Read Ebook: The American Reformed Cattle Doctor Containing the necessary information for preserving the health and curing the diseases of oxen cows sheep and swine with a great variety of original recipes and valuable information in reference to farm and dairy manage by Dadd George H

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PAGE

INTRODUCTION, 9

CATTLE.

Importance of supplying Cattle with pure Water, 15 Remarks on feeding Cattle, 17 The Barn and Feeding Byre, 21 Milking, 24 Knowledge of Agricultural and Animal Chemistry important to Farmers, 25 On Breeding, 30 The Bull, 34 Value of Different Breeds of Cows, 35 Method of preparing Rennet, as practised in England, 36 Making Cheese, 37 Gloucester Cheese, 38 Chester Cheese, 39 Stilton Cheese, 40 Dunlop Cheese, 41 Green Cheese, 42 Making Butter, 44 Washing Butter, 45 Coloring Butter, 46 Description of the Organs of Digestion in Cattle, 47 Respiration and Structure of the Lungs, 53 Circulation of the Blood, 54 The Heart viewed externally, 55 Remarks on Blood-letting, 58 Efforts of Nature to remove Disease, 67 Proverbs of the Veterinary Reformers, 70 An Inquiry concerning the Souls of Brutes, 72 The Reformed Practice--Synoptical View of the Prominent Systems of Medicine, 75 Creed of the Reformers, 79 True Principles, 80 Inflammation, 88 Remarks, showing that very little is known of the Nature and Treatment of Disease, 94 Nature, Treatment, and Causes of Disease in Cattle, 105 Pleuro-Pneumonia, 107 Locked-Jaw, 115 Inflammatory Diseases, 121 Inflammation of the Stomach, 121 Inflammation of the Lungs, 122 Inflammation of the Bowels, 124 Inflammation of the Peritoneal Coat of the Intestines, 125 Inflammation of the Kidneys, 125 Inflammation of the Bladder, 126 Inflammation of the Womb, 126 Inflammation of the Brain, 127 Inflammation of the Eye, 128 Inflammation of the Liver, 128 Jaundice, or Yellows, 130 Diseases of the Mucous Surface, 132 Catarrh, or Hoose, 133 Epidemic Catarrh, 134 Malignant Epidemic, 135 Diarrhoea, 136 Dysentery, 138 Scouring Rot, 139 Disease of the Ear, 140 Serous Membranes, 140 Dropsy, 141 Hoove, or "Blasting," 144 Joint Murrain, 147 Black Quarter, 149 Open Joint, 151 Swellings of Joints, 152 Sprain of the Fetlock, 153 Strain of the Hip, 154 Foul in the Foot, 154 Red Water, 157 Black Water, 160 Thick Urine, 160 Rheumatism, 161 Blain, 162 Thrush, 163 Black Tongue, 163 Inflammation of the Throat and its Appendages, 163 Bronchitis, 164 Inflammation of Glands, 164 Loss of Cud, 166 Colic, 166 Spasmodic Colic, 167 Constipation, 168 Falling down of the Fundament, 171 Calving, 171 Embryotomy, 175 Falling of the Calf-Bed, or Womb, 176 Garget, 177 Sore Teats, 178 Chapped Teats and Chafed Udder, 178 Fever, 178 Milk or Puerperal Fever, 182 Inflammatory Fever, 183 Typhus Fever, 186 Horn Ail in Cattle, 189 Abortion in Cows, 191 Cow-Pox, 194 Mange, 195 Hide-bound, 196 Lice, 196 Importance of keeping the Skin of Animals in a Healthy State, 197 Spaying Cows, 201 Operation of Spaying, 204

SHEEP.

Preliminary Remarks, 209 Staggers, 219 Foot Rot, 220 Rot, 221 Epilepsy, 222 Red Water, 223 Cachexy, or General Debility, 224 Loss of Appetite, 224 Foundering, 224 Ticks, 225 Scab, or Itch, 225 Diarrhoea, 227 Dysentery, 227 Constipation, or Stretches, 228 Scours, 230 Dizziness, 231 Jaundice, 232 Inflammation of the Kidneys, 232 Worms, 233 Diseases of the Stomach from eating Poisonous Plants, 233 Sore Nipples, 234 Fractures, 234 Common Catarrh and Epidemic Influenza, 235 Castrating Lambs, 236 Nature of Sheep, 237 The Ram, 238 Leaping, 239 Argyleshire Breeders, 239 Fattening Sheep, 240 Improvement in Sheep, 244 Description of the Different Breeds of Sheep, 249 Teeswater Breed, 249 Lincolnshire Breed, 250 Dishley Breed, 250 Cotswold Breed, 250 Romney Marsh Breed, 251 Devonshire Breed, 251 Dorsetshire Breed, 251 Wiltshire Breed, 252 South Down Breed, 252 Herdwick Breed, 253 Cheviot Breed, 253 Merino Breed, 253 Welsh Sheep, 254

SWINE.

Preliminary Remarks, 255 Natural History of the Hog, 259 Generalities, 262 General Debility, or Emaciation, 263 Epilepsy, or Fits, 264 Rheumatism, 264 Measles, 265 Ophthalmia, 266 Vermin, 266 Red Eruption, 267 Dropsy, 267 Catarrh, 267 Colic, 268 Diarrhoea, 268 Frenzy, 268 Jaundice, 269 Soreness of the Feet, 269 Spaying, 270 Various Breeds of Swine, 271 Berkshire Breed, 271 Hampshire Breed, 271 Shropshire Breed, 272 Chinese Breed, 272 Boars and Sows for Breeding, 272 Rearing Pigs, 273 Fattening Hogs, 275 Method of Curing Swine's Flesh, 277

On the Action of Medicines, 279 Clysters, 281 Forms of Clysters, 283 Infusions, 286 Antispasmodics, 287 Fomentations, 287 Mucilages, 289 Washes, 289 Physic for Cattle, 290 Mild Physic for Cattle, 291 Poultices, 292 Styptics, to arrest Bleeding, 296 Absorbents, 296 Forms of Absorbents, 297

TREATMENT OF DISEASE IN DOGS--Preliminary Remarks, 323 Distemper, 325 Fits, 326 Worms, 327 Mange, 328 Internal Abscess of the Ear, 329 Ulceration of the Ear, 329 Inflammation of the Bowels, 329 Inflammation of the Bladder, 330 Asthma, 331 Piles, 331 Dropsy, 332 Sore Throat, 332 Sore Ears, 332 Sore Feet, 333 Wounds, 333 Sprains, 333 Scalds, 334 Ophthalmia, 334 Weak Eyes, 335 Fleas and Vermin, 335 Hydrophobia, 335

MALIGNANT MILK SICKNESS of the Western States, or Contagious Typhus, 339

BONE DISORDER IN COWS, 351

INTRODUCTION.

There is no period in the history of the United States when our domestic animals have ranked so high as at the present time; yet there is no subject on which there is such a lamentable want of knowledge as the proper treatment of their diseases.

Governor Briggs, in a recent letter to the author, says, "You have my thanks, and, in my opinion, are entitled to the thanks of the community, for entering upon this important work. While the subject has engaged the attention of scientific men in other countries, it has been too long neglected in our own. Cruelty and ignorance have marked our treatment to diseased animals. Ignorant himself both of the disease and the remedy, the owner has been in the habit of administering the popular remedy of every neighbor who had no better powers of knowing what should be done than himself, until the poor animal, if the disease would not have proved fatal, is left alone, until death, with a friendly hand, puts a period to his sufferings: he is, however, often destroyed by the amount or destructive character of the remedies, or else by the cruel mode of administering them. I am persuaded that the community will approve of your exertions, and find it to their interest to support and sustain your system."

The author has labored for several years to substitute a safer and a more efficient system of medication in the treatment of diseased animals, and at the same time to point out to the American people the great benefits they will derive from the diffusion of veterinary education.

The object of the veterinary art is not only congenial with human medicine, but the very same paths that lead to a knowledge of the diseases of man lead also to a knowledge of those of brutes.

Our domestic animals deserve consideration at our hands. We have tried all manner of experiments on them for the benefit of science; and science and scientific men should do something to repay the debt, by alleviating their sufferings and improving their condition. We are told that physicians of all ages have applied themselves to the dissection of animals, and that it was by analogy that those of Greece and Rome judged of the structure of the human body. For example, the Greeks and Arabians confined themselves to the dissection of apes and other quadrupeds. Galen has given us the anatomy of the ape for that of man; and it is clear that his dissections were restricted to brutes, when he says, that "if learned physicians have been guilty of gross errors, it is because they neglected to dissect animals." We advocate the establishment of veterinary schools, and the cultivation of our reformed system of veterinary medicine, on the broad principles of humanity. These poor animals are as susceptible to pain and suffering as we are. Has not the Almighty given us dominion over them, and placed them under our protection? Have we done our duty by them? Can we render a good account of our stewardship?

In almost every department of science the spirit of inquiry is abroad, investigation is active; yet, in this department, every thing is left to chance and ignorance. Men of all professions find it for their interest to protect property. The merchant, previous to sending his vessel on a voyage to a distant port, seeks out a skilful navigator to pilot that vessel into her desired haven with safety. He protects his property. We protect our property against the ravages of fire by insurance--we defend our houses from the lightning by conducting that fluid down the sides of the building into the earth. And shall we not protect our animals? Is not property invested in live stock as valuable, in proportion, as that invested in real estate? Can we permit live stock to degenerate and die prematurely from a want of knowledge of the fundamental laws of their being? Can we look on and see their heart's blood drawn from them--their flesh setoned, burned, and blistered--simply because it was the misguided custom of our ancestors?

We appeal to the American people at large. They have great encouragement to educate young men in this important branch of study; for the beneficial results will be, that the diseases of all classes of domestic animals will be better understood, and the great losses which this country sustains will, in a few years, be materially diminished. This is not all. The value of live stock will be increased at least twenty-five per cent!

Look for a moment at the amount of capital invested in live stock; and from these statistics the reader will perceive that not only the farmers, but the whole nation, will be enriched. There are in the United States at least 6,000,000 horses and mules; these, at the rate of per head, amount to 0,000,000. It is also estimated that there are 20,000,000 of neat cattle; reckon these at per head, and we get the snug little sum of 0,000,000. We have also 20,000,000 sheep, worth the same number of dollars. The number of swine have been computed at 24,000,000; and these, at per head, give us ,000,000. Hence the reader will see that the capital invested in this class of live stock reaches the enormous sum of 2,000,000. Add the 25 per cent. just alluded to, and we get a clear gain of 3,000,000. This sum would be sufficient to build veterinary schools and colleges capable of affording ample accommodations to every farmer's son in the Union. Hence we entreat the farming community to ponder on these subjects. They have only to say the word, and schools for the dissemination of veterinary information shall spring up in every section of the Union.

To the cattle-rearing interest, at the hands of many of whom the author has received aid and encouragement, the following pages are dedicated; they are intended to furnish them with practical information, with a view of preventing disease, increasing the value of their stock, and restoring them to health when sick.

In reference to our reformed system of veterinary medication, it will be sufficient, in the present place, just to glance at the fundamental principles. In the succeeding pages these principles will be more fully explained. We contemplate the animal system as a complicated piece of mechanism, subject to the uncompromising and immutable laws of nature, as they are written upon the face of animate nature by the finger of Omnipotence.

Our system proposes, under all circumstances, to restore the diseased organs to a healthy state, by co?perating with the vitality remaining in those organs, by the exhibition of sanative means, and, under all circumstances, to assist, and not oppose, nature in her curative processes. Poisonous substances, blood-letting, or processes of cure that act pathologically, cannot be used by us. The laws of animal life are physiological: they never were, nor ever will be, pathological.

The agents we use are just as we find them in the forest and the field, compounded by the Great Physician. Hence the reader will perceive that our aim is to depart from the popular debilitating and life-destroying practice, and approach as near as possible to the sanative.

G. H. D.

THE

AMERICAN

REFORMED CATTLE DOCTOR.

IMPORTANCE OF SUPPLYING CATTLE WITH PURE WATER.

The author's attention was first called to this subject on reading an article in an English work, the substance of which is as follows: A number of working oxen were put into a pasture, in which was a pond, considered to abound in good water. Soon after putting them there, they were attacked with scouring, upon which they were immediately removed to another field. The scouring continued. They still, however, drank at the same pond. They were shifted to another piece of very sweet pasture without arresting the disease. The farmer thought it evident that the pastures were not the cause of the disease; and, contrary to the advice of his friends, who affirmed that the spring was always noticed for the excellence of its water, fenced his pond round, so that the cattle could not drink; they were then driven to a distance and watered. The scouring gradually disappeared. The farmer now proceeded to examine the suspected pond; and, on stirring the water, he found it all alive with small creatures. He now stirred into the water a quantity of lime, and soon after an immense number of animalculae were seen dead on the surface. In a short time, the cattle drank of this water without any injurious results.

All decayed animal and vegetable matter tends to corrupt water, and render it unfit for the purposes of life. Now, if the farmer has the best spring in the world, and the water shall flow from it, as it sometimes does, through whole fields of gutter or dike, abounding in decayed filth, such water will be impregnated with agents that will more or less affect its purity.

REMARKS ON FEEDING CATTLE.

Many of the most complicated diseases of cattle originate from the food: for example, it may be given in too large quantities--more than is needed to build up and repair the waste that is constantly going on. The consequence is, the animals get into a state of plethora, which is known by heaviness, dulness, unwillingness to move; there is a disposition to sleep, and they will lie down and often go to sleep in damp places. A chill of the extremities, or collapse of the capillaries, takes place, resulting in diseases of the lungs and pleura. At other times, if driven a short distance, and made to walk fast, they are liable to disease of the brain and other organs, which frequently terminates fatally.

The food may be of such a nature as shall be very difficult of digestion, such as cornstalks, foxgrass, frosted turnips, &c. The clover and grasses may abound in woody fibre, in consequence of being cut too late; they will then require more than the usual amount of gastric fluids to insalivate them, and more time to masticate, and, finally, extract their nutrimental properties. The stomach becomes overworked, producing sympathetic diseases of the brain and nervous structures. The stomach not being able to act on fibrous matter with the same despatch as on softer materials, the former accumulates in its different compartments, distends the viscera, interferes with the motion of the diaphragm, presses on the liver, seriously interfering with the bile-secreting process. In order to prevent the grass and clover from becoming tough and fibrous, it should be mowed early, and while in flower, and should be afterwards almost constantly attended to, if the weather is favorable; the more it is scattered about, the better will it be made, and the more effectually will its fragrance and other good qualities be preserved.

The food may also be deficient in nutriment. The effects of insufficient food are too well known to need much description: debility includes them all; it invades every function of the animal economy. And as life is the sum of the powers that resist disease, if disease is only the instrument of death, it follows, of course, that whatever enfeebles life, or, in other words, produces debility, must predispose to disease.

Many cattle, during the winter, live on bad hay, which does not appear to contain any of that saccharine and mucilaginous matter which is found in good hay. When the spring comes, they are turned out to grass, and thus regain their flesh. Many, however, die in consequence of the sudden change.

It has been satisfactorily proved that fat cattle, of the best quality, may be produced by feeding them on boiled food.

Dr. Whitlaw says, "On one occasion, a number of cows were selected from a large stock, for the express purpose of making the trial: they were such as appeared to be of the best kind, and those that gave the richest milk. In order to ascertain what particular food would produce the best milk, different species of grass and clover were tried separately, and the quality and flavor of the butter were found to vary very much. But what was of the most importance, many of the grasses were found to be coated with silecia, or decomposed sand, too hard and insoluble for the stomachs of cattle. In consequence of this, the grass was cut and well steamed, and it was found to be readily digested; and the butter, that was made from the milk, much firmer, better flavored, and would keep longer without salt than any other kind. Another circumstance that attended the experiment was that, in all the various grasses and grain that were intended by our Creator as food for man or beast, the various oils that enter into their composition were so powerfully assimilated or combined with the other properties of the farinaceous plants, that the oil partook of the character of essential oil, and was not so easily evaporated as that of poisonous vegetables; and experience has proved that the same quantity of grass, steamed and given to the cattle, will produce more butter than when given in its dry state. This fact being established from numerous experiments, then there must be a great saving and superiority in this mode of feeding. The meat of such cattle is more wholesome, tender, and better flavored than when fed in the ordinary way."

A mixed diet is supposed to be the most economical for fattening cattle. "A Scotchman, who fattens 150 head of Galloway cattle, annually, finds it most profitable to feed with bruised flaxseed, boiled with meal or barley, oats or Indian corn, at the rate of one part flaxseed to three parts meal, by weight,--the cooked compound to be afterwards mixed with cut straw or hay. From four to twelve pounds of the compound are given to each beast per day." The editor of the Albany Cultivator adds, "Would it not be well for some of our farmers, who stall-feed cattle, to try this or a similar mode? We are by no means certain that the ordinary food would pay the expense of cooking; but flaxseed is known to be highly nutritious, and the cooking would not only facilitate its digestion, but it would serve, by mixing, to render the other food palatable, and, by promoting the appetite and health of the animal, would be likely to hasten its thrift."

Mr. Hutton, who has long been celebrated for producing exceedingly fat cattle at a small cost, estimates that cost as follows:--

s. d. "13 lbs. of linseed, bruised, or 2 lbs. per day for six days, and 1 lb. for Sunday, 1 9

"The horses, cows, and young stock are also fed on this food, evidently with great advantage."

Mr. Workington, a successful dairyman, combining cut feed and oil-cake with different sorts of green food, found that, by giving a middle-sized cow sixteen pounds of green food and two of boiled hay, with two pounds of ground oil cake, and eight pounds of cut straw, the daily expense of her keep was only 5-1/2 d., The oil-cake he found to be much more productive of milk when given with steamed food, than when employed without it. Varying their food from time to time is found to be of much more advantage to the cow; and this may probably arise from the additional relish with which the animal eats, or from the superior excitement of a new stimulus on the different secretions.

The following table represents the nutritive properties in each article of food:--

THE BARN AND FEEDING BYRE.

It is well known that the more cleanly and comfortable cattle are kept, and the better the order in which their food is presented to them, the better they will thrive, and the more profitable they will be to the owner. Dr. Gunthier remarks, that "constant confinement to the barn is opposed to the nature of oxen, and becomes the source of numberless diseases. Endeavors are made to promote the lacteal secretion in cows, and the fattening of oxen, by means of heat: for this purpose, stables are converted into real stoves, either by not making them sufficiently large, or by crowding them to excess, or by preventing the access of air from without; and all this without recollecting that the skin, thus over-excited, must necessarily fall into a state of atony in a short time. Besides, the moist heat and the emanations of the dung cannot fail to exercise a destructive influence on the lungs and entire system. To these causes if we add the absolute want of exercise and the excess of food, we shall not be surprised at the number of diseases resulting from these different practices, and at the extraordinary forms which they ofttimes assume.

"Persons propose to themselves, by feeding in the barn, to augment the mass of dung; and the beasts are left in their excrement, sometimes up to the very knees. Seldom is there any care taken to cleanse their skin, and still less attention is directed to the feet. What wonder, then, if they exhibit so many forms of disease?"

The byre recommended by Mr. Lawson consists of two apartments--an inner apartment, or byre for feeding the cattle, and an outer apartment, or barn for containing the fodder. The byre is constructed at right angles with the barn, as follows: "At the distance of about three feet and a half from the side of the building, within, there are constructed, on the ground, in a straight line, a trough, having ten partitions for feeding ten animals. The troughs are so constructed, that there is a small and gradual declivity from the first or innermost to the last or outermost one; and the partitions separating them being made with a small arch at the bottom, a bucket of water, poured in at the uppermost, runs out at the last one through a spout in the wall; and a sweep of the broom carries off the whole remains of the food, rendering all the troughs quite clean and sweet. The whole food of the cattle is thus kept perfectly clean at all times.

"In a line with the feeding troughs, and immediately over them, runs a strong beam of wood, from one end of the byre to the other; which is strengthened by two strong upright supporters to the roof, placed at equal distances from the ends of the byre; and the main beam is again subdivided by the cattle stakes and chains, so as to keep each of the ten oxen opposite to his own feeding trough and stall.

"The three and a half feet of space between the troughs and outer wall, lighted by a glazed window, is the cattle feeder's walk, who passes along it in front of the cattle, and, with a basket, deposits before each of the cattle the food into the feeding trough of each. To prevent any of the cattle from choking on small pieces of turnips, &c., as they are very apt to do, the chains at the stakes are contrived of such a length, that no ox can raise his head too high when eating; for in this way, it is observed, cattle are generally choked.

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