Pratt's Practical Pointers on the Care of Livestock and Poultry Part 6

_Coshocton, Ohio.

With good care and Pratts Animal Regulator (which I have used for two years) this Jersey calf grew like a weed. I can prove what it has done for my cow and calves.

MRS. ELLEN BUTZ._

When calves come in the autumn, the heifers enter the first winter strong and vigorous. They should be so fed that growth will be continuous right through the winter, but on cheap foods. It is different with animals for the block, which should have grain every winter until sold, when reared on the arable farm, unless roots are freely fed, when they may be carried through the winter in fine form on straw and cornstalks, feeding some hay toward spring. They may be fed in an open or a closed shed, and without being tied when dehorned as they ought to be when not purely bred. It is a good time to dehorn them when about one year old, as they will be more peaceful subsequently than if the horns had never been allowed to grow. The bedding should be plentiful and they should have free access to water and salt.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ~HEREFORD BULL~]

To carry growing animals through the winter so that they make no increase and in some instances lose weight, to be made up the following summer, is short-sighted policy and wasteful of food. If a stunted condition is allowed at any time, increase is not only r.e.t.a.r.ded, but the capacity for future increase is also lessened.

The pastures for heifers should be abundant, or supplemented by soiling food where they are short. This is specially necessary because the heifers will then be pregnant, and because of the burden thus put upon them in addition to that of growth, certain evils will follow.

In some instances calves are grown on whole milk and adjuncts, and are sold at the age of 6 to 9 months. This is practicable when two or three calves are reared on one cow. The meal adjuncts to accompany such feeding may consist of ground corn, oats, bran, and oil meal, fed in the proportions of, say 4, 2, 1, and 1 parts by weight. In some instances they are kept two or three months longer, and when sold such calves well fattened bring high prices.

The growing of baby beef is coming into much favor. Baby beef means beef put upon the market when it can no longer be called veal and when considerably short of maturity, usually under the age of 24 months. To grow such beef properly animals must be given a good healthy start, growth must not be interrupted and must be reasonably rapid, and the condition of flesh in which they are kept must be higher than for breeding uses. The process is in a sense a forcing one through feeding of relatively large amounts of grain. Though kept in good flesh all the while, the highest condition of flesh should be sought during the latter stages of feeding.

When stall feeding begins, cattle are led up gradually during preliminary feeding to full feeding. Full feeding means consumption of all grain and other food the animal can take without injuring digestion.

A lean animal cannot be fattened quickly. Before rapid deposits of fat can occur the lean animal must be brought into a well-nourished condition. Preliminary feeding should cover a period of four to eight weeks in ordinary fattening.

When cattle are to be finished on gra.s.s, they are usually fed a moderate amount of grain daily the previous winter. The amount will be influenced by the character of the fodders and by the season when the cattle are to be sold. Usually it is not less than three pounds per animal, daily, nor more than six pounds. Steers will fatten in much shorter time when Pratts Cow Remedy is used. It causes them to quickly put on solid flesh, due to its action on the blood, bowels, and digestive organs.

~COMMON DISEASES OF CATTLE~

The cow is generally healthy and if fed, stabled and cared for properly she will seldom be ill.

When a cow is sick, provide clean, comfortable quarters, with plenty of bedding and let her lie down. If weather is cold, cover her with a blanket. A healthy cow has a good appet.i.te, the muzzle is moist, the eye bright, coat is smooth, the horns are warm, breathing is regular, the milk is given in good quant.i.ties and the process of rumination is constant soon after eating. The sick cow has more or less fever, the muzzle is dry and hot, the breathing is rapid, no appet.i.te, an increase in the pulse, dull eye, rough coat, a suspension of rumination, and the cow will stand alone with head down. Usually all that is needed is Pratts Cow Remedy with bran mashes and good digestible feed. Give pure, clean water, and careful attention.

~Preventing Milk Fever~

Many excellent cows have been lost through milk fever within a day or two of the birth of the calf. The preventive measures include:

(1) Reducing the quant.i.ty of the food fed.

(2) Feeding food that is not unduly succulent, lest the milk flow should be overstimulated.

(3) Giving a mild purgative a day or two before the calf is born, or within a few hours after its birth. The purgative most commonly used is Epsom salts, and the dose is three-quarters of a pound to one pound.

(4) Removing only a small portion of the milk at a time for the first two or three days. Only moderate amounts of food are necessary until the danger of milk fever is past. Where Pratts Cow Remedy has been given, there is little, if any, danger of milk fever. The value of this splendid prescription during the calving season has been tested time and time again.

~Abortion~

A germ disease highly contagious and one of the most injurious of those which affect dairy cattle. The money-making value of a herd in which the germs of contagious abortion are permitted to exist will be completely destroyed.

A cow which has once aborted will do so again unless carefully treated.

So contagious is the disease that the germs introduced into a perfectly healthy cow will cause her to abort, and it is no uncommon thing for the infection to spread through an entire herd in a single season. The herd bull readily becomes a source of herd infection, and service from a bull, where there are aborting cows should be refused.

_Cause._--By infection, the herding together of a large number of cows, high feeding, s.m.u.tty corn and ergotty pastures. In a small number of cows abortion may result from accidental injuries. Such cases are pure accidents and are not to be considered along with contagious abortion.

_Bradford, Ohio.

Abortion had got a hold on my herd and I was expecting to have to dispose of them, when Pratts Cow Remedy came to my rescue. Calves are all coming now at the right time.

BENJ. LOXLEY, JR._

_Treatment._--As in all contagious diseases, treatment should be given the infected animals and sanitary measures with treatment should be adopted to prevent its spread to healthy cows. For increasing the disease resistance of cows as well as for building up the vitality of infected and suspected animals, Pratts Cow Remedy is most effective. It is a true remedy and tonic, which restores to health and upbuilds the cow's const.i.tution. It is all medicine, free from harmful ingredients or mineral poisons.

Give one level tablespoonful of Pratts Cow Remedy three times a day to each cow, either with the grain or separately.

Pratts Cow Remedy should be given before and after service, and when Contagious Abortion is only suspected, should be continued during the period when the cow is in calf.

An excellent preventive practice is to douche the v.a.g.i.n.a of all pregnant cows and to wash the tails and hind quarters of the entire herd with one part Pratts Dip and Disinfectant to 100 parts warm water.

As a certain number of the cows will harbor the germ in the womb when treatment is started, it is not to be expected that abortion will cease at once, but by keeping up the treatment the trouble will probably disappear the following year.

When the small cost of Pratts Cow Remedy and Pratts Dip and Disinfectant and their wonderful effectiveness in ridding the cow of the disease are considered, there is no question but that it ought always to be given to all cows to keep them well.

To prevent the spread of Contagious Abortion, the entire premises should be disinfected regularly with Pratts Dip and Disinfectant.

+ -------+ | ~COMFORT FOR COW AND MILKER~ | | | |Milking is a twice-a-day job. And if the cow has a sore, feverish and | |inflamed udder, cut, cracked or sore teats, milking time is most | |uncomfortable for both the cow and the one who does the milking. | | | |Whenever a cow gives any indication of tenderness or soreness of udder | |or teats, apply | | | | ~PRATTS BAG OINTMENT~ | | | |and speedy improvement will follow. It quickly penetrates to the seat of| |the trouble, softens and soothes the feverish parts, and heals up the | |sores. | | | |Use it for caked bags, or garget, for cuts, cracks, scratches or sores | |on udder or teats. It works wonders. Better keep a package on hand for | |quick use. | | | | "~YOUR MONEY BACK IF YOU ARE NOT SATISFIED~" | | | + -------+

~Retained After-Birth~

_Causes._--The cow, the most of all our domestic animals, is especially subject to this accident. It is most likely to occur after abortion.

Again, in low conditions of health and an imperfect power of contraction, we have causes for retention. The condition is common when the cow is given food insufficient in quant.i.ty or in nutriment.

_Treatment._--Blanket the cow in a warm stable, and three times a day give hot drinks and hot mashes of wheat bran to which two tablespoonfuls of Pratts Cow Remedy have been added. When the after-birth comes away, continue treatment giving one tablespoonful of Pratts Cow Remedy until full recovery. The v.a.g.i.n.a and womb should be syringed with a solution of one ounce of Pratts Dip and Disinfectant to a gallon of warm water. Repeat daily until all discharge has disappeared.

_Prevention._--If the cow has been given Pratts Cow Remedy during pregnancy or from two to four weeks before calving, there will be very few cases of this trouble.

~Barrenness and Sterility~

When a cow persistently fails to breed and bear young, she is said to be barren. That a barren cow cannot be a profit maker, goes without saying.

_Causes._--Barrenness in many cases is due to malformation of the generative organs, tumors or other diseased conditions. Very frequently it is a result of Contagious Abortion, and this should always be suspected. Cows bred at too early an age frequently produce calves which prove to be barren, due to const.i.tutional weakness.

_Treatment._--The true preventive of such conditions is to be found in sound hygiene. Use Pratts Dip and Disinfectant freely about the premises.