded
with food, and the blood plentiful. It will be
seen therefore that this disease is often an
accompaniment of fog or meadow sickness, as
well as of other complaints originating in colds
or similar causes.
200
THE COMPLETE
Symptoms. — One or more quarters of the udder
becomes swollen, hardened, hotter than com-
mon, and painful when pressed; the milk is re-
duced in quantity, and changed to a ragged,
bloody, or corrupt appearance. At other times,
the secretion of milk is stopped, and the tume-
fied quarter proceeds to a state of suppuration.
It not unfrequently happens, that the hinder ex-
tremities, at the same time, become swollen and
inflamed, especially about the hip-joint, hock,
and fetlock; which often disables the animal
from rising when down. Sometimes the symp-
toms of this disease assume a different appear-
ance, and the udder is scarcely or not at all
affected ; but the disease appears confined to the
joints; which is known by their being swollen
and inflamed, and attacking such cows as are
liable to the downfal in the udder.
Cure. — As soon as the disease is discovered,
remove the animal from the pasture, and take
from her from three to five quarts of blood;
especially if the cow be in good condition, and
breathes quickly, and appears stupid : do this at
night, and, the next morning, give her the drink
recipe No. 31, or 28, or 29. If the weather be
CATTLE- KEEPER. 201
damp and cold, keep her under shelter, and feed
her moderately with nourishing food ; but if the
weather be fine, turn her into a bare pasture,
where she will be obliged to exert herself for
her food. The swollen udder, or rather that
part of it which is affected (for there is seldom
more than one part or quarter affected at a
time) should have the bad milk drawn from it
three or four times a day; for if suffered to re-
main in it, it will irritate and increase the in-
flammation. Bathe it also after milking with
olive oil, or elder ointment; and if the swelling
continue, and be not very tender, the following
embrocation will be of great service:
RECIPE No. 50.
01ive oiI - three ounces;
Oil of turpentine, one ounce;
Camphor, two drams j
Or,
RECIPE No. 51.
Soft soa P' four ounces;
Spring water, one pmt .
Rectified spirits of wine, two ounces;
Spirits of turpentine, two ounces;
Dissolve the soft soap in spring-water boiling hot; and,
when cold, add the spirits of wine and turpentine.
202
THE COMPLETE
Let this mixture be well rubbed on the part
affected night and morning, after the milk has
been drawn off; and if the udder be very bad,
repeat the milking in the middle of the day, and
bathe the parts affected with cold water.
When the purging drinks have operated, give
the following occasionally, which will not only
help to eradicate the disease, but is excellent as
a preventive of its recurrence :
RECIPE No. 52.
Nitre, two ounces ;
Cape aloes, powdered, half an ounce ;
Salt of tartar, one ounce;
Yellow resin, powdered, four ounces ;
Juniper-berries, ditto. two ounces;
Ginger, ditto. two ounces ;
Treacle, two table-spoonsful :
Mix them all together, and give it in a quart of warm ale.
Abscess of the Udder.
When the previous disease, downfal, or ud-
der-ill, has been neglected, or improperly treated,
and especially when the bad milk has not been
drawn off, pus, or matter, forms in the quarter,
CAtTLK-K EEPE R .
203
which, after some time, bursts. In this case, the
wound sometimes gradually heals; at others, a
fungus, or excrescence, sprouts from it, which is
often of considerable size. This excrescence,
however, if left to itself, gradually drops off, and
the udder then heals. Sometimes, the matter
gradually drains off from, or accumulates in, the
teat, which will then require to be opened with
a lancet. This should be done by a skilful per-
son; or the remedy may prove worse than the
disease.
Another termination of this disorder, is a gra-
dual thickening or hardening of the quarter,
which ends in the total obliteration of that part
of the udder.
The mode of cure has been pointed out in the
last disease, of which, indeed, this is but a se-
cond or more confirmed stage. In some cases,
it may be found necessary to amputate the whole
of the udder. Where this is really indispensible,
it can only be done by a person of experience.
By a preventive regimen, the predisposition to
this disease may be eradicated from the system.
Mr. Clayton, in his treatise on cattle, says — A
fanner had a large cow, of gross habit of body,
that had been accustomed to have this complaint
204
THE COMPLETE
several times in the course of one season; of
course, to a considerable disadvantage: he next
summer dried and fed her well; but to no use,
for she was not long at grass, before the old
complaint again attacked her. Mr. Clayton was
consulted, and he advised giving her a pound and
a quarter of Glauber's salts, every six weeks
during the time of feeding. This prevented its
return: the cow fattened, and did well.
Blain, or Fever, with Swelling,
Called also by the name of hawkes, or
gargyse, is a disease which, although not unfre-
quent, in general is not discovered until it has
made some progress; it then appears with a
swelling of some part, and, in some few instances,
extends over the whole surface of the body,
accompanied with feverish symptoms.
Cause. — A redundancy of blood in the system,
or a cold taken by the beast while under such
influence: those cattle are the most subject to
this complaint that are in high condition, and
fed on rich pastures. It is most prevalent in the
summer months, especially when the weather is
CATTLE-KEEPER.
205
hot and sultry, which oppresses the animal, and
deranges the healthy functions of the body.
Symptoms. — The animal appears dull and lan-
guid; the eyes, red and inflamed, with tears trick-
ling from them j swelling in some part of the
body, as about the nose, lip, and under the
chaps, extending to the brisket, or even under
the belly till the udder is affected. Sometimes
the swelling begins about the eyes, and appears
on other parts of the body; there are often blis-
ters under the tongue, and back part of the
mouth; the pulse is quicker than natural; there
is more or less beating of the flanks, and the
bowels are sometimes bound. As the complaint
advances, a copious flow of saliva proceeds from
the mouth; the beast gets weak, and reduced;
a considerable quantity of watery matter con-
gregates in the tumefied part; which must be
discharged by puncturing with a knife.
Cure. — Bleeding is chiefly to be depended on
in the cure of this disease: on its first appear-
ance, three or four quarts of blood, according to
the size and strength of the beast, should be
taken away, and repeated, if necessary. After
20G
THE COMPLETE
bleeding, administer the following cooling purg-
ing drink:
RECIPE No. 53„
Epsom or Glauber salts, twelve ounces ;
Nitre, one ounce;
Ginger, powdered, half an ounce;
Aniseed ditto half an ounce;
Treacle three ounces.
Pour the ingredients into a pitcher, pour three pints of
boiling water upon them, and give them new-milk
warm.
Puerperal, or Milk Fever, and Inflamma-
tion of the Womb.
This is a disease which most peculiarly attacks
cows in high condition at the time of calving,
or is brought on by the force so often and so
improperly used in delivery. It is most likely
to happen when the cow calves during the hot
months of summer; and the cows most predis-
posed to it, have generally large udders very full
of milk several days before calving, which are
often much infiammed and swelled. It is a
dangerous disease, when severe, and often proves
fatal.
CATTLE-KEEPER.
207
Cause— The predisposing cause is, as we have
observed, the too high condition of the cow at
the time of her calving; its immediate cause is
generally an inflammatory state of the udder,
most commonly induced by the animal taking
cold, and from a redundancy of blood in the
system. About the third day after calving, an
unusual quantity of blood is determined to the
udder, to assist in the formation of milk; but
when the udder is inflamed, this action is inter-
rupted, and the blood is transferred to other parts
of the body, which deranges the whole animal
frame, and produces the milk fever.
Symptoms — The first appearances of milk fever
are generally perceived about the second or third
day after calving: the animal refrains from her
food, looks dull and heavy, and walks as if she
had caught cold: a cold, shivering-fit, comes on,
accompanied with a debility, so weakening, that
the beast commonly drops, and is often unable to
rise, until relief be afforded . She becomes very
restless, and appears to feel in great pain in the
body, as she often looks towards her flanks, kicks
with her feet, and seems much distressed. As
the disease proceeds, the head becomes affected,
208
THE COMPLETE
the cow loses her senses, and will knock and
bruise her head against any thing, if care be not
taken to. prevent her. The pulse is now quick,
and the tongue parching dry; the bowels are
costive; no milk is secreted, and the slimy dis-
charge ceases. Unless the disease be subdued,
the body becomes enlarged; and if- this swelling
be not soon decreased by medical assistance, all
hopes of recovery may be considered at an end.
Remedy. — If the feverish symptoms run high,
and are attended with much pain, bleed copi-
ously, and repeat it, if necessary; but if the
fever be but slight, the animal should be bled
but once, and that only in proportion to her
strength. Let the drink recommended in page
122, (recipe No. 5), be given as soon as possible,
and repeat it every twenty hours: if the bowels
be not readily moved by the purgative drink,
inject the Mowing clyster:
RECIPE No. 54.
Thin gruel, three quarts;
Common salt,, eight ounces;
Spirits of turpentine, half a pint;
Treacle, four ounces.
Mix, and when new-milk warm, inject it.
CATTLE-KEEPER.
209
When the howels are opened, and the animal
is low and unable to rise, give the following
cordial drink, and repeat it, if necessary :
RECIPE No. 55.
Grains of paradise, powdered, half an ounce ;
ditto half an ounce;
ditto two ounces;
ditto two ounces;
two ounces;
half an ounce ;
half an ounce ;
four tablespoonsful.
Mix, and give it in a quart of warm gruel, with a wine-
glassful of gin or brandy.
Ginger,
Aniseed,
Carraway,
Flour of mustard,
Salt of tartar,
Oil of turpentine
Treacle
Cows afflicted with the milk fever require
great care and good nursing: the stall where
they live, must be well littered, and it is fre-
quently necessary to cover them with a blanket,
or some warm covering, when they are cold and
shivering. The udder should be rubbed two or
three times a day, for about half an hour each
time, with soft soap, or pipe-clay, and cold spring
water, which will assist in subduing the inflam-
mation. The paps should also be drawn occasi-
s3
2)0
THE COMPLETE
onally, to encourage the flow of milk; and if the
milk appear, it is a good sign. As they are fre-
quently unable to take nourishment sufficient to
support themselves, it will be essential to assist
them. For this purpose give the following
GRUEL.
Make a stiff gruel, of an equal quantity of linseed
in powder, and oatmeal, boiled in a sufficient quantity
of water; and when new-milk warm, give the beast
about two to four quarts, three or four times a day.
The gruel may be sweetened with coarse sugar, or trea-
cle ; and a little common salt may be added.
Prevention— The best way to prevent this dis-
ease, is to take four or five quarts of blood from
the beast, about eight or ten days before her time
of calving: let this be done at night, and keep
her in a fold-yard till morning. The purging
drink No. 5, should be given before the animal is
put to grass; and this treatment, together with
proper food, and none but pure water, will cool
the body, and obviate the tendency to inflamma-
tion in the udder.
CATTLE-KEEPER.
211
Murrain, or Pestilential Fever,
Is not a periodical disease, nor is it caused by
improper feeding, or dependent on any of the
causes which produce fevers or inflammations
generally; it must rather be considered in the
light of a plague, or pestilence, induced by the
atmosphere being infected by the miasmata, that
is, the injurious aguish air which arises from
low, flat, and marsh districts and swampy lands :
this seems evident from the fact, that it has raged
most at those times when, and in those places
where, inundations have most prevailed.
The murrain was formerly considered a fatal
disease; but of late years it has yielded to me-
dicine and judicious management. It is very
pestilential, and if one of the herd be attacked,
it must instantly be removed from the others,
or it will infect them all as certainly as the
glanders do a horse. It takes place at all sea-
sons, but rages most in summer and autumn.
The fate of the beast is generally determined on
the seventh day, although the danger is not over
till the ninth. Bulls and oxen are not so vio-
lently attacked as cows and calves; and cows
with calf, or sickly cow-calves, suffer the most
severely.
212
THE COMPLETE
Symptoms. — The first appearance of murrain
is indicated by a decrease of appetite; a poking
out of the neck, as if there were some difficulty
in swallowing its food; a shaking of the head,
as if the ears were tickled; a hanging down of
the ears,, and deafness; a dulness of the eyes,
and a moving to and fro, in a constant uneasi-
ness. All these signs, except the last, increase
till the fourth day; then ensue a stupidity, and
unwillingness to move, great debility, a total loss
of appetite, a running at the eyes and nose, some-
times sickness, and throwing up of bile, a husky
cough, and shivering. The fever, which was
continual the three first days, now rises, and
increases towards the evening; the pulse is all
along quick, contracted, and uneven. A constant
diarrhosa, or scouring of foetid green excrement,
a stinking breath, a nauseous steam from the
skin, infect the air: the blood is very florid,
hot, and frothy; their urine is high coloured;
the roof of the mouth and the barbs are ulce-
rated. Tumours, or boils, are to be felt under
the fleshy membrane of the skin; and eruptions
appear all along the limbs, and about the
bags. If a milch cow, her milk dries up gradu-
ally; her purging is more violent; and on the
CATTLE- KEEPER.
213
fourth day she is commonly dry. There is a
sharpness in the dung, so that the fundament is
visibly irritated for some time. They groan
much, are worse in the evening, and mostly when
they lie down. These symptoms increase till
the seventh day, about which time the crisis or
turn takes place : whether for the better or worse,
the following directions will readily determine:
The favourable symptoms are, — eruptions all
over the skin, or boils, as big as pigeon's eggs,
in various parts of the body, but particularly
from head to tail, along each side of the back-
bone, and so ripe as to discharge putrid and
stinking matter; large abscesses formed in the
horns, or in any other parts of the body; the
dung more consistent and hard ; the urine thick,
and not quite so high coloured: a shivering fit,
succeeded by a general glow of heat, upon which
an abatement of the fever takes place, and a more
regular pulse; the nose sore or scabbed; the eyes
bright and brisk; and the animal, on the ap-
proach of any one to its hovel, pricks up its ears,
and will eat a little hay or peas offered it: these
symptoms are a sure sign that the beast is out
of danger.
214
THE COMPLETE
Unfavourable symptoms. — But if, on the se-
venth day, the boils are decreased in bulk, or
disappear, and not break outwardly : if the scour-
ing continue; if the breath be hot, while the
body, limbs, and horns, are cold; if the groaning
or difficulty of breathing be increased; if the
running from the nose and eyes be lessened; if
the eyes are dim and sunk into the head, with a
perfect stupidity; if the urine be dark coloured;
the pulse intermittent, and a cadaverous smell be
observed, we may safely pronounce the creature
to be near its end.
Remedy. — As soon as the symptoms determine,
or indeed, as soon as you have reason to expect
that the beast is infected, remove it from the
rest, and put it by itself into a house or shed,
well ventilated. Then bleed it copiously, even
to fainting; wash the body all over with water
and vinegar, new- milk warm, to clear the skin
from filth; rub it frequently, and it will derive
much benefit by the pores being kept clean and
open. Make a rowel* as soon as possible, in the
dewlap, and keep it open until a complete cure
*To do this properly, see directions in Appendix.
CATTLE-KEEPER.
215
be effected; if the dung be hard, a cooling purge,
(as No. 5, or No. 53,) should be given, and plenty
of antiseptic drinks, as bran-water, vinegar, bit-
ters, and salts, diluted with water: but no hay,
until the beast be sufficiently recovered to chew
the cud; wash the mouth and nostrils carefully
and often; if a purging comes on by the fourth
day, check it by warm medicines, which will
throw the morbid matter off the skin, as snake-
weed, or Venice treacle; or the following drink:
RECIPE No. 56.
Prepared chalk, four ounces;
Powdered aniseeds, two ounces;
Powdered ginger, one ounce;
Opium, cut small, one dram.
Mix, and give it in a quart of warm ale or gruel.
If the colour of the mouth become dark, the
creature cold, the dung dark and foetid, and the
discharge from the mouth and nose thin, an
ounce of jesuit's or oak bark, with snake -root,
should be given every four hours, to prevent
mortification. If matter be formed in the horns,
or other part, an opening should be made, and
digested by warm applications, or poultices. At
216
THE COMPLETE
the crisis, if a purging occur, empty the bowels
with a smart purge, and give a draught of warm
ale at night. On recovery, the beast should be
gradually exposed to cold air, and, by degrees,
habituated to its usual food.
Murrain, or Common Fever.
Murrain, however, is not always so malignant,
nor so rapid in its progress, nor so certainly
fatal in its termination. This milder complaint
may be considered as a nearer approach to com-
mon fever, attended with local inflammation; and
its symptoms may be characterized as follows:—
Symptoms. — A shivering, and trembling of the
limbs; want of appetite; cough or hoosing;
sometimes accompanied with tears; the mouth
affected with blisters, or white spots; in a milch
cow, the secretion of milk is diminished. In a
few days, the inflammation extends to the lungs;
the pulse quick — about 60 in a minute; the muz-
zle dry; the head, horns, and breath hot; the
body and limbs cold. As the disease proceeds,
these symptoms aggravate, and without prompt
and proper care, terminate fatally.
CATTLE-KEEPER.
217
Cure. — House the animal by itself, and bleed
it copiously; in general, three bleedings are re-
quisite, one each day. Set a seton* in the dew-
lap, and keep it running for some time. Give
the purging drink, No. 5, and repeat it occasion-
ally. Keep the beast clean, by rubbing, and also
by being well littered, and let it have meshes of
scalded bran, or bruised malt, with a little ground
corn or barley mixed. On the turn of the dis-
ease, if the animal be low and debilitated, the
restorative drink, No. 41, will be very useful.
After-treatment ; or, eradication of' the disease.
On the recovery of the animal, the cow-house,
or place in which it was sheltered, should be
made comfortable and very clean, but properly
ventilated; all the litter must be burned; and if
the disease was malignant, it will be necessary
to fumigate the house, and every thing in it,
with the following fumigation mixture :
FUMIGATION MIXTURE.
Common salt, two pounds;
Oil of vitriol, one pound.
* See the Appendix.
T
218
THE COMPLETE
Place the salt in an earthen vessel, in the middle of the
cow-house, pour the acid gradually on it, stir it well
about with a long stick, and immediately leave the
place, and close the door.
This fumigation should be done at least twice,
at the removal of an infected beast, and on its
recovery; and the stalls should be cleaned and
lime-washed. All the cattle that die of the com-
plaint must be buried at least five feet deep, to
prevent the effluvia that would otherwise arise
from the carcase, and inevitably spread the in-
fection.
INFLAMMATORY DISORDERS.
Inflammation of the Brain, Phrenzy, or
Mad Staggers,
Is a most distressing complaint; it comes on
gradually, but soon becomes ungovernable, and
unless efficient help be afforded, invariably ter-
minates in death.
CATTLE KEEPER.
219
Cause. — In London, this disease is known by
the name of madness, and is there brought on
by the cruel and inhuman practice of over-driv-
ing : but in the country, it most commonly pro-
ceeds from a redundancy of blood in the system,
induced by cattle thriving too fast on rich pas-
ture grounds, or feeding them too quick to get
them in high condition; it is also brought on by
the intense heat of the sun, or by severe bruises
on the head, or by being harassed or frightened.
Symptoms. — The eyes appear inflamed, and
ready to start from their sockets; a peculiar
wildness manifests itself in the animal's looks,
and it staggers when it moves. A perfect de-
lirium or madness succeeds; and the beast, after
furious exertions, sometimes falls down, and lies
for some time, either senseless or struggling.
It then starts up, repeats the same effects of un-
governable madness as before; and again falls
down suddenly, till at last it ends in death. In
these paroxysms they will tear up the earth with
their feet, and toss every thing up with their
teeth or horns which comes in their way.
Care. — In the early stage of this disorder, this
is easy enough, — a copious bleeding, until the
220
THE COMPLETE
animal faints, will then be sufficient; but if the
disease has reached to an ungovernable height,
there will be some difficulty in accomplishing
this : still it must be done, or the animal will
soon die. When the beast is secured, if the
arteries cannot be opened, both neck veins should
be opened as quickly as possible; for by keeping
the neck corded without opening the vein, the
danger is only increased. Repeat the bleeding,
if necessary; give the following purge, and the
cure will be effected. A bare pasture is a good
restorative.
RECIPE No. 57.
Barbadoes aloes, twelve drams;
Carbonate of potash, three drams :
Glauber's salts, -seven ounces;
Water, one quart.
Mix, and give it at one dose.
Inflammation of the Lungs, Peripneumony,
or Pleurisy.
This disorder, like most others, has several
names, but the symptoms are plain and determi-
nate; the most prompt care is essential; for when
CATTLE-KEEPER.
221
inflammation once seizes the lungs, death, or at
best, a lingering recovery, will be the result,
unless speedy help be afforded.
Cause. — Obstructed perspiration from sudden
and great changes of weather, especially when
•very wet; being drove a long distance, and then
exposed to the cold and damp air of the night,
particularly such beasts as are fat and in good
condition. It is also brought on by keeping
them too well, or by feeding them too hastily.
Symptoms. — Difficulty of breathing, but quick
and laborious, indicated by the quick motion of
the flanks; this is often preceded by a cold shi-
vering fit; the mouth is open, and a ropy kind
of fluid frequently runs from it; a cough, or
hoosing, accompanies the complaint. The ani-
mal looks dull, and seldom lies down, as it can
breathe best in the standing posture; the head
and ears hang downward; the horns, especially
about the roots, are hot and feverish; and the
animal has no appetite. At first, the pulse is
low, but soon rises, particularly after bleeding,
and beats from 60 to "JO in a minute.
t 3
222
THE COMPLETE
Cure. — Copious bleeding is the remedy most
to be depended upon. The beast must be put
into a cool cow-house, well littered, and bled
freely, even till fainting; and this must be re-
peated after an interval of eight hours, if the
difficulty of breathing and other inflammatory
symptoms are not much relieved. A third, or
even fourth bleeding may be necessary, but not
in such copious quantities, about two quarts
being then amply sufficient. The following pur-
gative drink should be administered between the
bleedings :
RECIPE No. 58.
Epsom salts, twelve ounces;
Nitre, one ounce;
Elecampane, one ounce.
Put the ingredients into a pitcher, pour three pints of
boiling water upon them, and give when new-milk
warm.
This may be repeated every third day, if ne-
cessary.
When the animal has recovered, avoid as much
as possible, all the causes which induced the
complaint; house it (particularly if a cow, dur-
ing the night, for a short time; and when you
CATTLE-KEEPER.
223
turn it out to feed, let it be to a bare pasture,
where it must for a short time use good exercise
in obtaining a bellyful of grass. Give it also,
occasionally, eight to twelve ounces of Epsom
or Glauber's salts. Care must be taken to get
them up again by feeding very gradually, or a
relapse will be the consequence.
Catarrh, Fellon, Cold, Epidemic Fever,
Influenza, or Distemper.
All these are the names of one distemper, and
that a cold, which prevails most in the spring of
the year, when the wind is easterly, and the
weather wet and cold. It is also caused by sud-
den changes from heat to cold, or the contrary;
drinking freely of cold water, after being heated
by exercise or over driving. Sometimes it comes
on without any perceptible cause, and prevails in
so great and so malignant a degree, as to appear
contagious.
Symptoms. — The beast appears dull and heavy,
with weeping eyes; the nose is dry; the coat
looks staring, the hair seeming to stand the wrong
224
way on the animal's back; loss of appetite; and
if a milch-cow, her milk is much lessened in qua-
lity, or she is said to trick of her milk. If the
hand be pressed upon the chine, or any part of
the back, the animal mostly gives way : it is then
called the chine fellon: at other times, the joints
are more particularly affected, it is then termed
the joint fellon. When the cold is more violent,
feverish symptoms appear; the breathing be-
comes more rapid and difficult; the flanks work
much, the animal hooses, the pulse is quick, the
nose and mouth dry, and the breath hot: the
beast becomes restless; moves from one place to
another in evident distress; and the bowels be-
come costive. Inflammation of the lungs or
bowels may now be said to be produced.
Cause. — The causes of cold are various, and
have been generally described; we may add, that
those cattle are most liable to be attacked which
have been tenderly brought up^.or that have been
poorly fed, or exposed to cold, damp, or piercing
winds. Cows after calving are also very subject
to colds.
Cure. — Where the feverish or inflammatory
CATTLE-KEEPER.
225
symptoms have not yet appeared, a warm, cor-
dial drink, as the following, will, by acting as a
stimulant to the stomach, assist the defective
digestive energy, and (in the cow) increase the
secretion of milk; it also restores the obstructed
perspiration, and enables nature to resume her
former course:
RECIPE No. 59. (CORDIAL DRINK.)
Sweet fennel seeds, fresh powdered, two ounces ;
Cummin seeds, ditto two ounces;
Long pepper, ditto one ounce ;
Turmeric, ditto one ounce;
Ginger, ditto one ounce ;
Elecampane ditto one ounce;
Treacle, or coarse sugar, two ounces.
Mix in a quart of ale, poured boiling hot upon the
whole in a pitcher; cover down till new-milk warm,
and then give it at once.
Or, No. 39, may be given, mixed in a similar
manner.
These drinks will effect a cure, occasionally
repeated, if no feverish symptoms ensue; but if
they do, a free bleeding must be applied to, and
repeated, if necessary; and the treatment should
be the same as for inflammation generally.
226
THE COMPLETE
Inflammation of the Stomach,
Is a serious disorder, and takes place in various
degrees, each varying in its symptoms, but all
of them bearing sufficient resemblance to each
other to determine the complaint. A certain
degree of inflammation in this important organ
will cause an alteration in the milk, and when it
arrives at the udder, it will irritate and inflame
it, and cause the milk drawn off, to be thin, yel-
lowish, and stringy. This sometimes has an
offensive smell, and even assumes the appearance
of matter, and at others a reddish look, as if
blood were mixed with it.
Cause. — When the stomach is oppressed by
too much food, the digestive process is sus-
pended, the food ferments, and a quantity of air
is extricated, which distends and inflames the
stomach. It differs from the disease termed
hoven, or blast, that being an affection of the
rumen or first stomach ; while in this it is the
fourth. Unwholesome food is the most common
source of this disease, bad hay having generally
too much of the' fibrous parts, which lodge in
CATTLE-KEEPER.
227
the third stomach, and unless they are soon dis-
lodged, induce inflammation of the stomach.
Symptoms. — Heaviness, dulness, and loss of
appetite; the lungs are affected; the breathing
disturbed; and sometimes accompanied by a
hoose, or cough : the milk of the cow is affected,
both in quality and quantity; and the animal is
in great and evident pain.
Cure — Bleeding is the first remedy in this as
in all other inflammations; which must be done
copiously; especially when it has been accus-
tomed to good pasture; and then a saline open-
ing drench may be given :
RECIPE No. 60. SALINE OPENING DRENCH.
Epsom salts, ten ounces;
Carbonate of soda, twelve drams :
Water, one quart;
Castor oil, six ounces.
Mix, and give it.
Where it has arisen from feeding on bad hay,
the following is decidedly the best drink:
228
THE COMPLETE
RECIPE No. 61.
Barbadoes aloes,
Powdered ginger,
Water,
Epsom salts,
six drams;
a dram and a half;
one quart;
six ounces;
Carbonate of soda, six drams;
Tincture of opium, six drams.
Mix for one draught.
Whey., or thin bran meshes, are perhaps the
best food, while the beast is under cure; drink-
ing freely of water, slightly warmed, will assist
in clearing the third stomach, and a clyster
thrown up will be of advantage: light, good food,
perfectly easy of digestion, must be at first care-
fully observed, and when the stomach is cleared,
the animal may be kept better; but this must
be done cautiously, as it will take some little
time to restore the digestive system to its wonted
energy.
Inflammation of the Heart.
Js generally attended with symptoms of inflamed
lungs, and sometimes with pain in the bowels;
CATTLE -KEEPER.
229
it may, in short, be considered as general in-
flammation.
Cause. — This inflammation is generally brought
on by the animal drinking cold water when over
driven, or heated by exercise, although this is
more likely to produce inflammation in the sto-
mach and bowels; it is also occasioned by over-
driving cattle when too well fed and unaccus-
tomed to exercise.
Symptoms.— Much the same as. in inflamed
lungs, except that the symptoms are more violent,
and the beast in more evident distress; but this
may arise from the animal, subject to this com-
plaint, being generally in full flesh and fat.
Cure.— Copious bleedings, repeated at inter-
vals of six or eight hours, to fainting, and keep-
ing the animal cool and quiet, are the only reme-
dies to be depended upon; and Avhen the animal
is a little recovered, it should be fed on thin bran
meshes, or whey; and when it is capable of
being again turned out, good, sweet, short grass,
should be afforded it.
u
230
THE COMPLETE
Inflammation of the Kidneys.
The kidneys of neat cattle are predisposed to
this disease by the vessels of that region being
previously relaxed: the immediate or exciting
cause of acute inflammation in the kidneys, are,
blows on the loins, strains, or violent exertions,
as by one animal riding or mounting on another
while in heat, as well as by a superabundant
determination of blood to the region of the
kidneys; and nearly resembles, in this respect,
red water.
Symptoms.— A frequent desire to void urine,
which is done with difficulty, and in small quan-
tities. And, instead of being transparent, and
nearly limped, it is bloody, or dark-coloured.
Cure.— Bleeding freely, is the first remedy,
and then the saline opening drench, (recipe
No. 42,) may be administered. If the urine
continues bloody, or of a red colour, after the
pain and difficulty are gone off, give the astrin-
gent drench, (recipe No. 32). The state of the
bowels, however, must be attended to, and cos-
CATTLE-KEEPER.
231
tiveness avoided, or removed when it takes place.
Good, light, nourishing food is also essential to
perfecting a cure.
Inflammation of the Bowels.
This disease is the second or inflammatory
state of the complaint called blasting, or hoven ;
and requires prompt and efficient relief, or it
inevitably and speedily terminates fatally.
Symptoms. — The animal first appears uneasy,
and loses its appetite; the body swells, mostly
on the left side ; as the pain increases, a greater
restlessness comes on; the beast now often lies
down, but soon rising again, strives to strike its
belly with its hind feet or horns: if relief be not
soon afforded, the bowels become so greatly dis-
tended by confined air from the undigested food,
that they sometimes burst ; or, the inflammation
increasing, the breathing becomes more dis-
turbed, the pulse quicker, and the pain more
violent ; mortification ensues, and death is then
the inevitable result.
Cause. — Improper feeding, as unbroken or un-
232
THE COMPLETE
bruised grain, particularly oats ; or excessive,
or more than usually nutritious food, so that the
animal gorges more at one time than the sto-
mach is capable of digesting; or being turned
into pastures more luxurious than previously:
either of these will often produce indigestion
and flatulency; and, if not timely attended to,
occasion all the above distressing symptoms.
Remedy. — Bleed; if the animal be in good
condition, and the horns hot, do it freely, even
till it faints; then mix and give the drench: —
(recipe No. 31).
The following clyster may be added; and if
the animal be turned into a field bare of pasture
to exercise itself, the cure may be considered
as effected.
RECIPE No. 62.
Table salt, eight ounces;
Water, four quarts.
Where the attack is but slight, and quickly
attended to, the bleeding may be omitted.
C ATT LE-KEEPER .
233
Inflammation of the Liver.
When the liver becomes inflamed, the biliary
secretions are diminished, and less bile flowing
into the intestines, not only causes costiveness,
but the bile being taken up in the circulating
mass of blood, produces a yellowness of the
eyes and other parts of the body; differing from
the yellows, in being accompanied with costive-
ness and feverish symptoms.
Causes. — Fat beasts, in good condition, are
most subject to this disease, particularly in the
summer ; being worried and driven about by
boys or dogs in very hot weather ; drinking cold
water while heated ; exposed to cold and heat,
the one suddenly succeeding the other.
Symptoms. — Cold shiverings alternating with
increased heat of the body ; breathing short, in-
dicated by the working of the flanks; pulse
quick ; the white of the eyes, mouth, and other
parts of a yellow cast; the bowels costive; and
the appetite lost.
Cure. — It would be little consequence whe-
u3
234
THE COMPLETE
ther this disease be mistaken for inflammation of
the lungs, or severe catarrh, which is often the
case, from its peculiar characteristics, the yellow
tinge of the eyes not always appearing at the
commencement of the complaint, as the bleed-
ing and purging adopted for the cure of those
disorders are equally effective in this : indeed,
the same curative process may invariably be pur-
sued in this case as is there described.
Inflammation of the Spleen or Milt.
This disorder is as acute as any of the inflam-
matory class, generally destroying the affected
animal in three or four days. It usually hap-
pens in very hot and dry weather, and is sup-
posed to arise from an immoderate indulgence in
slaking the thirst of animals at such a period.
To avoid this disease, cattle should, in hot wea-
ther, be driven, particularly at night, to some
high situation, where these is only a moderate
quantity of grass, and no water.
Symptoms and Cure. — Both the symptoms and
cure so much resemble what has been said under
the head of inflammation of the liver, that we
cannot do better than refer our reader thereto. — 1
CATTLE- KEEPER .
235
This is, however, a severe attack, and more
dangerous in its consequences ; and therefore
demands very prompt and effective remedies.
Inflammation of the Womb.
See Puerperal or Milk Fever.
Inflammation of the Shape.
Cows are liable to this complaint, particularly
in the summer season. It most commonly at-
tacks cows in high condition, and arises from
the system being oppressed by a redundancy of
blood.
Cause. — In addition to the above causes, this
disease may arise from cows taking cold in calv-
ing; it also sometimes occurs after bulling, par-
ticularly where the bull is infected with the dis-
ease termed bull-burnt, which see.
Symptoms. —The shape is considerably irri-
tated, which is evident from the actions of the
beast ; the shape is swollen ; and boils frequently
break out about the barren, which break and
236
THE COMPLETE
discharge : and when the inflammation extends,
a considerable quantity of glairy fluid discharge
from the sheath, or vagina.
Cure. — Bleed the cow copiously, and again
the next day, but in less quantity: then give
her the drink No. 28, or 29, as there directed ;
and repeat it on the third day, if necessary.
Bathe the tumified parts and the shape two or
three times a day with the following lotion:
RECIPE No. 63.
Goulard's extract, two ounces;
Spirits of wine, one ounce;
Rain water, one quart;
Mix the goulard and spirits of wine first in a bottle, add
the water, and keep it well stopped. — Shake it be-
fore using.
If this disease should have been caused by her
taking the bull, the following injection will be
useful to stop the glainy running from the
sheath : —
CATTLE-KEEPER.
237
RECIPE No. 64.
Alum, in powder, eight drams ;
Blue vitriol, do. eight drams ;
Boiling water, one quart;
Mix, and when cold, it is fit for use.
Continue to use both the lotion and injection
so long as the inflammation and glairy discharge
continue.
Inflammation of the Eye.
Arises sometimes from a redundancy of blood
in the system, and the animal catching cold while
in that state; and sometimes it is caused by ex-
ternal wounds and bruises, or brought on by
any substance getting into the eye, and irritat-
ing it.
Symptoms. — Redness of the eye, with the
haw drawn as much as possible over the affected
part, and the lids constantly closing : the eye-
lids are also swollen, tears run down the cheeks,
and a discharge is emitted from the internal an-
gle of the affected eye.
238
THE COMPLETE
Cure. — When the inflammation runs high,
take three or four quarts of blood, and give the
cooling purging drink, No. 53; then put the
beast in a shady house, and apply the following
lotion to the inflamed eye : —
RECIPE No. 65.
Spirits of wine and camphor, ^ 1 Qne ounce .
(or camphorated spirits of wine, J
Goulard's extract, one ounce;
Spring- water, one quart ;
Mix, and shake the bottle when used. Apply it with
a clean linen rag for about fifteen minutes two or
three times a day: slightly open the eyelid now and
then, and inject a little of the lotion into the eye.
Cancer of the Eye,
Is not properly an internal complaint; but
often originating from one ; for when an inflam-
mation of the eye has been neglected, or impro-
perly treated, particularly when it originated
from a blow, it often terminates in a cancer of
the eye; which being somewhat of the nature
of scrophula in the human subject, will, if not
checked, destroy the eye, and affect even the
CATTLE-KEEPER. 239
bones themselves. It also arises from poor liv-
ing, and other similar causes, which induce a
peculiar state of the constitution.
Symptoms. — The globe of the eye appears dull,
and lessened in bulk; an offensive fluid is dis-
charged from it, which is so acrid, that it de-
stroys the skin from the part, over which it
runs. The eyes are swollen and ulcerated, and
sometimes appear almost glued together.
Cure.— Bleed, and give the purging driak,
No. 5, which may be repeated every third day,
if necessary; then make the following ointment,
and apply it to the eye.
RECIPE No. 66.
Red precipitate, finely ground, two scruples,
Spermaceti ointment, eight drams;
Mix, and put it to the eye morning and evening, by
means of a feather.
Quarter 111, Black Leg, Black Quarter,
Shoot of Blood, ifc.
The disease known under the above names is
somewhat similar to murrain, except that this is
240
THE COMPLETE
almost peculiar to young cattle, from one to two
years old, and is a very dangerous and destruc-
tive disorder.
Cause. — Quarter ill, or black-leg, is almost
always caused by putting or removing young-
stock from poor low grounds into rich pastures :
tempted by the luxuriance of the change, they
eat to satiety, an superabundance of blood is the
consequence ; and, although the kidneys and
other vital parts resist for awhile the influx, the
heart and lungs are at last suffocated.
Symptoms — The approach of this disorder is
observed, by the animal separating itself from
its companions, appearing listless, heavy, and
rejecting its food; it often, however, comes on
so suddenly, that the owner finds the animal
dead before he has even suspecting any thing
amiss. The immediate symptoms of this dis-
ease are, — a lame walk, as if sprained, with a
swelling of the hind quarters, and sometimes of
the shoulders and fore parts. These swellings,
when pressed, make a crackling noise, occa-
sioned by the air therein being acted upon by a
putrid state of the blood. The mouth, and un-
CATTLE -KEEPER.
241
der the tongue, are sometimes affected with blist-
ers, from the severity of the fever, and the pulse
is quicker than natural.
Cure. — This disease rarely admits of cure ; it
may, however, fortunately, be prevented, as is
evident from what we have said of its cause. — •
The moment you see a young animal attacked,
house it, and bleed it copiously. This is the
only remedy, and nothing short of fainting will
prove that you have bled it freely enough. Never
mind the quantity — bleed till it faints. Two
hours after, give the following drink :
RECIPE No. 67„
Epsom salts, six ounces ;
(If not at hand, table salt may be substituted ;)
Water, (hot, almost boiling) one quart :
Mix, and give it when new milk warm.
It rarely happens, that a cure is effected in
this disease where the swelling has taken place ;
as, however, such is sometimes the case, it is
well worth the trial, even in the most desperate
case. The tumified or swelled parts should have
an incision made the whole length of the swell-
x
242
THE COMPLETE
ing, and nitre put into the opening, with pledg-
ets of tow soaked in hot spirits of turpentine,
to encourage the formation of matter, and check
the progress of the gangrene. These dressings
must be renewed every day.
Prevention. — We have said this dreadful dis*
ease may be altogether prevented, and perhaps,
it is more desirable to be informed how, than
to know how to cure it. Young cattle that
thrive best, are most subject to this complaint,
and should be most watched. As soon as any
one of the herd is attacked, remove it and put
it by itself while under the curative process : in
the evening bring them all into the fold-yard,
take about two quarts of blood from each, give
them the drink No, 67, and, next morning, turn
them out in a bare pasture. — By this means
young animals may be preserved from this rava-
ging complaint.
CATTLE- KEEPER.
243
EXTERNAL DISEASES, WOUNDS,
AND BRUISES.
Chronic Rhumatism, called also Chine
Fellon, and Joint Fellon.
This disease is generally the resut of a neglected
catarrh, settling in the hack or joints, and is
attended with weakness and loss of flesh. —
Symptoms— For the first few days, the animal
appears only stiff in the joints; hut afterwards
it begins to swell, and become painful, especially
when the beast attempts to move. Sometimes
the stiffness extends all over the body, to such a
degree, that it cannot lie down or get up again,
without assistance.
Cure.— First remove the animal to a sheltered
situation, and rub the swollen joints with neats'-
foot oil, or an embrocation made as follows :
RECIPE No. 68.
Sweet oil,
Oil of turpentine,
four ounces;
two ounces: — Mix.
244
THE COMPLETE
The drench (recipe No. 31) is the best that
can possibly be given; and should it appear ne-
cessary to do any more, repeat the embrocation
rubbing, and give it half a pint of good ale or
beer, warm, with a little ginger, morning and
evening.
Joint Yellows, or Tail-rot.
This disease is of the consumptive kind, and
arising from causes similar to the preceding,
and can, like that, be remedied only by change
of situation and food, a warm sheltered field, or,
in cold weather, a warm cow-house, with straw
to lie down on, and bran meshes with a little
bruised malt, and a moderate quantity of good hay.
Symptoms.— Inability to lift the tail in dung-
ing or making water, in consequence of which
the tail and hind parts become very filthy, and
covered with dung: there is also a tenderness
about the loins, and about the rump, and a tight-
ness of the skin covering those parts. A ridicu-
lous idea prevails with some cow-doctors, that
there is a worm in the tail; and, under this
silly supposition, they make an incision into the
part where there is most weakness, or where the
CATTLE-KEEPER.
245
joints appear loosest. In a day or two, this sore
becomes painful, and induces the animal to
make an exertion. This they pronounce a cure;
how falsely so, the result too often proves.
C U re.—lf this disease be taken in time, the
cure is easy, and costs but little. First, gently
wash the part affected with clean water, and re-
move all the dirt and filth; then bathe it with
the cooling lotion No. 65, and administer a gen-
tle cooling purge, as No. 31, or No. 5, and
afterwards a cordial astringent drench, as No.
32 i in treatment, the directions given for the
cure of chronic rheumatism may be also followed
in this ; and if the beast be in good condition,
and symptoms of inflammation appear, take
away about three quarts of blood.
Locked- J aw,
Is generally the effect of wounds, either of
the head, horns, or extremities; or brought on
by eating poisonous herbs or insects, by which
the whole nervous system is affected, and some-
times extends over the whole body.
x 3
246 THE COMPLETE
Symptoms — A sudden stagnation and contrac-
tion of almost the whole muscular system; every
muscle appears seized at once, and the jaws are
so fast closed, as very often to require an instru-
ment to force them open, at the time of giving
medicine; the eyes appear to glisten, and fixed
in their orbits, with a very peculiar anxiety
-wrought upon them; and the breathing is af-
fected.
Cure. — Rub the jaws as well as the muscles
of the neck, when affected, with some linament,
and then cover them with a fresh sheeps'-skin,
with the flesh side inwards, to keep up a copi-
ous perspiration; or if this cannot be obtained,
a warm blanket may be used. Give the animal
a saline cooling draught, as No. 5, or No. 31,
and hasten its effects by a clyster. If the dis-
ease be difficult to subdue, throw two or three
pails of water over the beast, and then rub its
sides down, till dry, with a whisp of straw.—
If it be in summer, let the water be cold; but if
it be in winter, let it then be warm. If the dis-
ease originated from a poisonous herb or in-
sect, bleed copiously, if the animal be in good
condition, and repeat the operation, if necessary.
CATTLE-KEEPElt.
247
Wounds.
Wounds are generally caused by their goring
each other with their horns, or by breaking over
fences } and, when deep and extensive, are fol-
lowed by inflammation. The treatment of these
wounds, although mystified by farriers, is very
simple; too often, when the wound is consider-
able, and some important part injured, the irri-
tating treatment adopted, destroys the animal;
and in less severe cases, stimulating applica-
tions are highly improper.
In deep or extensive wounds, particularly in
the belly, chest, or joints, the most effectual
means are necessary, to prevent a fatal inflam-
mation. — Bleeding freely, cleansing the wound,
and bathing it with a cooling lotion (as No. 65)
and administering a laxative medicine, as No. 5,
or 31, are the first remedies; and afterwards
emollient fomentations. When the inflamma-
tion has subsided, and the wound discharges
good matter, a tent of digestive ointment may
be introduced daily, that it may heal from the
bottom. If the opening be small, and the mat-
ter has not free vent, it should be so enlarged,
248
THE COMPLETE
that no hollow part may remain, by which the
matter may be confined.
When a wound bleeds considerably, there is
little danger; but when necessary to sfop it,
pressure is the most effectual means. When the
belly has been wounded, and the bowels obtrude,
they must be very carefully put back again, and
the dirt, if any, be washed off, but with warm
water only : the wound should then be stitched
up, but with few stitches ; and a bandage should
be applied, as a further security.
Wounds of less consequence are easily cured,
a little lotion to bathe the part affected, and a
gentle purgative, with bleeding, if inflammation
be present, will generally prove amply sufficient.
Poultices are useful in assisting to heal bruises
or wounds, but care must be used in their appli-
cation ; for instance, they must only be applied
after the fart affected has been well bathed and
cleansed, and then the simplest are the best.
Bread and water poultices are most useful
where the wound is angry, and difficult to heal
from the presence of some foreign body within
it, as thorns, splinters, or the like.
Linseed-meal poultices are best where a ga-
thering has taken place, and should be drawn
CATT.LE-KEEPER.
249
to a head, that the matter therein may be dis-
charged.
Marshmallow ointment, or spermaceti ointment
are both very useful in healing flesh wounds,
or places that have gathered, and discharged.
Strains and Bruises.
Where considerable, bleeding is essential: af-
terwards apply a fomentation of very warm
water, and an emollient ointment. In situations
that will admit of it, an emollient poultice is to
be preferred. When the inflammation has sub-
sided, the following embrocation may be ap-
plied ; which is equally good for wounds.
RECIPE No. 69.— Embrocation.
Sweet oil, ' two ounces;
Oil of turpentine, one ounce;
Liquid ammonia, one ounces;
RECIPE No. 70. — Digestive ointment.
Hog's lard, four ounces ;
Turpentine, four ounces;
Powdered verdigris, one ounce :
Melt the two first over the fire, and while stirring it
add the verdigris ; continue to stir it after taking
from the fire till the ointment be cold.
250
THE COMPLETE
Foul in the Foot, Loe, or Low,
Proceeds either from the fulness of habit of
body, or redundancy of blood in the system;
from being on wet grounds, or from hard driv-
ing. Neat cattle are very liable to this com-
plaint; but cows of a gross habit of body suffer
most from it.
. Symptoms.— It first makes its appearance be-
twixt the claws or hoofs in the form of a hard
crack, attended sometimes with inflammation;
m a short time this discharges a fetid and offen-
sive matter, similar to that of the grease in
horses' heels. At other times, it makes its ap-
pearance with swelling upon the cornet between
the hair and the hoof, and about the fetlock-joint,
attended with violent pain and inflammation;
the swelling sometimes extending all up the leg,
and the pain so considerable, as to reduce the
beast of its flesh till it becomes a mere skeleton.
Cure.— Bleed copiously, or until the animal
faints ; if sufficient blood can be taken from the
toe, by opening the artery going to that part, it
CATTLE-KEEPER.
251
will quickly and readily afford relief. If the dis-
ease first make its appearance between the claws,
wash the part clean from all dirt and filthiness;
when dry rub a tar rope to and fro between the
claws of the hoof, till an evident glow of warmth
is produced; then dress the part with a wooden
skewer dipped in butter of antimony, oil of
vitriol, or nitrous acid. Let them stand dry
one hour after, and then turn them on a dry pas-
ture. — Do this for two or three days together ;
but if the parts about the fetlock- joints swell,
and appear inflamed, apply a large poultice of
linseed meal, bean-meal, or rye-flour, and con-
tinue to do so until the inflammation and swell-
ing be reduced. The cure of this disease will be
considered accelerated, if the following saline
purgative be administered :
Put the ingredients into a pitcher, and pour upon them
three pints of boiling-water ; when of a new milk
warmth, give it at one dose.
RECIPE No. 71.
Glauber's salts,
Ginger, powdered,
Treacle,
one pound;
two ounces;
four ounces :
252
THE COMPLETE
The following is an excellent ointment with
which the wound in the foot may be dressed:
RECIPE No. 72.
Hogs'-lard, two ounces ;
Common turpentine, four ounces;
Blue vitriol, very finely powdered half an ounce :
Melt the lard and turpentine together ; and when re-
moved from the fire, stir in the blue vitriol: continue
stirring till cold, and it is fit for use.
The Mange,
Is seated in the skin, and proceeds, generally,
from scanty or improper food, during the winter;
it makes its appearance early in the spring. The
itching occasioned by this disease causes the
animal to rub itself against the trees, or gates,
until the hair be rubbed off, and the skin thick-
ened, and drawn into folds about the shoulders,
neck, or cheek. The best situation for beasts
so affected, is a field where the pasture is rather
bare.
Si/mploms. — The skin, or hide, appears fast on
all parts of the body; and every time the beasts
CATTLE KEEPER.
253
rub themselves, the hair comes off, and a thick
white scurf, of a scabby appearance, is to be
seen a short time after.
Cure. —The parts affected must be well rubbed
with the following ointment, every third or fourth
day, for about three times. Rub it in under a
warm shade, when the sun is out; or, if done in
the cow-house, hold a heated iron at a proper
distance, whilst another person rubs it on. — The
effect of the medicine will thus be improved;
and in slight cases, one dressing will be sufficient.
Inveterate cases will require it to be well rubbed
in with a hard brush; the parts being previously
curried with an old curry-comb.
RECIPE No. 73.
Hog's lard, eight ounces;
Spirit of turpentine, two ounces;
Flowers of sulphur, four ounces;
Sulphur vivum two ounces.
The following drink will, by promoting the
suspended secretions, very much accelerate the
cure.
254 THE COMPLETE
RECIPE No. 74.
Carraway seeds, in powder, two ounces;
Aniseeds, ditto, two ounces;
Grains of paradise, ditto, one ounce;
Nitre, ditto, one ounce;
Flowers of sulphur, two ounces;
Crude antimony, in fine powder, half an oz. ;
Treacle, four table-spoonsful.
Mix it in a quart of warm ale, and give it at one . dose.
If the disease be of an inveterate nature, this
dose must be repeated.
Warbles, Worms, fyc.
Are small tumours, which, in the spring of the
year, and in summer, appear in various parts of
the body of neat cattle. They are occasioned
by the bite of a gad-fly, which punctures a small
hole in the back of horned cattle, and therein
deposits its eggs. These, being speedily hatched
by the heat of the animal's body, a small tumor
arises, containing a grub, or maggot, which in-
flames the part, and thereby causes matter to
form. In process of time, this abscess bursts,
and discharges the maggot, which now soon
CATTLE-KEEPER.
255
becomes a fly; that, in due time, deposits its
eggs on the skin of the animal, like its parent.
Cure — The usual way of curing the warbles,
is to pull off the scab that covers the tumour;
and pour a few drops of black oil, made accord-
ing to the following directions, into the wound:
or where this is not in readiness, a little spirits
of turpentine may be applied.
RECIPE No. 75.
Yellow basilicon ointment, four ounces;
Spirits of turpentine, one ounce;
Oil of vitriol, half a dram.
First mix the ointment and turpentine together, and
afterwards add, by a little at a time, the oil of vitriol ;
keeping it constantly stirred until well incorporated.
It is then fit for use.
Cancellous Ulcers,
Appear chiefly on the glandular parts of the
body; but those on the cheeks, eye-lids, and
on the glands between the jaw-bones, are the
most difficult to heal of all the ulcers to which
neat cattle are liable; indeed, some of them
baffle all the powers of medicine.
256
THE COMPLETE
Symptoms. — These ulcers make their first ap-
pearance in a hard tumour, seated in some glan-
dulous parts of the body. Some of these are
moveable; others, fixed: some are inflamed, and
quickly break out, and discharge a thin acrid
matter; others discharge a thin yellow matter,
and the wounds are apt to fill up with fungous,
or proud flesh.
Remedy. — The curative process depends much
on the part of the glands where the ulcer is
seated. There are some parts which will admit
of a total extirpation; which may be done with
a suitable knife, or, if preferred, by actual cau-
tery. When the wound is thoroughly cleansed
from all extraneous matter, let it be touched all
over with lunar caustic, or sprinkled with red
precipitate; and afterwards dress it with the
following: —
RECIPE No. 76.
Egyptiacum, two ounces;
Compound tincture of myrrh, one ounce ;
Spirits of turpentine, one ounce;
Sublimate, finely powdered, one dram;
Spirit of salt, four drams.
Mix, and keep it in a bottle for use.
CATTLE-KEEPEU.
257
Dress the wound with small pledgets of lint
or tow, dipped in the above mixture, once a day :
and if any superfluous flesh appear, keep it down
with caustic; or before dressing, sprinkle the
wound all over with blue vitriol.
When the wound has been well cleansed, and
the acrid discharge has stopped, make a fresh
ointment as follows:
RECIPE No. 77.
Yellow basilicon ointment, four ounces;
Spirits of turpentine, one ounce.
Mix, and keep it in a pot for use.
With a wooden spatula well mix one part of
this linament, (No. 77?) with two parts of the
ointment, No. 76; and with this mixture dress
the wound once or twice a day till healed.
A purgative medicine occasionally adminis-
tered, will hasten the cure, as by that means,
the quantity of blood determined to the affected
part will be purified and lessened, and the oint-
ment dressing will then act more powerfully on
the wound. No. 71 is a very useful recipe for
this purpose.
y3
258
THE COMPLETE
Angle Berries, or Worts.
Young heifers, or cow-calves of the first or
second years, are most subject to these excres-
cences, which are cutaneous eruptions, or tu-
mours, growing out above the surface of the
skin, in various parts of the body, and have a
very disagreeable appearance.
When they proceed from the udder, they are
not only disagreeable, but ultimately cause the
cow to be very troublesome to milk. They rise
from a small base, and hang in a pendulous form.
Some farmers tie a string tightly round the base,
close to the skin, and thus suffer them to rot off
of themselves : others secure them with a strong
binding of twine, and then cut them off with a
sharp knife, afterwards dressing the wound with
oil of vitriol. If, however, they are attended to
in time, which is by far the best plan, they may
be destroyed by touching them a few times with
the end of a thick stick dipped in strong aqua
fortis, or, as it is termed by the chemists, nitric
acid.
CATT LB-KEEPER.
25.9
Sore Teats.
Some cows are very subject to sore teats,
particularly such as have newly calved ; if this
be the case in summer, they often become ulcer-
ated, and the flies plague them to a degree which
renders them extremely difficult to milk: it is
also a great nuisance at the time of milking, as
blood and corrupt matter are apt to pass between
the fingers into the milk.
The following linament is very useful for
anointing sore teats, and should always be kept
in readiness for use :
RECIPE No. 78.
Ointment of elder, four ounces;
Yellow basilicon ointment, four ounces ;
Spirits of turpentine, one ounce.
Mix, and well incorporate them together" on a slab,
and it is fit for use.
With this ointment you may well rub the
cow's teats every night and morning, after milk-
ing. If in the summer, and the flies be trouble-
some, add one ounce of assafostida, or aloes, in
260
THE COMPLETE
powder, and dissolve it along with the ointment.
This will prevent the flies from teazing the
animal.
If the teats be tender, only, and not sore, a
little gentle rubbing with weak salt and water
will, in general, be sufficient.
Lice in Cattle,
Are troublesome, and in their effects cause the
animal to be poor in flesh and appearance. One
or two washings with the following lotion, ap-
plied with a sponge, at an interval of five or six
days, will generally remove those troublesome
visitors : —
RECIPE No. 79.
Stavesacre, four ounces;
Tobacco, cut small, one ounce;
Urine, two quarts.
Boil it till reduced one-third in quantity, and when cool
it is fit for use.
If this do not effectual succeed, dust common
Scotch snuff on the animal, and when a cure is
effected, give it a good rubbing with a whisp of
straw.
CATTLE- KEEPER. 261
MISCELLANEOUS RECEIPTS.
Poisons
Proceed from various causes, mostly during the
summer season, and generally from eating some
poisonous vegetables, as the yew-tree, hemlock,
the several kinds of crowsfoot, or drinking stag-
nated water, swarming with a great variety of
insects, many of which are of a very hurtful
nature.
Symptoms. — A violent pain and sickness at the
stomach; the body frequently swells to a prodi-
gious size, attended with giddiness and stupidity;
eating the yew-tree will sometimes induce mad-
ness; but from whatever source the poison may
have been taken, it generally proves fatal in a
short time, if suitable remedies are not promptly
made use of.
Cure. — As soon as you suspect any of your
animals to be poisoned, bleed it freely, and ad-
minister the drink, No. J\ , with the addition of
262
THE COMPLETE
one ounce of salt of tartar. If the body swell
much, have recourse to the probang, as recom-
mended for the cure of cattle, when hoven, or
blown. This will give instant relief, by giving
vent to the foul air; particularly if the poison
proceed from eating any vegetable production.
It will also be generally necessary to add to
the preceding treatment the following drink, to
neutralise the effects of the poison. A clyster is
also useful in removing any obstruction in the
bowels.
RECIPE No. 80.
Prepared kali, (or salt of tartar,) one ounce ;
Castor oil, (or olive oil), four ounces;
Tincture of opium, half an ounce.
Mix, and give it in a quart of warm gruel;
If it should be ftrand necessary, this may be
repeated, daily, until the animal be relieved.
Bite of Venemous Reptiles.
Neat cattle are more liable to be stung by
vipers or adders than any other domestic ani-
mals, and their bite is sometimes attended with
CATTLE-KEEPER.
263
dangerous consequences. — Indeed instances have
been known of their proving mortal. The stings
of several insects are also attended with con-
siderable pain and inflammation ; and, although
not so serious in their results, require a simi-
lar treatment.
Cure. — Well rub the parts affected with the
following linament two or three times a day,
until the inflammation and swelling abate.
RECIPE No. 81.
Olive oil, half a pint ;
Strong spirits of hartshorn, four ounces ,-
Spirits of turpentine, four ounces :
Mix them well together by shaking in a bottle, and
shake them well every time they are used.
In some cases, that are more dangerous than
others, the parts affected, particularly about the
head, should be fomented two or three times a
day with the following fomentation^ or with
warm water : —
RECIPE No. 82.
Bruised white poppy heads, eight ounces;
Camomile flowers, four ounces :
Boil these a short time in about two gallons of water,
and then strain it off for use.
264
THE COMPLETE
Let the fomentation be quite warm ; and after
using it rub in the linament described in recipe
No. 81.
If any feverish symptoms appear, (as will be
the case in warm weather, take from the animal
two or three quarts of blood, and, a few hours
after, give the purging draught, No. 71- And
if the animal appear weals or much reduced by
bleeding or purging, give it the cordial drink,
No. 39, and if an ounce of strong spirits of
hartshorn be added to the cordial drink, it will
be the better.
Bull Burnt.
This is a local disease, evidently of a venereal
nature, affecting the sheath and penis or yard of
the bull ; the parts becoming swollen, tender,
and full of small ulcers ; there is also a dis-
charge of matter from the yard, and the animal
in staling seems to suffer considerable pain. If
while in this state the bull have access to the
cows, he will communicate the disease, the va-
gina and shape of the cow will soon be affected,
the parts will inflame and swell, and a discharge
of disagreeable, ichorous matter will take place.
CATTLE- KEEPER.
265
Cure. — The most effectual way of curing this
disease in the bull, is to throw him down, and
turn him on his back, with his belly upwards.
Take a linen cloth, fold it round his yard, and
gently draw it out of its sheath, so that you can
bathe and wash all the ulcerated parts with the
following lotion :
RECIPE No. 83.
Goulard's extract of lead, two ounces;
Camphorated spirits of wine, two ounces ;
Rain, or soft water, half a pinU
Mix, and keep it in a bottle for use.
Take care that in every dressing, which should
be done at least twice a week, every part is pro-
perly bathed with the mixture. Of course, he-
must be kept from the cows till well.
If the disease should have been some time on
the bull, it will be necessary to use a more power-
ful mixture; as the following:
RECIPE No. 84.
Sugar of lead, white vitriol, blue vitriol,
and bole armenic, of each, half an ounce ;
Boiling water, one pint :
Mix, shake it well ; and when new milk warm, put it:
into a bottle for use.
Z;
266
THE COMPLETE
This a powerful lotion — too strong, indeed, to
be used as a first application; it may, however,
be used afterwards with perfect safety. As the
bull gets better, give him a cooling purging
draught, as No. 7'? once a week, and repeat it
two or three times.
To cure the cow. — The lotion, No. 83, is quite
strong enough — No. 84 is much too powerful. —
Bathe the infected parts with a linen rag soaked in
the lotion, and folding it round the finger, intro-
duce it thus up the vagina; or it may be injected
by a syringe.-— Give her also the cooling purging
draught. — A few weeks is generally sufficient
for the cure.
The Cow-Pock,
Is a disease, similar in some respects to the
grease in horses' heels : it proceeds gradually to
maturity, and then declines and dies away.
Symptoms. — The eyes of the animal appears
heavy and dull, and the milky secretions are
considerably lessened: the beast moans, and
wanders about by itself: irregular pustules ap-
pear on the nipples of the udder; which, at
first are commonly of a palish blue, or rather
CATTLE-KEEPER.
267
approaching to a livid colour, and surrounded
by inflammatory appearances.
Care.— When the disease is first observed,
a cordial drink, as No. 39, or 40, should be
given to warm and stimulate the stomach and
invigorate the system, by which nature will be
the better enabled to repel the disease— If fever-
ish symptoms appear, give the purging drink
No. 71, to cleanse the body and check the fever.
The teats and udder may be well rubbed twice a
day, after milking, with the following lotion,
which is very serviceable for sore teats, from
whatever cause they may proceed.
RECIPE No. 85.
Crude sal-ammonia, powdered, half an ounce ;
Wine vinegar, half a pint;
Camphorated spirits of wine; two ounces;
Goulard's extract of lead, one ounce:
Mix, and keep them in a bottle for use.
To dry a Cow of her Milk.
When a cow is destined for the shambles, it
is necessary to dry her of her milk. To do this,
268
THE COMPLETE
requires care, more so in some cows than others,
particularly those who give the largest quantity
of milk, or are of a gross habit of body; as
without both care and management, these will
be liable to the downfal, either in the udder or
foot, or it may terminate in some inflammatory
disorder. It is a subject, therefore, with which
every farmer and grazier ought to be well ac-
quainted.
Cows that are apt to milk themselves, are dif-
ficult to dry: such should therefore be dried
early in the spring, while at dry meat; others may
be dried, either in the pasture, or in any other
place. Cows that feed in the pasture, and give
a considerable quantity of milk, particularly if
in good condition, ought to be put into a fold-
yard over night, and from three to four quarts
of blood taken from each. The next morning,
give the following drink. —
RECIPE No. 86. . ■
Powdered roach-alum, seven ounces ;
Bole armenic, powdered, two ounces :
Mix these in a pitcher, and pour upon them three half
pints of hoiling ale ; add a pint of good vinegar, and
give it when new milk warm.
CATTLE- KEEPER.
269
Milk the cow clean, then give the ahove drink
immediately, and turn her into a bare pasture:
about four days afterwards, if her udder appear
hard and full, fetch her up, milk her clear, and
repeat the draught No. 86.
This is generally sufficient to dry a cow of
her milk ; but as some give so much, as to be
difficult to dry, it will in such cases be necessary
to repeat the drink every third or fourth day
until the effect be produced. In other cases, it
will be as well, occasionally, to substitute the
following drink, in lieu of the former: it is
equally efficacious, and, under some circum-
stances, much more so.
Put them in a pitcher, and put three pints of boiling
water on them : stir the whole together, and give it
■when of the warmth of new milk.
RECIPE No. 87.
Red wine tartar, in powder, o
Treacle, f
one pound ;
four table spoonsful.
z3
270
THE COMPLETE
Concluding Remarks.
We have thus given the causes> symptoms, and
methods of curing the most serious and most
.prevalent diseases to which neat cattle are sub-
ject. In many instances, however, disease may
be arrested in its earliest stage; and, by prompt
attention, prevented from extending.
Plain directions for the proper mode of seton-
ing, and bleeding, are given in the Appendix;
which also contains a description of the use and
application of the probang, the lancets, and
other instruments used in the operations occa-
sionally necessary in the diseases of neat cattle.
CATTLE -KEEPER.
2/1
OF THE
SELECTION AND MANAGEMENT
OF SHEEP.
The structure, habits, and diseases of sheep,
so nearly resemble those of neat cattle, that
whatever we have said of the one, will apply
equally to the other: the same care should be
used in the selection of sheep for stock, as was
directed in the choice, of cattle; a similar treat-
ment should be observed, with respect to the
land upon which it is intended to feed them;
and an equal care exerted to apportion and vary
their food, in such manner as to prevent the
disorders which arise from repletion, as well as
those which result from stinted or bad food.
The diseases which prove most fatal to sheep,
commit the greatest ravages among those in the
best condition, either in the spring, or at the
latter end of the year, when the season is un-
usually wet or changeable; and those sheep
which have been principally fed upon turnips,
are most subject to their attacks.
272
THE COMPLETE
Like neat cattle, they are very subject to a
plethoric habit, or fulness of blood; it is there-
fore very dangerous to change the pasturage of
sheep from a bare to a more luxuriant pasturage,
except by slow degrees.
Low grounds, or woodland pastures, where
the air is moist, especially in wet seasons, are
unfavourable to the health of sheep. In wet
seasons, they should be kept in the highest and
driest lands; for a dry air is peculiarly congenial
to the healthy condition of these animals.
When disease attacks your flock, endeavour
to ascertain the cause or causes which produced
it; whether it arises from plethora, or redund-
ancy of blood in the system; infection; impro-
per feeding; humidity of the air; or extreme
heat or cold : this being discovered, you can the
more readily apply the most proper remedies,
and materially lessen the violence of the disease.
This plan will also enable you the better to pre-
vent its recurrence.
The best way of obtaining information, is,
when any of your animals drop, to open it, or
get it opened, in order to find out the nature and
seat of the complaint; by which means, the
shepherd, in future, will be the more readily
CATTLE-KEEPER.
273
enabled to put a stop to the fatality of the
disease.
Most of the diseases to which sheep are sub-
ject, are, as we have observed, similar to those
of neat cattle, and require a very similar treat-
ment: generally speaking, also, the same medi-
cines may be administered to the one animal as
are directed, for the same complaints in the
other, but in. less quantity; a sixth part of the
quantity given to neat cattle, being a fair pro-
portion for sheep.
The quantity of blood proper to be taken from
a sheep, must depend upon the habit of the
animal, and nature of the disease; from eight
ounces to a pint being generally sufficient: but
in plethoric or inflammatory disorders, a pint
and a half, and even a quart, will not be too
much. When it is necessary to repeat bleeding
in sheep, it will be best to reduce the quantity
taken each time. Three or four ounces is usually
found sufficient to be taken from a young lamb.
Sheep and lambs are- sometimes bled in the
vein below the eye, and in the nose: this may,
perhaps, be the best, where the complaint affects
the head of the animal; but where it is neces-
sary to relieve or reduce the system, it is much
274
THE COMPLETE
I
better to bleed them in the neck, as neat cattle
usually are. The blood should be caught in a
basin, that the proper quantity may be readily
ascertained.
The diseases of young lambs are most fre-
quently owing to want of proper support, im-
proper diet, or undue exposure to wet or cold
weather, which debilitates the animal system,
and induces frequent and severe colds.
We need not here repeat what we have said
of the choice and management of neat cattle,
being equally applicable to sheep; but a sum-
mary of the principal directions will be cer-
tainly useful.
In purchasing sheep, select those reared from
the healthiest and best stocks.
Choose those in preference which have been fed
upon poorer or barer pastures than your own :
but be careful not to place them at once upon
land much superior to that to which they have
been accustomed.
In very wet weather, they should be sheltered,
particularly in the night, and a little good dry
CATTLE-KEEPER.
275
hay given them; and in snowy weather, or
severe winters, they should be housed, and
properly tended and fed.
In all cases where disease attacks them, be
prompt in ascertaining the cause, and ready in
administering the proper remedies ; as many of
the diseases of sheep begin and terminate in a
few hours.
Of the Lambing Season.
This period must of course depend on the
time when the ram is put to the ewes; but, ge-
nerally, the latter end of February, or beginning
of March, is considered the best time; as the
lambs then produced, if properly reared and
tended, are much the strongest. Still this is
often an inclement season both for the ewe and
the lambs, especially if they have been badly
kept before yeaning. The consequence is, a
severe loss is often sustained both among the
ewes and their offspring.
Should the dam not have had sufficient sup-
port for herself, the lamb will necessarily be
poor and weakly at the time it is yeaned. It
276
THE COMPLETE
is therefore essential, that every care should be
paid to these animals, which nature and the sea-
son of the year may render necessary. About
six weeks before lambing, the ewe should be
supplied with plenty of good food, in order that
nature may provide for the offspring at the ap-
pointed time. If attention be paid to these par-
ticulars, the health and strength of the parent
animal will be ensured, and it will be the better
enabled to go through the difficulty of parturi-
tion; the lamb, also, will be in better condition,
and more likely to survive any severity of sea-
son which may follow.
Every person who would be successful in rear-
ing sheep, must be provided with a fold yard,
suitable for the purpose; this may consist of a
small plot of ground, well protected from the
north-east and westerly winds, with a suitable
shed and a fire-place in it, and other conveni-
ences for the purpose. Thus the shepherd will
be able to attend them at all hours of the night,
to give his assistance when required, and to
take all needful care of them.
It often happens, during the lambing season,
that ewes are severely handled, through the
largeness of the lambs, or their being in a wrong
CATTLE-KEEPER.
277
position, so as to bruise or tear the parts through
which they pass. It will be necessary to have
in readiness, for use at these times, the follow-
ing oils :
RECIPE No. 88.
Venice turpentine, two ounces;
Barbadoes tar, two ounces;
Spirits of turpentine, quarter of a pint;
Linseed oil, half a pint;
Mix them well together; then add the following,
Mel-Egyptiacum, one ounce;
Oil of vitriol, quarter of an oz;
Aquafortis, quarter of an oz.
Mix these together; then add,
Tincture of myrrh, quarter of a pint:
Shake the whole well together, and put them in a bottle
for use.
Whenever it is necessary to use these oils,
let the hottle be well shaken, and convey one or
two table-spoonsful into the vagina, or sheath,
either by the hand, or with a spoon. They
warm or stimulate the parts affected, and prevent
or cure the gangrene or mortification in those
parts, as well as in other fresh wounds.
A a
I
278
THE COMPLETE
When ewes are injured by a difficult parturi-
tion, the following drink will prove of excellent
service:
RECIPE No. 89.
Peruvian bark, powdered, one dram;
Ginger, ditto, one dram;
Mix them in half a pint of warm gruel, and add
Treacle, two spoonsful;
Brandy, one table-spoonful:
Mix, and give it new-milk warm.
It is frequently necessary to repeat this drink
once or twice a day, where the animals have
received much injury, or where they have been
reduced by indifferent or scanty keep before the
lambing season. In every case, where nature
appears to be in a languid and debilitated state,
these powders are unequalled for their restora-
tive quality.
The gruel necessary to be given to ewes at
the time of lambing, should be made as follows:
RECIPE No. 90.
Linseed, fresh powdered, half a pound ;
Oatmeal, one pound;
CATTLE-KEEPER.
279
Boil a sufficient quantity of this mixture in water, as
if made of oatmeal only; then add
This will give excellent support to the animals,
and will nourish and heal their insides, through
the richness of the linseed in combination with
the oatmeal. About half a pint, to a pint, of
this gruel, may be given at the time, and re-
peated twice in the day, if necessary.
If the ewe be deficient in milk, (a circum-
stance which occasionally happens at the time
of lambing, for want of better support,) let the
following drink be given, which will be found
greatly to assist the secretion of that fluid.
RECIPE No. 91.
Aniseeds, sweet fennel seeds,
carraway-seeds, and grains of
paradise, fresh powdered, each, one drain.
Mix, and give it in half a pint of warm gruel.
This drink acts as a cordial, and powerfully pro-
motes the milky secretions, at the same time it
warms and stimulates the stomachs and intes-
Gin, or hrandy,
Sugar,
one tea-spoonful;
one tea-spoonful.
280
THE COMPLETE
tines. But to insure success, take care the
ingredients are all fresh and good. Never buy-
seeds in powder, but always pound them your-
self.
Of the Diseases to which Lambs are subject.
Lambs are in their infancy subject to a variety
of diseases, arising either from them or their
dams being insufficiently kept, or from the cold
or damp state of the weather.
If the weak state of the lambs proceed from
poor keeping, support must be given them ; this
may be done either by putting them to suck other
and stronger ewes, or by giving them cow's new
milk, warm as it comes from the animal; but if
the complaint arise from cold or damp weather,
in addition to the warm milk, the drink No. 92
should be given as afterwards directed, and the
lamb should, with its dam, be housed and care-
fully nursed.
Sometimes, though rarely, the ewe has too
much milk : when this is the case, it is apt to
coagulate and form into a hard substance in the
maw, by which many of the best lambs are fre-
quently carried off. — This is similar to the cords
in calves, (see page 132) and may be arrested by -
CATTLE-KEEP.EK.
281
a similar treatment. — With respect to the quan-
tity of medicine to be given, a fifth or sixth
part of that directed for the calf, may be safely
administered to the lamb.
Diarrhoea, or excessive Looseness in Lambs,
Is a destructive malady, and most fatal to
lambs under a week old; it often seizes them at
about twenty-four hours old, and carries them
off in six hours after : it mostly, however, lasts
two days, in which time it kills five out of six
that are attacked with it, except proper reme-
dies are administered at its very onset.
Symptoms. — This disorder commences with
frequent purging, and severe griping pains ; and
the lamb is generally much blown up on its at-
tack from wind in the stomach and intestines :
If no relief be given, the disease becomes sta-
tionary, and the stools are attended with a copi-
ous ejection of the mucus of the intestines,
together with a griping pain, while tbe animal
pines rapidly away.
Remedy.— The cause from whence the com-
plaint originated, must be ascertained, if pos-
a a 3
282
THE COMPLETE
sible. If it proceeded from cold, or want of pro-
per support, new milk warm from the cow
should be given, the lamb should be kept warm,
and the following drink administered : —
RECIPE No. 92.
Dover's powders, twelve grains;
Compound cinnamon powder, two scruples ;
Prepared chalk, one scruple :
Mix, and give it in a little warm new milk, thickened
with starch, to the consistence of gruel.
If the ewe's milk seems to disagree with the
lamb, it will be proper to change her diet, and,
in some cases, to feed the lamb altogether on
cows' new milk, warm ; not neglecting, however,
to milk the ewe. The ewe should be also
purged once or twice by giving the following :
RECIPE No. 93.
Epsom salts, two ounces ;
Elixir of vitriol, a small tea-spoonful :
Mix the salts in a small quantity of water ; then add
the elixir, and give it.
The drink No. 92, is proper for a lamb of
from twenty-four hours to a week or two old;
CATTLK-KEKPKR.
283
it should be repeated every three or four hours,
until the symptoms be greatly abated, and then,
should the diarrhoea continue, once a day will
be sufficient.
After giving one or two of the above drinks,
it is often of great use, in severe cases, to add
two or from that to four grains of calomel to it,
and repeat this every day for two or three times ;
or a table-spoon half filled with castor oil may
be given with the drink.
A strong lamb, six weeks or two months old,
will require the following, instead of No. 92.
RECIPE No. 94.
Dover's powders, half a dram ;
Compound cinnamon powder, one dram ;
Prepared chalk, two scruples, to one dram :
At this age, however, the diarrhoea is commonly not
so fatal ; and, if taken in time, will generally yield
to the following draught —
RECIPE No. 95.
Castor oil, one table-spoonful ;
Laudanum, forty to sixty drops ;
Mix in a little warm weak gin and water, and give it.
284
THE COMPLETE
When diarrhaa attacks lambs that are weaned,
and from that time to six or seven months old,
it mostly arises from the nature of their food, or
from taking cold. A change of pasture will
often in this case prove a remedy : Mr. Clayton,
in his treatise on the diseases of cattle, says, he
knew frequently that when lambs of this age,
afflicted with diarrhoea, were removed into a
stubble corn-field, this at once put a stop to
the over-purging. To animals of this age, the
following cordial drink maybe occasionally ad-
ministered with advantage :
RECIPE No. 96.
Prepared chalk, eight ounces ;
Aniseeds, fresh powdered, one ounce ;
Carra way- seeds, powdered, one ounce;
Ginger, fresh powdered, one ounce :
Mix these ingredients well together in a mortar, and
once or twice a day mix a small table-spoonful of the
mixture in a little warm milk, thickened with flour
or starch ; give it, together with forty drops of lauda-
num ; and in obstinate cases, repeat the dose again
in the same day. By a careful adherence to this
simple treatment, a speedy cure may be generally
expected.
CATT LB-KEEPER.
285
Costiveness in Lambs,
Is mostly accompanied with slight symptoms
of fever ; the lamb appears dull and heavy, and
eats little ; after its recovery, the wool generally
comes off.
Remedy. — The cure is easy and simple ; give
the lamb from half an ounce to an ounce, ac-
cording to its age, of Epsom salts, dissolved in
a little water ; or a table-spoonful or two of cas-
tor-oil, which the shepherd should always have
by him. If the lamb be much affected, bleeding
will be proper. Should it not take sufficient
support, give it warm water-gruel, which will
not only nourish it, but cool the body, and mo-
derately relax the bowels.
Staggers in Lambs.
This disorder attacks the most thriving, and
often proves fatal, especially to those about three
or four months old.
Symptoms. — The lamb is giddy, falls down,
and in general cannot rise again without help,
286
THE COMPLETE
or until it is relieved, convulsions sometimes
succeed, and the lamb seems much distressed.
Remedy. — As this disease proceeds generally
from a determination of the blood to the brain,
bleeding must be had instant recourse to, and
the following purgative drink be afterwards ad-
ministered.
RECIPE No. 97.
Epsom salts, . one ounce ;
Elixir of vitriol, half a dram ;
Dissolve the salts in a little water, add the elixir, and
give it the lamb at once.
After the operation of the drink, the following
ball should be given to the lamb, taking care to
keep it well housed : —
RECIPE No. 98.
Calomel (according to size or strength) 3 to 6 grains ;
True gentian, in powder, half a dram-;
Syrup, enough to make a hall:
This ball, with the purgative drink, may be given to
lambs whenever they are indisposed, if the complaint
be not attended with purging.
CATTLE- KEEPER.
287
OF THE
DISEASES OF SHEEP,
Sheep, in their digestive organs, are very simi-
lar to the cow, except in being more tender, and
liable to disorder, though naturally as hardy as
most other animals. — A wet soil, and moist at-
mosphere are generally the exciting cause of dis-
ease in sheep as in other cattle, and a debility of
the nervous system is the predisposing came:
the nervous system becomes weakened in vari-
ous ways, such as change of climate and soil,
and by negligence in breeding and rearing : the
draining of land, therefore, which has taken place
so extensively in all parts of England, promises
to be of great advantage in the rearing of sheep,
by drying the land and consequently preventing
the mass of exhalations which moistened the at-
mosphere around.
With respect to the prevention of disease in
sheep, the same remarks are applicable to sheep
as have been used in respect to neat cattle ; we
will therefore on this head refer the reader to
that part of our treatise.
288
THE COMPLETE
Red W ater in Sheep.
This disorder is of the inflammatory kind, and
prevails most at the latter end of the year, or
during the winter, among sheep feeding on tur-
nips, or on succulent grass. It attacks those
sheep first which are in the best condition ; and
if no relief be obtained, they generally die in
less than twenty- four hours.
Cause. — Inflammation and consequent morti-
fication of some particular parts of the body, as
the kidneys, or other intestines ; the inflamma-
tion is sometimes considerably increased by the
intestines becoming loaded with sand and gravel
while feeding on turnips. Whenever this dis-
ease makes its appearance in a flock of sheep,
no time must be lost in putting a stop to so de-
structive a malady, as the loss is otherwise very
considerable.
Symptoms. — The sheep appears dull, and loi-
ters behind the rest of the flock, — the appetite
diminishes, and the belly becomes a little swollen,
as though it had overgorged itself.
CATTLE-KEEPER.
289
Remedy. — Bleed the sheep as soon as the dis-
ease shews itself, and then administer the fol-
lowing medicine : —
RECIPE No. 99.
Epsom salts, three ounces;
Nitre, in powder, two ounces ;
Pour a pint and a half of boiling water upon the salts,
and when new-milk warm, add
Spirits of turpentine, two ounces ;
Bole ammoniac, in powder, quarter of an ounce;
Mix, and shake them well together at the time of giving.
The dose is from three to four table-spoonsful.
When it is necessary to administer this medi-
cine to a number of sheep, they must be re-
moved from the turnips, or whatever they are
feeding on, and put into a pen or fold yard for
an hour or two before it is given. A small horn,
kept for similar purposes, should have poured
into it the quantity proper for each sheep, which
should then be given. This is the best method
of giving medicine to sheep, where many of
them require it at one time. They must be kept
from food two hours after the medicine has been
given, either in a fold yard or a pen ; after that
Bb
290
THE COMPLETE
time they may be turned out into a bare dry
pasture.
When this disease is so severe, that several
sheep die daily, the medicine must be repeated
every third day, three or four times, or more,
if necessary : their diet should also be changed,-
and themselves removed to a more dry and ele-
vated situation.
This medicine, if attended by bleeding, will
be found a powerful preventive to most inflam-
matory complaints, which sheep are liable to,
while feeding on turnips, or in a luxuriant
pasture.
Resp, Gargut, or Blood,
Is a complaint very similar to the black leg in
young cattle. It is a dangerous disorder, and
so suddenly fatal, that sheep are often found
dead from its attacks, without any previous
symptoms having been observed.
Cause. — A plethora, or overflowing of the
blood, is most commonly the origin of this dis-
ease, arising from feeding on turnips, or succu-
lent food: it is mostly prevalent in low situa-
CATTLE-KEEPER.
291
tions, and in woodland pastures where the air
is damp.
Symptoms. — The sheep is dull and languid,
and moves unwillingly ; the eyes appear of a yel-
lowish hue or inflamed ; the animal is mostly
unable to void its urine, and if it does, it is
tinged with blood.— If no relief be afforded, a
lethargic dulness comes on, and the sheep dies
without a struggle, in consequence of a mortifi-
cation in different parts of the body. In death,
the flesh is frequently discoloured, and the whole
body emits a peculiar offensive effluvia.
Remedy. — The moment the symptoms of the
disease are observed, the whole of the flock
should be bled, particularly the infected ones ;
the following purgative should then be adminis-
tered and the food changed ; or, if in pasture, re-
moved to a thinner bite of grass. —
RECIPE No. 99.
Epsom salts, two ounces ;
Spirit of turpentine, a tea-spoonful ;
Powdered ginger, a tea-spoonful ;
Dissolve the salts in three ounces (or not quite a gill)
of boiling water ; when new-milk warm, add the tur-
pentine, and give it. Repeat it next day, if necessary.
292
THE COMPLETE
Hydrocephalus, or Giddiness.
This disease is also known by the various ap-
pellations of Sturdy, Water on the Head, Dropsy
of the Brain, Turnsick, &c. — It is mostly caused
by exposure to inclement weather without shel-
ter,- or through feeding in low marshy grounds,
where the air is moist, which obstructs the per-
spiration, and by that means produces an in-
crease of the watery fluid in the mass of blood.
Young sheep are mostly subject to its attacks.
Symptoms. — When a sheep is affected with
this disease, it appears stupid, turns round and
round, and the eyes seem frequently as though
fixed in their orbits. As the water on the brain
increases in quantity, the sheep is more affected,
the vision of one or both eyes becomes impaired,
or lost, the animal staggers on one side, if you
drive it a short distance; different parts of the
body is seized with palsy ; and at length it dies
quite emaciated.
We have given the above, as the most com-
mon symptoms of hydrocephalus; but the dis-
ease occasionally puts on very different appear-
ances; for instance, under some variations of
CATTLE KEEPER.
293
the disease, the animal, when hurried forward,
instead of turning round, appears lame in the
hind quarters, — generally on one side only, and
that most Commonly the left; in this case, in
moving forward quickly, it goes nearly straight ;
.but the left hind quarter is so inclined, as to
make it appear somewhat crooked. — In the early
stages of the disorder, the turning round is not
so remarkable, unless the animal be hurried; but
at a latter period, it does it constantly in at-
tempting to move forward, and at last becomes
so completely palsied, that he falls down, and
is unable to get up, and in that situation gene-
rally dies.
Remedy. —The cure of this disorder ' is diffi-
cult, indeed it cannot be accomplished but by
a regular practitioner, or veterinary surgeon.—
The most successful plan is that performed in
Dorsetshire, and consists in the operation of
perforating the skull by a small puncture, and
thereby discharging the water from the brain ;
a moderate dose of the Epsom or Glauber salts
is then given, and the sheep is occasionally bled
in the eye vein, or in the neck vein. Or the re-
cipe No. 99, may be administered after the ani-
Bb 3
294
THE COMPLETE
mal has been bled with good effect. — If any ob-
jection exist against the assistance of a good
veterinary surgeon being called in, the sheep
may be bled in the eye vein, or the neck vein,
and two ounces of Epsom salts occasionally
given, or the recipe No. 99, with advantage;
and in this case, it will be best to kill the animal
or send it to market; there being nothing,
especially in the early stages of the complaint,
to operate in any way to the injury either of the
flavour or quality of the flesh, except that the
animal daily wastes away under its attack.
Blast, or Bursting.
Is of the same nature as the hoven in neat
cattle, and arises from a similar cause, namely,
from overfeeding upon clover, or any other suc-
culent food, or over rich pasture, particularly
the young shoots or blades of grass in the spring
or autumn of the year.
Symptoms. — Sheep affected in this manner,
swell almost to suffocation, lie down with their
legs stretched out, or stand still scarcely able to
breathe, and, unless relieved, die.
CATTJUE-KEKPER. 295
Remedy, — Some farmers stab their sheep in
the side, and let out the confined air; this,
however, is a very objectionable mode of treat-
ment, as every time increases the danger, and
the cure then becomes more doubtful. The best
method is, to pass a probang down the animal's
throat, into the stomach, and the confined air
will then rush out. — The following drench, No.
100, should then be administered, and the sheep
moved about a little : as soon as the complaint
is a little relieved, remove the animal into the
barest pasture, and there let it remain until the
digestive faculty is restored. A clyster may
also be given with good effect.
RECIPE
Common salt,
Solution of potash,
(as prepared for the
cords in calves)
Castor or sweet oil,
"Water,
No. ]00.
one ounce;
one or two tea-spoonsful ;
two table-spoonsful ;
eight ounces :
If the animal be griped, or in much pain,
thirty or forty drops of laudanum may be added;
or. two or three tea-spoonsful of anodyne carmi-
296
THE COMPLETE
native tincture will be of service to remove the
pain.
Catarrh, or Cold.
Extreme exposure in an enclement atmos-
phere, long-continued rains, and sudden vicissi-
tudes of weather, are the usual causes or origin
of colds both in sheep and neat cattle. Of these
affections, catarrh is the severest, and it some-
times destroys great numbers of sheep.
Symptoms. — Heaviness in the animal's appear-
ance and movements, the eyes watery, and the
nose runs, and is almost glued, up with a thick
matter, which must be cleaned away, or the re-
spiration of the breath will be impeded. The
complaint is accompanied with a cough j the
animal seems starved, walks stiff, and eats very
little.
Remedy. — In severe cases, a pint or a pint
and a half of blood may be taken from the neck
vein; where the symptoms are urgent, this may
be repeated daily for two or three days, only re-
ducing the quantity taken each time. — The fol-
lowing drink should be given after bleeding : —
CATTLE -KEEPER.
297
RECIPE No. 101„
Epsom salts, one ounce and a half ;
Nitre, one dram ;
Cummin-seeds, in powder, one large tea-spoonful ;
Treacle, one table-spoonful ;
Put them into a pitcher, pour upon them four ounces
(or one gill) of boiling water; stir the whole toge-
ther, and give it when new-milk warm.
In obstinate cases, this drink may be repeated
every alternate day. The pasture should also
be changed ; or the food altered in quality or
quantity.
Gogyles.
This is an inflammatory affection of the brain,
originating in an overflowing of the blood. — •
Sheep of all ages are equally liable to its attacks,
especially after being turned into a rich luxuriant
pasture.
The symptoms vary much, according as the
brain is more or less affected. Lambs seized
with the goggles, sometimes run about quite
frantic, and continue doing so, until exhausted;
they then drop down, and are unable to rise
298
THE COMPLETE
again, from being deprived of all use of their
limbs. In this case, immediate bleeding and a
removal to a bare pasture, almost invariably ef-
fects the cure.
When the substance of the brain is more par-
ticularly the seat of the complaint, the sheep
becomes stupid, and loses the use of one side,
or of the hind extremity. This stage of the dis-
ease resembles that of the advanced stage of
hydrocephalus ; and must be treated as such ;
but it is generally incurable.
The Yellows.
This complaint is most prevalent in low situa-
tions, where the grass is of an indifferent qua-
lity, and the air moist. — It is often very fatal
among sheep, and carries off great numbers out
of a large flock, unless promptly attended to,
and its progress arrested. ■
Mr. Clater, in his treatise on cattle medicine,
gives a case of yellows'm. which he was called in to
assist. — "I attended," says he, " two flocks that
were seized with this complaint, soon after being
turned into a fresh luxuriant pasture; the one
on red clover, and the other on rape. — Here they
CATTLE-EKE PER.
299
began to thrive, but numbers of the sheep were
soon attacked with the yellows from the nature
of the food, and for want of proper exercise in
obtaining it : many of them died. The disease,
however, instantly disappeared when proper re-
medies were prescribed, and their exercise in-
creased."
Symptoms. — The white of the eyes, the mouth,
and other parts of the body become tinged with
a yellowish hue. The animal appears dull; and,
as the disease advances, has a very great aversion
to move; its urine is also of a dark colour.
Cure. — The affected sheep must immediately
be turned into a barer pasture, or have a less
quantity of the food upon which they were feed-
ing, given in a bare field, and dispersed or laid
at moderate distances, so that the animal neces-
sarily employs some exercise to obtain it: the
sheep, then, as well as the whole of the flock,
should be bled, and a mild purgative, (as No.
102) administered. To render the cure more
complete, let the cordial drink (No. 91) be given
after the above has operated.
300
THE COMPLETE
RECIPE No. 102.
Epsom salts, an ounce and a half;
Ginger, powdered, a large tea-spoonful;
Elixir of vitriol, a small tea-spoonful.
Pour a quarter of a pint of boiling water on them,
and, when new-milk warm, give it.
The Rot,
Called also the Blain, or Bane, is the most fatal
disease to which sheep are subject; it has car-
ried off vast numbers, and has occupied general
attention. It is now generally considered, as an
hereditary malady; that is, the disposition or
liability to the disease is hereditary, and consists
simply of constitutional debility. This dispo-
sition is, however, so necessary a condition to
the formation of the disease, that many veteri-
nary surgeons consider that, were the system not
thus predisposed, the exciting causes, which
are cold and moisture, would not produce the
rot, but merely cause catarrh, or cold. It is,
therefore, absolutely essential, that in the choice
of sheep for breeding stock, they should be
selected from flocks which have not been visited
by this pestilential disease.
CATTLE-KEEPER.
301
Watery meadows being the most productive
source of the rot, the sheep should *be removed
to the more elevated parts of the land; and when
the d isease is observed to be coming on, to a
more elevated situation; and if there be good
pasture, and the sheep be moderately well at-
tended to, a cure will apparently be effected:
we say apparently, for all the best cattle doctors,
and writers on the subject agree on this point,
that it never will be eradicated from the system;
but remain in a latent state in the constitution,
till a similar exciting cause again brings it for-
ward in a more fatal form. Two things are
therefore essential with respect to sheep which
have been affected with the rot; the first is, that
on no account should those be put up to breed,
in which the disease has positively appeared;
and the second is, to kill the sheep as soon as
its recovery is so far attained, as to be in a. fit
state for food.
Dr. Harrison, a well-known writer on cattle
medicine, has given to the world a description of
the rot, so accurate, that nothing can be added
to it. He says —
" When in warm, sultry, and rainy weather,
sheep that are grazing on low and moist lands
c c
302
THE COMPLETE
feed rapidlvj and some of them die suddenly,
there is reason to fear they have contracted the
Rot.
" This suspicion will be further increased, if,
a few weeks afterwards, the sheep begin to
shrink, and become flaccid in their loins. By
pressure about the hips, at this time, a crackling
is perceptible; now, or soon afterwards, the
countenance looks pale, and upon parting the
fleece, the skin is found to have changed its
vermillion tint for a pale red, and the wool is
easily separated from the pelt (skin).
" As the disorder advances, the skin becomes
dappled with yellow or black spots. About this
time, the eyes lose their lustre, and become white
and pearly. To this succeed debility and ema-
ciation, which increase continually until the
sheep die: or else, ascites, and perhaps general
dropsy, supervenes before the fatal termination.
" These symptoms are rendered more severe
by an obstinate purging, which comes on at an
uncertain period of the disorder. In the pro-
gress of the complaint, sheep become what the
graziers call checkered, that is, affected with a
swelling under the chin, which proceeds from a
fluid in the cellular membrane under the throat.
CATTLE-KEEPER.
303
" In live or six days after contracting the rot,
the thin edge of the small lobe of the liver be-
comes of a transparent white, or blueish colour,
and this spreads along the upper and lower sides,
according to the severity of the complaint. In
severe cases, the whole peritonaeum investing
the liver is diseased, and then it commonly as-
sumes an opaque colour, interspersed with red
dark lines or patches.
" When the first stage of the disease is over,
flukes begin to appear in and about the common
duct of the liver, and in the gall-bladder. At
first, their number is small; but as the disease
advances, they increase; and, before death, be-
come very numerous. In the last stage of the
disease they are often to be found in the sto-
mach, as well as in the bowels and liver, and
may produce either inflammation, or dropsy; or
both these disorders. It sometimes goes off, on
change of pasture, and sometimes terminates in
abscess, or in hard indolent tumours.
" When rot produces abscesses in the liver,
or lungs, the animal generally lingers for some
time; and at last dies of consumption. The
most common termination of this disease, is in
schirri, or, what shepherds call, knots in the
304
THJE COMPLETE
liver; and the first attack is, unfortunately, so
very insidious, that the disorder is scarcely ob-
servable before the animal begins to waste and
lose flesh."
Remedy. — Clater, the author of a work on
cattle medicine, gives the following remedy, and
directions for subduing and arresting the pro-
gress of this fatal disease; he says, farmers,
whose lands lie in a low situation, and whose
flocks are subject to this disease, will find the
recipe of infinite value:
RECIPE No. 103.
Nitre, in powder, six ounces;
Ginger, fresh powdered, four ounces;
Colcothar of vitriol, fine powder, two ounces;
Common salt, three pounds and a half;
Boiling water, three gallons.
Pour the water hot upon the ingredients. — Stir them,
and when new -milk warm, divide it into bottles, each
holding more than one quart, a quart of the mixture
being the quantity to be put into each bottle; to
each of which bottles must now be added, three
ounces of spirit of turpentine.
It must always be well shaken when given to
the sheep.
CATTLE-KEEPER.
305
To administer it with proper effect, the fol-
lowing directions must be strictly attended to:
Keep the infected sheep from food all night;
on the following morning give to each sheep
two ounces, or two table-spoonsful of the above
mixture ; remembering first to shake the bottle well
the moment before pouring it out. To those
which are weak and much reduced by the di-
sease, one half, or three parts out of four may be
sufficient for a dose. Keep them from food three
hours after giving the medicine, and then turn
them into a dry pasture.
It will be necessary to repeat the medicine
every fourth day for three times, observing the
same rules. But where only half the quantity
has been given, it will be proper to repeat it
every second or third day for six times.
Every shepherd should be provided with a
small horn, containing a proper dose : this will
save considerable time and trouble, particularly
when it is necessary to give the drink to a num-
ber of sheep at the same time.
Sheep take salt readily, and if a little was
occasionally given them, or mixed with their
food, it would perhaps tend greatly to prevent
c c 3
306
THE COMPLETE
the visitation or recurrence of this disease ; but
a greater source of prevention will be found in
keeping sheep in more elevated situations, where
the bite is not so luxuriant, but where there is
ample food for all the sheep disposed to search
for it, and in not exposing them too much in
very damp cold weather to the influence of the
atmosphere. — The draining of land, now be-
come so universal, has in this respect done much
towards eradicating this pestilential disease ; and
conduces materially to the preservation of the •
health of sheep, as well as of every other kind
of animal.
The following recipe will be found very use-
ful in cases of rot.
RECIPE No. 104.
Tar, four ounces ;
Oil of turpentine, four ounces;
Salad oil, one pint:
This may be given in the same manner, and
the animal should be treated in the way as is di-
rected for administering recipe No. 103.
The Scab, or Kay.
This disease is very common in several parts
of the kingdom, particularly in Nottinghamshire,
CATTLE-KEEPER.
307
and is very contagious ; for if one sheep be in-
fected, it will quickly communicate to the rest
of the flock, and it takes considerable trouble to
eradicate it. A cautious attention should there-
fore be used in introducing fresh sheep into the
flock, lest any of them should be infected with
this pestiferous complaint.
Symptoms. — The scab is well known, and the
symptoms so decisive, as to be very readily told.
It is first discovered by the animals rubbing
themselves against every post, gate, bank, or
other similar place, and they are frequently seen
to pull the wool off with their mouths.
The scab is a disease which at first only affects
the skin with a scabby eruption; it is, how-
ever, necessary to remove it, or the system will
become affected, and, unless care be taken, the
sheep will fall a victim.
Remedy. — The following ointment is confi-
dently recommended as being very superior to
tobacco-water, or any of the usual washes, par-
ticularly as it not only cures the disorder, but
also promotes the health of the animal, and
encourages the free growth of the wool.
308
THE COMPLETE
RECIPE No. 105.
Mercury (or quicksilver),
Venice turpentine,
Spirit of turpentine,
four ounces ;
two ounces ;
half an ounce ;
Work them well together in a marble mortar, until
the mercury is thoroughly incorporated, which may
be complete in about five or six hours ; then take
two pounds and a quarter of hog's lard, melt it over
a slow fire, and when new milk warm, add it to
quicksilver, and keep it constantly stirring until it
grows stiff.
It may appear to many, that the labour of pre-
paring this ointment is very considerable, but it
is essential, as the good effects expected by its
application wholly depend on the perfect unison
of the quicksilver with the other ingredients.
It is necessary to be very cautious in using
this ointment, as a want of the proper know-
ledge of administering it may place the life of
the animal in danger. — One pound is sufficient
to dress seven sheep; and, if but slightly in-
fected, it will suffice for ten.
The ointment should be of a moderate con-
sistency, so as to spread freely; if too stiff, it
will be difficult to rub it on the part affected ; if
CATTLE- KEEPER.
309
too thin, it will run, and not do the service in-
tended. This may be regulated by the following
means : if in summer, leave out half a pound of
the lard, and substitute the same quantity of
black resin ; dissolve it in the lard, and add it
to the mercury : this will stiffen it to the requi-
site consistency.
In using this ointment, divide the wool on the
back from the head to the tail, so as to expose
the skin ; then rub a small quantity of the oint-
ment upon the skin, from head to tail ; now di-
vide the wool on each side, and rub the remain-
ing portion of the ointment well in. If the
shoulders or thighs of the sheep be affected,
they should be particularly attended to, and well
rubbed in.
The most proper time for dressing sheep in
this manner, is about Michaelmas, or any time
in October, preferring dry weather for the pur-
pose; they should not be dressed too early in the
spring, when they have been neglected in au-
tumn, but should first be allowed to gather a lit-
tle strength.
Sheep Lice and Ticks.
When sheep are not in a thriving state, or are
310
THE COMPLETE
kept in poor condition, they are then very liable
to these vermin : they are of great detriment to
the sheep, preventing them from thriving, and
cause them to injure their fleeces, by rubbing
their wool off against fences, or tearing it off
with their mouths.
Remedy. — The recipe No. 105, for the mercu-
rial ointment, is the best that can be prescribed
for this filthy pest ; as it not only effectually kills
the vermin ; but it also enters into the system,
and purifies the blood. One pound of ointment
is sufficient for ten sheep.
To prevent the Fly.
In warm, summer weather, sheep are often
sadly teazed with flies; and their annoyance
gives them so much trouble, at times, as to
cause them to run against hedges or into ditches,
or dykes, and injure their condition, by pre-
venting them feeding when they ought to make
good progress.
Many remedies for the prevention of this an-
noyance have been recommended; and as far as it
is practicable for any one to be successful, the
following may be depended upon :
CATTLE-KEEPER.
311
RECIPE No. 106.
White lead, in fine powder, eight ounces ;
Flowers of sulpher ditto, eight ounces ;
White arsenic, ditto, eight ounces :
Mix them well together, in a marble mortar for use.
This quantity of powder will be sufficient for
a flock of thirty sheep. To ascertain the proper
quantity of each, divide it into equal parts, and
paper each by itself ; by which means you will
apportion a proper share to each sheep.
In using it, let one person take hold of the
sheep by the head, and another have a packet of
the above powders, put into a pepper-box, held
in the right hand, with a stick in the left. Draw
the stick gently from head to tail, and with the
other hand dust on the powders close after the
stick. The use of the stick in this application
is that it presses down the wool while the pow-
ders are dusted on, and as the wool rises, it shakes
and spreads the powders. Then sprinkle a small
quantity of water from head to tail, and draw
the stick backwards and forwards two or three
times, to make the powder adhere to the wool.
To those who object to the use of arsenic, the
following will be equally serviceable, but it will
312
THE COMPLETE
require at least double the quantity to effect the
same purpose: —
RECIPE No. 107.
White lead, in fine powder, eight ounces ;
Flowers of sulphur, ditto, eight ounces ;
White hellebore, ditto, eight ounces;
Mix these well together in a marble mortar, then add
a quarter of an ounce of the essential oil of worm-
wood, and rub it well on the powders.
Sore Heads.
Sheep that run in lanes or woody districts,
particularly in summer, are very liable to sore
heads, through striking or rubbing them either
against any butting object, or with their hinder
feet, when pestered by the flies ; a wound is
thus made, which being aggravated by the same
cause which produced it, soon becomes danger-
ous, unless a remedy be applied.
Oil of hartshorn, oil of coal, spirits of tar,
and many other similar things, have been used,
and with various success. — Preparations of tar
have been found useful. — The following ointment,
will be found in all cases to produce the desired
cure : —
CATTLE-KEEPER.
313
RECIPE No. 108.
Black pitch, one pound;
'^ ar ' eight ounces ;
Black brimstone, or native sulphur, in 1 . ,
- . , > eight ounces :
fine powder J
Put these ingredients in an iron pot ; just give thein a
a boil over a slow fire, and as soon as the sulphur
begins to unite with the rest of the ingredients, in-
stantly take the whole off the fire, or it will swell, and
run over into the flames.
There are two ways of applying this ointment,
or plaister, either of which will produce the
desired result: — the first way, is, perhaps, the
best.
Procure, or make of any kind of soft leather,
or of strong brown paper, caps of proper shape
for laying on the head of the sheep, a cap for
each sheep. When the ointment is melted,
spread it thickly with a small paint-brush on the
cap, and apply it to the head. Evening is the
best time to do this, as there is then less chance
of knocking them off ; and, by the morning, the
caps are generally set fast on the head.
Or, — having melted the , ointment, and taken
it from the fire, stir it about till new milk
Dd
314
THE COMPLETE
warm, then spread it on the sore part of the
head, either with a wooden spoon, or a spatu-
la; and immediately apply a little short wool
upon it, in the same manner as when a charge is
applied to any part about a horse.
In very hot weather, this ointment is apt to
be too thin to adhere to the wound : in this case
about four or six ounces of black resin added
to the other ingredients, will give it the desired
consistency.
Maggots.
Sheep, in summer, are mostly subject to
these vermin; most shepherds understand the
symptoms which take place when the fly has
struck the sheep; but as our book is equally
intended for the information of those who do
not, as for those who do, we shall give the
symptoms in this case as well as in all others.
Symptoms. — As soon as the maggots make
their appearance on any part of a sheep's body,
the wool on that part becomes moist, or wet;
the sheep holds down its head, shakes its tail,
and runs about from place to place; and if per-
mitted to continue a few days in this state,
CATTLE-KEEPER.
315
must unavoidably fall a victim to these kind of
vermin.
Remedy. — The mercurial ointment, No. 105,
page 308, may be used generally with good ef-
fect for the maggot ; but the following mixture
will be found good even in the worst of cases,
while in point of cheapness it is decidedly pre-
ferable to all others : —
RECIPE No. 109.
Mercurial sublimate, in powder, one ounce ;
Spirit of sea-salt, one ounce ;
Boiling water, three quarts :
Mix these together in a stone bottle; and, when cold,
add spirit of turpentine, one pint :
Mix, and they are ready for use. Shake it well
every time this mitcture is used.
The best method of using this mixture is as
follows : shake the bottle well, and instantly fill
a quart wine bottle with it, before the turpen-
tine can separate from the other ingredients;
cork the bottle up, make a hole through the
middle of the cork, and through the hole pass a
goose-quill open at both ends. — By this simple
contrivance, you may at any time force out a
316
THE COMPLETE
any time force out a sufficient quantity on the
affected part, without waste. — If an ounce of
assafostida be put into the quart bottle with the
mixture, it will prove the means of preventing
the fly from again striking the same part.
The Foot-Halt and Foot-Rot,
Have by many persons been considered as
two separate diseases ; but are, in fact, the two
stages of the same disorder, the foot-halt being
the first stage; and the foot-rot, the second, or
confirmed stage. It is discovered by the animal
walking lame, and must be soon relieved, or its
cure becomes a slow and tedious process.
Remedy. — Let the infected sheep be taken
from the pasture, and put into a dry fold- yard,
after it has stood here about one hour, take a
brush, similar to that used for cleaning teeth,
and brush all the dirt from between the claws;
then dip a wooden skewer into butter of anti-
mony, oil of vitriol, aquafortis, or spirits of
salt, and with either of these anoint the di-
seased part all over ; and let them stand dry for
one hour. If properly done, and taken in good
time, one dressing will generally be found suffi-
CATTLE KEEPER.
317
cient. — Butter of antimony is the most power-
ful of these ingredients, and seems to have the
best effect in the greatest number of cases. A
second dressing is rarely required, except proud
flesh has formed ; in which case the wound must
be dressed every third day, till healed.
If the disease be not checked by these means,
but gets evidently worse, and large excrescences,
or superfluous flesh, grow out betwixt the
claws, the proper way then to proceed will be
to cut it out with a sharp knife, taking care to
cut out only the superfluous parts. The operator
before he begins must be provided with the fol-
lowing essentials, viz. — pledgets of tow, old
linen, a piece of tape, and the following pow-
ders.
RECIPE No. 110„
Blue vitriol, in fine powder, half an ounce ;
White vitriol, ditto, half an ounce ;
Alum, ditto, half an ounce ;
Bole armoniac, ditto, half an ounce :
Mix them together, and they are ready for use,
Dress the wound or place whence the proud
flesh was taken, with the above powders, by co-
vexing it quite thick therewith ; secure them on
d d 3
318
THE COMPLETE
properly with the tow, old linen, and tape.
This will stop the bleeding, and prevent the
proud flesh rising. This dressing should be re-
peated every other day for three or four times.
Before either a dressing or operation is per-
formed, always cleanse the foot free from dirt.
W outlets.
Sheep are occasionally wounded, though not
so often so as are neat cattle; dogs worry them,
particularly in the vicinity of large towns. The
following mixture should be kept ready made; it
will be found very serviceable in all such cases ;
and is particularly useful for ewes that may be
torn or hurt during the yeaning season. It is
also proper for all kinds of bruises in horses and
neat cattle. The parts affected should be well
rubbed once a day, taking care to cleanse them
from all impurities before the mixture is applied.
RECIPE No. HI.
Linseed oil, one pint ;
Oil of vitriol, two ounces;
Spirits of turpentine, four ounces;
Oil of origanum, one ounce,
Compound tincture of myrrh, four ounces :
This mixture must be carefully made as follows :
CATTLE" KEEPER.
319
First, put about one-fourth of the linseed oil in a
glazed pipkin, and add to it by degrees, keeping it con-
stantly stirred till mixed, the oil of vitriol : then add by
a little at a time, still keeping it stirred, the spirits of
turpentine, and afterwards the remainder of the linseed
oil : lastly, add the origanam and tincture ; mix well,
bottle it, and it is ready for use.
It is a valuable mixture, and will effectually
prevent gangrene, or put a stop to mortification.
Diseased Eyes, or Blindness.
Whole flocks are sometimes affected in the
eyes,— the disease may therefore, in some mea-
sure, be considered as an epidemic: it is, how-
ever, brought on by fatigue and subsequent
exposure in a damp or bleak situation. It pre-
vails mostly in the north of England ; and gene-
rally first attacks those in the best condition.
The principal inducing cause, or that which may
be said to predispose the animal to the complaint,
is a redundancy of blood in the system generally,
but particularly so in the head.
Cure. — Bleed below the eye, and then give the
following purgative drink :
320
THE COMPLETE
RECIPE No. 112.
Epsom salts, two ounces;
Ginger, powdered, one large tea-spoonful;
Treacle, one large table-spoonful;
Pour a quarter of a pint of boiling water upon these
ingredients in a pitcher; stir the whole well toge-
ther, and give it when new-milk warm.
This, by removing the cause of the disease,
will very soon cure the eye itself: as, however,
a considerable degree of inflammation sometimes
affects the eyes, the following powders will be
found useful.
RECIPE No. 113.
Sal-ammoniac, powdered, two drams;
Lump sugar, ditto, two drams;
Lapis calaminaris, ditto, two drams.
Mix them well together, and put them in a bottle, which
keep closely corked for use.
There are several ways of applying these pow-
ders, but either will answer: some put a small
quantity on a sixpence; and while another holds
the eye open, the powders are gently blown in,
and the head held for a minute or two. Others
CATTLJB-KEEPEU.
321
mix four ounces of rose-water with the powders,
and pour a small quantity into each eye; while
others mix them with honey of roses, and with
a feather anoint the eye therewith.
Debility and Indigestion.
From several causes, as over-driving, worrying
by dogs, or overloading their stomachs, sheep
are, in summer, frequently attacked with the
primary symptoms of inflammation, debility
and indigestion: if the attack be that of debility
merely, the following, being a warm and stimu-
lating medicine, will restore nature to the exer-
cise of her proper functions: but if indigestion
accompany it, and particularly if inflammatory
symptoms appear, bleeding must be had recourse
to, in addition to the following draught.
RECIPE No. 114.
Aniseeds, fresh powdered, one dram ;
Carraway-seeds, ditto, one dram;
Peruvian bark, ditto, half a dram;
Ginger, ditto, half a dram;
Treacle, (or sugar) half a table-spoonful ;
Gin, one table-spoonful.
Mix, and give it in a little warm water.
Repeat it, if necessary, even twice in a day.
322
THE COMPLETE
Inflammation.
When from either of the causes mentioned in
the previous disease, inflammation either of the
heart, the lungs, or the intestines, has actually
taken place, as will often be the case when the
animal is fat and driven a considerable distance,
a more active medicine should be applied to, and
the sheep should be plentifully bled in the neck,
or below or above the eye, as may be most likely
to touch the seat of the disease; afterwards, the
draught No. 112 should be given, and repeated
the next day, if necessary.
Diarrhwa, or Scouring.
This disease often attacks sheep in the spring
season, and proceeds from eating the rich young
springing grass, when perhaps they have been
scantily, and even badly kept during the winter.
When this is the case, remove those into a bare
pasture, and bring them by degrees to the better.
This generally cures the disorder; but to accele-
rate the recovery of the animal, give it the fol-
lowing mixture daily, for one or two successive
days.
CATTLE-KEEPER.
323
RECIPE No. 115.
Peruvian bark, in powder,
Root of ginger, ditto,
Prepared chalk, ditto,
Brandy, (or gin)
one dram ;
one dram ;
one dram:
one tablespoonful :
Mix, and give it in a little warm gruel; and, if the dis-
ease be very severe, add a teaspoonful of tincture
of opium.
Ewes at the time of yeaning are very subject
to this complaint, which is the same as the
downfal among the cows : being kept too well
before the time, will often induce an inflamma-
tory state of the udder: if cold be then taken,
one or more quarters of the udder becomes
swollen and tender, and the milk is then curdled
and diminished in quantity.
At the time of yeaning, ewes should have
their udders carefully examined; if the milk
pass freely on pressure of the finger and thumb,
all is safe; but if the udder be sore and tumified,
and the milk altered in colour and smell, there is
danger: the inflammation must be speedily re-
duced, or the affected quarter will be lost.
Inflammation in the Udder of Ewes.
324
COMPLETE CATTLE-KEEPER.
Remedy. — First take about a pint of blood
away from the ewe, and give her the draught
No. 112; then draw away all the milk you can,
rub the parts affected well two or three times a
day with the following oil: —
RECIPE No. 116.
Linseed oil, four ounces ;
Spirits of turpentine, % half an ounce;
Spirits of sal-ammoniac, one ounce :
Mix them in a bottle for use.
If, however, the tumefaction should increase,
and suppuration ensue, it will be necessary to
open the part with a lancet, — and dress the
wound with the ointment No. 77 j but this
should only be done by some persons well ac-
quainted with the process ; or the most danger-
ous results may occur.
APPENDIX.
In the foregoing pages, we have so largely-
treated on the choice and management of neat
cattle and sheep, and so fully described the
causes and symptoms of the disorders to which
those animals are subject, that but little remains
to be noticed in the Appendix. There are, how-
ever, some few instruments, used in several of
the operations recommended, which require, to
be more fully described, as do also the method
of performing one or two of the operations
themselves. — We shall therefore proceed to no
tice these ; and, first,
How to set a Seton.
Having prepared your seton, by plaiting tow
and horse-hair together, or tow only, to the
thickness of your little finger, and about a foot
in length, dip it into the following ointment:
RECIPE No. 117.
Hog's lard, four ounces ;
Turpentine, one gill;
Melt the lard, pour the turpentine to it while in a fluid
state, and use it before it is cold.
Be
326
APPENDIX.
Let an assistant hold the animal while you
plunge the seton-needle, with the cord affixed to
it, into the upper edge of the brisket, or dewlap;
bring it out again at its lower edge, leaving a
space between the two openings of about five to
seven inches asunder. Fasten a small piece of
wood to each end of the cord, to prevent the
seton from dropping out.
In a few days, matter will begin to run ; the
cord must then be drawn backwards and for-
wards three or four times every second or third
day, and again moistened with the mixture, No.
117. The parts will thus be irritated, and the
discharge encouraged. The seton may he re-
moved when the disease is subdued; but if set
to prevent the black-leg, or hoose in calves, it
may be suffered to remain till it rots.
Setoning is useful as a prevention of disease,
particularly in the above two complaints : it is
also productive of good effect in the joint-evil,
as well as in most inflammatory complaints ; its
action diverting the increased determination of
blood to the affected parts.
The animal should be sheltered from all cold
winds, or damp weather, while under the effects
of this operation.
APPENDIX.
327
To set a Rowel.
Rowels are set for similar purposes as setons,
and are preferred by some farmers, as being con-
venient to apply to almost any part of the animal,
so as, in some complaints, to touch more readily
the seat of disease ; while the seton must from
its nature be confined to the dewlap.
With very sharp scissors, a sharp knife, or a
lancet, make an incision through the skin of the
animal; then introduce the finger and separate
the skin from the flesh all round, as far as the
finger will reach. A piece of leather, of the size
of a crown-piece, with a hole in the middle,
should then be inserted between the skin and
the flesh, having first been dipped in the follow-
ing stimulating ointment:
RECIPE No. 118,
Corrosive sublimate, one fourth of a dram ;
Spirits of wine, one ounce ;
Put a small piece of 'tow spread with this same oint-
ment over the hole in the centre of the leather; lay
the skin over all, and cover the part with a pledget
of tow, also covered with ointment, to keep out the
external air.
328
APPENDIX.
The parts around the rowel will, in two or
three days, swell, at which time a yellowish dis-
charge will appear, and gradually become thicker
and whiter. At the end of the third day, it must
be examined, and the plug removed from the
centre hole, to allow the matter to flow freely.
The rowel is now complete, and may be con-
tinued as long as necessary.
In cases of extreme debility, rowels should be
avoided; they are most useful in inflammatory
affections, particularly of the external parts, in
swellings of the limbs, and in strains of the
shoulders.
Bleeding.
Bleeding is so generally useful, particularly in
diseases resulting from overflow of blood and
inflammatory attacks, that no person engaged in
the care of cattle of any kind, should be ignorant
of the method of performing this useful operation,
or ever in want of the proper instruments ; it
being often necessary to apply to this at the in-
stant when other remedies are not at hand.
The annexed plate (plate iv.) representing the
situation of the veins in the cheek most proper
for bleeding, cannot fail to be useful.
APPENDIX.
329
Explanation of the Plate.
1, The vein coming from below the under -jaw, at
2, and spreading its branches on the soft part of the
cheek.
3, A small nerve, which runs in an opposite direction,
and crosses over the vein ; and care must be taken
in the operation of bleeding, that this nerve be
not divided. Below this nerve, a thick fleshy-
muscle is seen, which has the principal share in
moving the jaw during feeding.
4, Another muscle, much thinner than the former,
beneath which the branches of the vein of the
cheek pass; it goes to the corner of the mouth,
and assists in the motion of the lips.
The vein should be opened, in the operation of bleed-
ing, at the part where it is largest, and nearest the
surface, and where there is least risk of injuring any
surrounding part. The place marked 1 will generally
be found to answer best.
The vein may be felt distinctly coming from
the branches of the trunk, and passing over the
edge of the lower jaw to the cheek, about oppo-
site to the third of the grinding teeth.— When
the operation is to be performed, the left hand
of the operator should be placed under the head
b e 3
330
APPENDIX.
of the animal, and the under jaw grasped in such
a manner, that the fingers come upon the right
side of the jaw, so as to press upon the vein, a
little below where it is intended to be opened.
By thus pressing on the vein, the flow of blood
is prevented beyond the place where the pressure
is applied: the blood, consequently, can now
find no other course than the artificial opening
about to be made. The operator opens the vein
with his lancet, by making a slanting incision
thus / , across it, at the place where the trunk
of the vein is largest, and where it is most dis-
tinctly felt through the skin. While introducing
the instrument, be careful to keep the vein from
rolling under the skin, and escaping from the
point: this is best accomplished by making the
incision close to the point of the finger which
presses upon the vein.
In plate 6, fig. 7 represents a phleme, or lancet
of the proper kind for bleeding cattle.
The Probang.
This valuable instrument was invented by the
late celebrated Dr. Munro, for the purpose of
relieving blown or hoven cattle, from the con-
fined air, which is now known to be the cause
APPENDIX.
331
of the swelling which is a consequence and
evidence of the disease itself. The doctor had
observed how subject neat cattle and sheep were
to be blown, or blasted, by feeding on luxuriant
crops, particularly where the animal had broken
or strayed into a field of vetches, clover, or arti-
ficial grasses; and he observed that the common
method of stabbing the blown animal in the
side, was productive of serious injury in after
cases of the kind*. To obviate this inconveni-
ence, the. doctor introduced this simple instru-
ment, which he had the satisfaction to find com-
pletely answered the purpose intended.
Description and Use of the Prohang.
This instrument is a flexible tube: the one
used for neat cattle, is five feet long, and half an
inch in diameter; that for sheep is, of course,
proportionably smaller. It answers a double
purpose: 1st, for removing the confined air in
the stomach of the blown beast; and 2ndly, by
acting as a probang to remove any stoppage in
the throat, which frequently occurs to cattle by
taking roots for food, as turnips, &c.
See hoven, blast, or blown, page 188.
332
APPENDIX.
The manner of administering this useful in-
strument is plainly shewn in the annexed plate,
(plate v) and in plate vi, the construction of the
Probang is minutely explained.
The end marked c, is that which passes to the
stomach, to relieve the blown animal; the end
marked b, is the end which is inserted to remove
any obstruction, or lump of food in the throat.
The whalebone probe keeps it sufficiently firm
to enable the operator to proceed with the great-
est east.
Explanation of Plate vi.
Fig. 1 . a, the flexible tube made with leather,
b, a hollow horn ball, through which the
air escapes.
c, the end which passes to the stomach.
d, d, a two -inch horn runner, put on the
whalebone probe, to prevent it going
beyond the end of the tube, when it is
not required to do so.
e, the handle of the whalebone tube.
Fig. 2. The whalebone probe, with runner upon it.
Fig. 3 and 4. The ends of the tube enlarged.
Fig. 5. The gag, or mouth-piece. This is a piece
of wood, with a hole in it large enough to admit
the tube, and which keeps it from being bitten; to
APPENDIX.
333
the ends of which is fastened a strap, which buckles
behind the horns of the animal.
Kg. 6. Is an improved instrument, termed a trochar,
with a silver canilla, useful for piercing the sides of
blown or hoven cattle, when the animal is so furiou3
that the probang cannot be used. This instrument
is thrust into the sides of the animal, as you see
it in fig. 6, marked a, and supersedes the more dan-
gerous use of the knife. In drawing out the handle,
you leave the silver canilla, marked b, in the side
of the beast, through which the confined air rushes,
and gives instant ease. That marked c, is the
trochar, (which has a triangular point), without the
canilla. That part of the side of the animal into
which this instrument should be plunged, will be
found described in the latter part of page 188.
Fig. 8, represents a drenching horn, very useful for
administering medicine. There should be two sizes
of this hom, the larger for neat cattle, the smaller
for sheep.
The whole of the above instruments, together with
all other articles used in cattle farriery, are manufac-
tured and sold by Mr. Long, veterinary instrument
maker to his Majesty, the Veterinary College, and the
Army; 217, High Holborn, opposite Southampton-
street, Bloomsbury, London. — Who kindly furnished
the designs from which the above articles were copied.
334
APPENDIX.
Tenting Sheep, or Shelter.
It has been previously stated in our foregoing
remarks, that exposure to the damp is alone
the source of half the diseases to which neat
cattle and sheep are. subject: this is more par-
ticularly the case in snowy weather. A heavy
rain may fall; but this must of necessity drain
off; while snow, on the contrary, may remain
on the land several days, and even weeks. In a -
great or continued fall of snow, sheep may be
lost, particularly in a drift; and before it can be
removed, the animals may have perished from
Avant of sustenance.
It is very easy to remedy this serious incon-
venience, and remove the cause of disease so
consequent thereon. For this purpose, shelter
must be afforded, — not confinement; particularly
with regard to sheep, it being the very nature
of these animals to rove unconfined, and be at
complete liberty. For the larger animals, cattle
sheds, or out-houses, are most useful, to which
they can retreat at night, or in rainy or snowy
weather; but, for sheep, these are inconveniently
large, and unnecessarily expensive.
We shall describe two or three sorts of this
AFPNDIX.
335
artificial shelter for sheep, merely recommending
to the sheep-breeder the adoption of some plan
of the kind, if he have any wish to rear them
healthily through the winter.
For the first of these plans, we will refer to
plate I.— A few poles are driven into the earth
at equal distances, so as to form an oblong
enclosure. Over these, a tarpaulin, or rick-
cloth is to be stretched; which should, at the
north side, descend to the bottom, also at one
end, if convenient; the other, to face the south,
must of course be left open. Into- this a suffi-
ciency of food should be put, and it will prevent
all chance of the sheep being buried in the snow,
however severe may be the fall.
The second plan is, to construct circular en-
closures, the walls of stones, or turf: if of the
latter, the base should be four feet thick, the top
two feet, and the height six feet. In the middle
of this enclosure, a pole should be erected, about
eight feet in height; and over this a tilt-cloth
may be thrown, fastened by pegs to the outside.'
One or two openings should be left as entrances,
or door-ways, facing the south.
. The third plan is simply to take advantage of
trees already growing, by an extra stake or two
336 APPENDIX.
to form an enclosure somewhat similar to the
first plan.
Whatever may be the plan pursued, food must
be put within the enclosure, and the sheep will
readily take to it, on all occasions, when rain or
snow may fall. Nor need you be afraid that
they will keep within the enclosure too much,
for sheep are too fond of liberty to be confined
when they can at all rove about.
In our description of cow-houses, in the first
portion of the foregoing treatise, we stated that
we should recur to the subject in the Appendix.
Upon more mature consideration, however, we
think that the preceding remarks on shelter, and
the drawings of improved beast houses, are^ll
that is necessary.
It is also stated in our description of the Dutch
and Flemish farms, that the dung-pits are of a
circular form; in our plate representing the same,
(plate III), we have shewn these pits of a square,
or rather, of an oblong form. — We have preferred
the latter form in the plate, as being, in some
respects, most adapted to the English idea of
dung-pits.
FINIS.
Dean and Mundar, Printers, Thrcadnecdlc-strect, London.
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON
THE LIBRARY I.S. FEB. 1962
This book is to be returned to the Library on or before the
4 5„. j ^ ate stam P e d below.
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