No butcher, except he be well acquainted with the treatment of a breeding stock, ought to be a judge of breeding animals. With fat stock one of the judges ought always to be a first-class butcher.
In natural labour the after-birth generally comes away soon after calving. Many remove it immediately; this, however, should never be allowed, as the cow will chew it greedily, and it acts as physic to her. If the after-birth should be retained, as it generally is in cases of premature labour, this need cause little alarm to the owner. I have never seen any danger from allowing it to remain, and I prefer letting it alone, as it will rot away of itself, to the danger of tearing it away; but the cow should be removed from the others. I believe the opinion to be erroneous that there is danger from the after-birth being retained for any moderate length of time; but the womb itself will sometimes follow the calf, and this requires prompt treatment. I have known of its being successfully returned without the aid of the veterinary surgeon, but this should never be attempted by an unpractised hand if you can command the surgeon's attendance. It is a very common occurrence that two or three months before calving the vagina protrudes when the cow is lying: when this occurs she should be kept well up behind, else it may bring on premature calving. When the cow calves the danger is over.
If the calf is to be milked from the hand it should be taken from the cow as soon as it is dropt, and before the mother sees it; if allowed to remain with the cow for some time and then removed, it will be a cause of great irritation to the mother and very prejudicial to her milking. When it is to be suckled, the calf should be left quietly with the cow: and by licking the calf and eating the placenta the cow will be settled, the calf will get to its legs, and all may be expected to be right. A warm drink should be given—cold water must be avoided—and the cow made comfortable. She should be milked out after first suckling, and this will require to be repeated two or three times a-day for a few weeks, until the calf is able, and can with safety be allowed, to take all the milk. In a day or two after the calf is dropt it ought to be muzzled, and allowed a limited time to suckle the mother three times a-day. It must not be allowed a full allowance for the first fourteen days after birth. A confidential servant must remove the muzzle, stand beside the calf until it has taken a safe allowance, and then return the muzzle. When the calf has got the cud, which will be observed about fourteen days after its birth, it will then be safe to remove the muzzle. I muzzle all my calves, to prevent them from eating straw, hair, &c, which they cannot digest, and which accumulate in the stomach and prove the death of the animal. Many thousand calves are lost in this way, the owner never suspecting the cause. If the calf is opened up after death, there will be found in the stomach a large, firm, round ball composed of straw, hair, and other substances, with knots of curdled milk conjoined. After the calf has got the cud, and is fourteen days old, it may be allowed to suck at pleasure. It must be seen, however, that the calf has ability to clean out the udder of the cow; if part of the milk is retained, the cow must be milked by the hand.
Plenty of good milk is the proper foundation to make a good animal; if stinted when a calf, a year's growth is lost. Selling a great deal of butter and rearing a good bullock are incompatible. Many good calves are milked from the pail, and they thrive better after they are weaned; but it will generally be found that the sure way to make first-class calves is to allow them to suckle. There will be many drawbacks at the expense of the calf if it is brought up from the pail; drafts will be required by the housekeeper for milk, butter, and cheese for the family, which cannot be made if the calf is suckled by the mother in the field. The plan adopted by some of giving skimmed milk to the calf cannot be too much reprobated; and to give old milk to a new-dropt calf is perfectly preposterous: it is unnatural, and will probably prove the death of the calf.
The calf should be allowed to suckle or be fed from the pail for six or eight months. It has then strength to stand weaning, and, if properly cared for, will not be checked in its growth, and it will retain the good calf-flesh it has put on. The loss of the calf-flesh cannot be remedied, and great care should be taken to avoid this. If the calf-flesh is lost the animal will be reduced in value, and can never be made to yield first-class meat. Great care, therefore, must be taken by the breeder when his calves are weaned.
To guard against Black-leg, the calves should be immediately corded in the dewlap,[8] and receive, along with other nourishing food, each 1½ lb. of oilcake a-day. This treatment is absolutely necessary during their first winter. The open strawyard for calves is of great importance. If they are kept regularly growing on, black-leg will be prevented. While proper treatment is adopted, there will be little to fear from that dreadful scourge.
I have never lost more than two of my breeding stock from Quarter-ill. There is no question that the cause of this dreadful malady is sudden transition from a restricted diet to a full and nutritious one, from a poor pasture to a rich and luxuriant one, or from a poor pasture in autumn to a full allowance of turnips; the increase of blood on the system is so great that the constitution cannot stand it. I have seen almost every calf on several large farms carried off by black-leg. There is no secret as to its prevention. Keep the young calf gradually growing, never let him want; give 1 to 2 lb. of oilcake a-day; and keep up the irritation by cords with a good hold of the dewlap. After the first winter, black-leg is little to be feared. I have had a case or two in two or three year olds, but it is very uncommon. Prevention is the only safeguard, for I have never seen black-leg cured. To some 1 to 2 lb. of oilcake a-day may look an expense that the calves cannot repay; but if any of my friends will divide a lot of their calves, and give the one lot turnips and straw, and the other turnips, straw, and 1 to 2 lb. of oilcake daily to each calf, if they are dissatisfied with the result on the 1st of May I shall pay the balance. I shall not enter upon the point of the great additional value of the manure, but leave that to the chemist.
I allow my calves to suckle till October, and the late ones two or three months longer. Butter and even corn are but secondary to our cattle, and in these days of progression we must advance with the times or go down.
As to Navel-ill, much has been written on the deadliness of the complaint. I have never had any loss from it. Diarrhœa is a very common complaint with calves, and I have lost one or two by it, but, I believe, owing to carelessness. It will generally yield to a dose or two of castor-oil. The Knee-ill is more to be dreaded. The complaint is worse some seasons than others, and some, under the best treatment, will die. The calf gets down and is unable to rise; on examination it will be found that one or both, generally of the fore-legs, are very much swollen at the joints; the calf is very much pained, especially if moved, and the disease acts very much like rheumatic fever on the human body. I cannot assign any cause for this disease, as I have seen calves seized with it that were kept warm and comfortable. In some cases it may be attributed to some particular atmospheric influence. It is very difficult to remove. The calf will be down for weeks, and in some cases they never get up. Very little can be done for them, and any treatment I have seen adopted is of small value. Rubbing turpentine daily into the swollen joints is useful, but attention to the general health is of the greatest consequence—such as counteracting costiveness in the bowels, &c. I have seen splints of wood introduced, and also tying out the leg with bandages; but I have no great faith in any such treatment. Rubbing daily with turpentine, and attention to the general health, is all I can recommend. Costiveness of the bowels, if not counteracted, may end in serious consequences. I had a case of a calf that got very costive—so bad that it moaned dreadfully from pain. I lost all hope of saving it. I thought of injections, and had them administered repeatedly for hours; to my astonishment the calf recovered and did well. Castor-oil is the safest medicine for calves. Let me here record an observation for which I am indebted to Mr Sorely, late veterinary surgeon, Alford. (While I have seen some with as good hands as Mr Sorely, I have never had the fortune to meet another with as c
lear a head.) The first question he asks when told that a calf is ailing, is, "How old is it?" If the calf is very young, and violently ill of any complaint, the great chance is, that it will not recover; whereas, if it be three weeks, and, still more, two or three months old, the probability is that it will.
As to the castration of calves, it is such a simple process that it is unnecessary to say much on the subject. The only thing I would recommend is, that the breeder, if he does not castrate his calves himself, should not allow the operator to cut away any part of the purse, as it should be recollected a good purse in the London market will be the next criterion to the butcher after the flank, and a good purse is always worth £1 to a bullock in London. If the purse should get much swelled after castration, warm fomentations should be applied two or three times a-day, or even a poultice if the case be very bad. If there is an accumulation of pus, it may be necessary to puncture the purse, and the animal will soon be relieved.
Rheumatism, I have no doubt, is hereditary. I have seen it in the fourth generation; little, if anything, can be done for it. At certain seasons of the year it will appear, and wear off again. Howk is perhaps the complaint to which my cattle are most liable. I have repeated cases of it every year. The animal is observed to be stiff and staring in his coat, eats little, and, as the disease advances, retires from the rest of herd. When taken up, his skin along the back will be found adhering to the flesh, and if pressed on the spine he will nearly crouch to the ground. If a hold is taken of the skin—which is very difficult to accomplish—and it is lifted from the flesh, when let go it will give a crack similar to the sound that follows when you give a knock to the common corn-basket. This is a never-failing symptom. I treat the complaint very successfully with doses of salts and sulphur. If the animal is taken up in the early stages of the disease, the skin may only be adhering to a part behind the shoulder-blade; but in a day or two the adhesion will be found to extend along the whole of the spine; or, vice versa, it may begin across the kidneys and go forward to the shoulder-blade. I regard indigestion as the cause, and some cattle take it in particular fields worse than others. Diseases of the tongue are rare: I have had some half-dozen cases. A cure is utterly hopeless, and the animal should be sent to the butcher without delay. When examined, the root of the tongue, or one side of it, will be found very much inflamed, and warts will also generally be observed. The animal will be found frothing at the mouth in the field; and if in the stall, a great deal of frothy matter will be seen before him. I never knew one recover, and I have attempted all sorts of treatment.
Foul in the foot is very serious when it gets into a lot of heavy feeding cattle in winter; the loss it entails is sometimes very heavy. It assumes several phases. If there be but a crack between the claws without swelling, it is easily managed. The old plan of taking a hair-rope and drawing it several times through is very good practice, and with a little caustic applied, a cure is soon effected. There is another form of the disease more difficult to treat: there is the great swelling between the claws; it becomes a hard substance and very painful; the animal gets feverish and is scarcely able to rise, and if got up holds out the afflicted leg. He is off his food, and sinks rapidly in condition; and the pain is excruciating. I apply a succession of poultices, and when the lump breaks the danger is over: tow and tar are then applied to the sore, a cotton bandage put on between the claws of sufficient length to secure the application, and the ends made fast by a woollen garter cut from an old stocking. If the disease is neglected the consequences may be fatal; it is worst in winter when cattle are at the feeding-stall. I regard it as infectious. If it get into a byre of weighty fat cattle the loss will be heavy. I have seen a bullock drop in value £3, £4, or even £5; and several animals lost by carelessness. I had a bullock out upon turnips, which had been neglected, and was pronounced by my veterinary surgeon incurable.
As to Foot-and-mouth disease, it is a light matter among stirks and lean cattle—they will be little if any the worse of it; but it is very serious amongst heavy feeding cattle and milch cows. If fat cattle are attacked, they should have their turnips sliced, with crushed oilcake and meal. There is no treatment of any avail in the fever stages. When the fever is gone, there will be a beast or two out of a lot whose feet will require attention. The horn of the hoof gets loosened from the flesh. The animal may require to be thrown and the dead horn cut away. It must be remembered that it will never attach itself again. The veterinary surgeon should generally perform the operation, unless the owner is skilful himself. Cows require great attention. The disease seats itself in their udders, and unless they are most carefully milked out they may be rendered useless as milkers—losing one, two, or even all the quarters of the udder. The foot-and-mouth disease is very infectious. I recollect having carried it home from a neighbouring farm, by merely handling a bull which was down with the disease. I came straight home and handled the first beast opposite the door in one of my own byres; in three days he was seized with the complaint; and in two or three days thereafter nearly every beast through the steading was down with it. Out of forty fat cattle thirty-eight had it, only two escaping. Upon inquiry I found that one of them had had it before. I lost from £4 to £5 of condition on an average off every one of the thirty-eight. From the same farm and at the same time a veterinary surgeon had been called in. He went straight to another farm six miles distant, and in a few days every animal there was seized with the same complaint. It is the general belief that an animal will not take the foot-and-mouth disease twice. This is a mistake. I have a cow that took it twice, but there were seven years between the attacks.
I have had the Lung disease on two farms; all known treatment is unsatisfactory. I believe, if the attack be violent, no treatment will save the animal. It is sometimes difficult to know it at first. There will generally be a cough, but it is not the clear cough of the animal in health. It is compressed, and the animal coughs unwillingly and with evident pain. The particular cough cannot be mistaken, and the grunt is a never-failing symptom. There is generally one lung more affected than the other. The ear being applied to the chest will discover the impeded circulation. Many cattle take the disease so slightly that it is never discovered. Some have little if any cough, and the pile continues soft and healthy. I recollect a milking cow which I was suspicious had the disease. I made her be run out; there was no acceleration of breathing; her coat was fine, and there was no diminution of the milk; but she gave a grunt which confirmed me in my opinion that she had had a slight touch of the complaint. The grieve, a most intelligent man, was satisfied that the cow was healthy. I fattened her, and for my own information had her slaughtered at home. It was three months after, and the post-mortem examination showed one of the lungs, to the extent of about the size of a crown-piece, adhering to the ribs—a sufficient proof that my conjecture was correct. Many take the disease that are never suspected. I had a bullock showing some symptoms of the disease in a byre amongst ten. The others were, to all appearance, in perfect health. I sent them immediately to London. My salesman was instructed to inspect the carcasses after they were slaughtered, and to report. He did so carefully, and there was not one of the number but had their lungs more or less affected. Mr Collie, Ardgay, Morayshire, had a byre of cattle slaughtered under the same circumstances, and with the very same result. Pleuro-pneumonia is not so infectious as foot-and-mouth disease, but if it get into a farm-steading it is most difficult to get clear of. I have known cattle infected in three days. I had bought a lot of cattle from a farm in Morayshire where the disease has never been up to this hour. It was in the month of April. There were two or three of the lot that I did not think profitable to graze. I tied them in a byre where infected cattle had stood. They were only to be kept a week or two, and I had no idea of danger. One of them took the disease very badly in three days after he was tied up. I have known it lie dormant in the system (as to any visible appearance) for three months and a half. I found the general period of incubation from five to six weeks. I h
ave taken the greatest pains with the byres where the infected cattle stood, having the wood-work taken out, the roofs and greeps carefully scraped and washed with soap and warm water, lime-water, and afterwards with chloride of lime; and yet, after all this labour, I have seen the disease break out again and again. After repeated outbreaks, I not only removed the wood-work, but the whole of the stones in the stalls and greeps, and buried them. I had the roofs and stone mangers, &c., carefully scraped, and washed with soap and warm water, and afterwards with chloride of lime. They were then closely painted, and lastly coal-tarred; but it was only after five or six months' perseverance that I got clear of it. Having heard a report that a cow belonging to my cousin, Mr M‘Combie, editor of the 'Free Press,' was labouring under pleuro-pneumonia, I went to see her. Mr Sorely, veterinary surgeon, was in attendance. As there had been no disease in the neighbourhood for five years, I was unwilling to credit the report. But a more marked case I have never witnessed; and the post-mortem examination showed all the symptoms of the fell disease. Mr Sorely, Mr M‘Combie's overseer, and I, all agreed that as a wood dividing-partition had been allowed to remain since the time of the previous infection, and the cow was seen chewing pieces of the wood that had got rotted at the base, the wood had retained the poison, and the cow had been infected from the chewing of it. The breath is the cause of the infection when cattle are housed together and the disease introduced. It generally attacks the animals standing at the walls first. The breath is driven by different currents through the building to the walls, where it is stopped; it rebounds, and hence the beasts at the walls generally fall the first victims—so, at least, I have found it in my experience. I had forty beasts divided by a stone-and-lime mid-wall to the level of the side-walls; up to the roof there was a strong and close division of wood. Unfortunately there had been a small aperture about two feet square left open. I made an observation to the cattleman that I should not be at all surprised if the disease came from the infected byre through the opening to the byre where the cattle were sound. The first or second day thereafter the animal standing below the aperture was seized, and got down in the disease.
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