Cattle 1853 - Lewis Family Farm

248 CATTLE.
muzzle be a little dry, and the root of the horn hot, and she heaves
(although not much) at the flanks, and, the coat is not so sleek as
usual, and she is a little off her feed, let her be bled. Experience
will teach the farmer that these chest affections, in cattle, often and
speedily assume a highly inflammable character, and that they must
be conquered at the first, or not at all.
To bleeding should succeed a dose of Epsom salts, with half an
ounce of ginger in it, to prevent griping and to promote perspiration,
and to excite the rumen to action ; but no hot, stimulating drinks.
To this should be added warmth, warm mashes, warm drinks, warm
gruels, and a warm but well ventilated cow-house.
Cough and Fever Drink.—Take emetic tartar, one drachm ; powdered
digitalis, half a drachm ; and nitre, three drachms. Mix, and
give in a quart of tolerably thick gruel.
Purging Drink.—Take Epsom salts, one pound powdered cara-
;
way-seeds, half an ounce. Dissolve in a quart of warm gruel, and
give.
It will be proper to house the beast, and especially at night ; and
a mash of scalded bran with a few oats in it, if there be no fever,
should be allowed. It is necessary carefully to watch the animals
that are laboring under this complaint ; and, if the heaving should
continue, or the muzzle again become or continue dry, and the
breath hot, more blood should be taken away, and the purging drink
repeated. At the close of the epidemic catarrh, the animal will
sometimes be left weak and with little appetite. It should be wel.
ascertained whether the fever has quite left the beast, because list-
lessness and disinclination to move, and loss of appetite, and slight
staggering, may result as much from the continuance of fever as
from the debility which it leaves behind. If the muzzle be cool and
moist, and the mouth not hot, and the pulse sunk to nearly its natu-
ral standard, or rather below
drink may be ventured on :
it, and weak and low, the following
Take emetic tartar, half a drachm ; nitre, two drachms ; powdered
gentian root, one drachm ;
powdered chamomile flowers, one drachm
and powdered ginger, half a drachm. Pour upon them a pint of
boiling ale, and give the infusion when nearly cold.
When the beast begins to recover, he should not
any bleak situation, or to much rough weather.
be exposed in
In some years this epidemic disease destroys a great many cattle.
In the winter of 1830, and in the spring of 1831, thousands of
young cattle perished in every part of the country. Some of them
were carefully examined after death, and the membrane lining the
windpipe was'found to be inflamed, and the inflammation extending
down to and involving all the small passages leading to the air-cells
of the lungs, and the passages filled with worms.
There are some substances which arc immediately destructive to
;