Poor Feeding, Depraved Appetite.

I have three cows.  They have been fed alfalfa hay all winter and are in very good condition and seem otherwise in good health, and have salt to run to.  Every time they chance to come to the yard they will pick up on old bone and chew it for perhaps a half hour.  I always take the bone away from them when I discover it.

These cows have a depraved appetite, owing to the fact the tissues of the body are crying out for something lacking that is required in the system.  Administer the following powder; also put a lump of lime in the watering trough:  Pulv. gentian, 1 ounce; pulv. elm bark, 2 ounces; pulv. iron sulphate, 1 ounce; pulv. bicarb. soda, 4 ounces; pulv. aniseed, 2 ounces; pulv. red pepper 1/2 ounce; pulv. oilcake meal 10 pounds.  Mix thoroughly and give a tablespoonful in scalded grain once daily.

Cows Swallowing Foreign Substances.

We recently lost a valuable cow, and when we opened her we found a large tumor or abscess at the top of the heart as large as a gallon jar.  What caused it, or is there any danger of other cows taking it, and if so, what can we do?

This is a common disease among cows and is called traumatic pericarditis.  The trouble arises from the habit of the cows picking up foreign substances such as wire, nails, or hairpins, and swallowing them.  They are taken into the paunch and the digestive movements of this organ cause the foreign body to penetrate the lining and enter the heart, where it gradually causes death as it enters deeper.  It is very common to find nails, etc., in the stomachs of old dairy cows which are killed at the slaughter-houses.  If you had examined the animal carefully, you would find that some foreign body had penetrated the heart and caused death.  There is no danger of any contagion arising from your cow.

Defective Urination.

I have a cow that seems to be in good health and gives plenty of milk.  Nearly every morning when she is being milked she seems to want to urinate and will stand letting the water drip from her.

This trouble often results from the cows eating alkaline hay.  Give her two quarts of flaxseed tea daily.  Mix it with her food in which there has been placed one-half teaspoon of powdered Buchu.

Infectious Conjunctivitis (Sore Eyes).

I have several cows and heifers that are affected with sore eyes.  The disease first makes its appearance by excessive watering of the eyes; then the center or pupil becomes white and later turns red of bloodshot.

Bathe thoroughly with the normal salt solution (teaspoon salt to 1 pint warm water), after which place in the eye and all around the mucuous membrane of the eye the following:  Twenty-five per cent solution of argyrol, one-half ounce; apply thoroughly once daily and keep out of the sunlight if possible.  Another treatment is:  Bathe the eyes once daily with boracic acid 1 teaspoon, water 1 pint, after which thoroughly saturate the eyelids and eyes with 1 to 10,000 solution of bichloride of mercury.  You are dealing with a disease that will spread throughout your herd if you do not take proper means to separate the affected from the well ones.