Chapter 4

When milk has been the chief food, and the weaning is sudden, usually growth will be more or less arrested. When sustained largely on other foods, the change may be made without any check to the growth, even in the case of calves that suck their dams. When hand raised, the quantity of milk is gradually reduced until none is given. In the case of sucking calves they should be allowed to take milk once a day for a time before being shut entirely away from the dams. The supplementary food should be strengthened as the milk is withheld.

Calves should have constant access to good water, even during the milk period, and also to salt.

Where many are fed simultaneously, the milk should be given in pails kept scrupulously clean. The pails should be set in a manger, but not until the calves have been secured by the neck in suitable stanchions. As soon as they have taken the milk, a little meal should be thrown into each pail. Eating the dry meal takes away the desire to suck one another.

Calves of the dairy, dual purpose, and beef breeds may be reared by hand along the same lines, but with the following points of difference:

(1) The dual types want to carry more flesh than the dairy types, and the beef types more than either.

(2) To secure this end, more and richer milk must be given to calves of the beef type, especially during the first weeks of growth. Forcing calves of the beef type would be against the highest development attainable. Until the milking period is reached, the food and general treatment for the three classes is the same. They should be in fair flesh until they begin to furnish milk.

_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.

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 retarded, 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 grass, 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 appetite, the muzzle is moist, the eye bright, coat is smooth, the horns are warm, breathing is regular, the milk is given in good quantities 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 appetite, 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 quantity 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, smutty 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 constitution. 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 vagina 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 quantity 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 vagina 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 constitutional weakness.

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

The breeding animal should be of adult age neither overfed nor underfed, but well fed and moderately exercised.

In proof of the beneficial results of exercise, it is of record that a cow pronounced barren, when driven to a new owner, living several miles distant, became fertile and for years thereafter produced healthy calves.

Vigorous health must be sought, not only that a strong race may be propagated but that the cow may breed with certainty.

For toning up the generative organs, so that they can perform their natural functions, Pratts Cow Remedy is safe and positive.

The usual dose is a level tablespoonful twice a day in the feed.

Thus for less than a cent a day, you can make sure of the cow enjoying health and being productive.

~Aphtha, Sores on the Lips and Tongue~

_Symptoms._--Painful blisters which become sores on the lips and tongue. Occurs often in sucking calves.

_Treatment._--Wash the mouth twice a day with one ounce of borax and one fluid ounce of myrrh mixed in one quart of water or a mild solution of Pratts Dip and Disinfectant. Give Pratts Cow Remedy daily. If the mouth is very sore give the remedies in gruel form. Feed animal on regular gruel feed. If it occurs in calves, give Pratts Cow Remedy with milk and use borax as mentioned above.

_Pittsfield, Ill.

Am using Pratts Bag Ointment on young heifer with a very sore bag and she is doing fine. I would not do without it.

F.E. STORCK._ -----------------------------------------------------------------

~Bloat~

_Symptoms_.--While eating, or shortly afterward, a swelling appears on the left side, and as the swelling increases the animal appears to be in great distress, pants, strikes belly with its hind feet, the belching of gas is noticed and the animal does not chew its cud. Later the breathing becomes difficult, the animal moans, its back is arched, eyes protrude, the tongue hangs out and saliva runs from the mouth.

_Cause._--Eating damp grass, succulent grass of early spring and second crop clover in autumn when wet with dew or rain. Also caused by a change of food or over filling the paunch of animal with indigestible food.

_Treatment._--At this stage mix one ounce aromatic spirits of ammonia in one pint of water and give the mixture as a drench. Repeat in twenty minutes if necessary. In extreme cases a mechanical treatment can be successfully employed by the use of Pratts Cattle Trocar.

~Caked Udder, or Garget~

Apply Pratts Bag Ointment according to directions. It is very penetrating, and has great softening and cooling properties. Use also for chafing and inflammation.

~Cold~

_Symptoms._--Heated forehead, sneezing, coughing, may have diarrhoea or be constipated, fever and loss of appetite. Urine deficient.

_Treatment._--Give large doses of Pratts Cow Remedy in gruel form and gradually reduce quantity. Keep animal warm, bandage legs and rub throat and lungs with Pratts Liniment.

_McDonoghville, La.

Pratts Animal Regulator can't be beat for sick calves--this is from actual experience.

E.M. HUBERT._ -----------------------------------------------------------------

~Colic~

Animal will be uneasy, gets up and lies down, and suffers much pain.

Walk the animal for a few minutes, then give one pint of Glauber Salts dissolved in a pint of warm water, and inject a quart of warm water, with two fluid ounces of laudanum, into the bowels. Give regularly Pratts Cow Remedy mixed with warm water as gruel until animal is relieved, then mix with the feed. In extreme cases give four drams of carbonate of ammonia, two drams of belladonna, mixed with one pint of water. Blankets wrung out of hot water and applied will help to relieve the pain. Another remedy is one ounce of sulphuric ether and one ounce tincture of opium in a pint of warm water. A pint of whiskey in a pint of warm water is also good.

~Constipation~

_Cause._--From eating dry, coarse food, lack of exercise and not enough water.

_Treatment._--Give Epsom salts or a pint of raw linseed oil and plenty of green food, linseed meal, bran mashes, roots and Pratts Cow Remedy daily. Exercise is necessary.

~Cow Pox~

(Variola)

_Symptoms._--Round inflamed spots appear upon the teats. They enlarge and form large scabs. The milk yield is always diminished. It is very contagious. This is the vaccine-virus used as a preventive for smallpox.

_Treatment._--Separate the cows affected. Do not break the pox. Apply Pratts Healing Ointment to the sores and give Pratts Cow Remedy to all the cows, whether affected or not.

~Closing of the Milk Duct~

Use Pratts Self-Retaining Milking Tube. Never use a solid probe or needle.

~Cut, Cracked, Injured or Sore Teats~

Apply Pratts Bag Ointment according to directions on box.

~Diarrhoea~

(Scours)

_Treatment._--Give large doses of Pratts Cow Remedy at first, then reduce to regular quantity. Give starch gruel or flour and water. Another remedy is two fluid drams of tincture of kino three times daily.

~Foot and Mouth Disease~

_Symptoms._--Sore feet and blisters form in and about the mouth and on udder. Animal shivers, has fever, becomes lame and teeth become loose. It is very contagious.

_Treatment._--Separate all sick animals and wash mouths with one part Pratts Disinfectant to 100 parts water, or one-half teaspoonful of tincture of aloes and myrrh. Stand animals in a trough containing one part Pratts Dip and Disinfectant to 20 parts water. Repeat in five days. Disinfect all stables, litter, etc. Give daily Pratts Cow Remedy with the regular feed. Use Pratts Bag Ointment on teats and udder. When recovered, sponge all over with one part Pratts Dip and Disinfectant to 20 parts water.

~Foot Rot~

_Treatment._--Clean stalls and disinfect with one part Pratts Dip and Disinfectant to 100 parts water. Pare away all ragged portions of the foot and keep animal on clean floor until cured. Make a poultice of one part Disinfectant to five parts water and stir in a little flour to the proper constituency and apply to the foot.

~Lice~

Lousy stock cannot grow fat for the nourishment given is absorbed by the lice.

_Treatment._--Clean stable thoroughly and spray Pratts Dip and Disinfectant everywhere. Sprinkle a small quantity on an old blanket and tie it around the animal for two or three hours. Spray the legs and such places the blanket does not cover. Repeat if necessary.

If Pratts Powdered Lice Killer is used, dust the animals thoroughly with the powder, rubbing the hair the wrong way, then rub it thoroughly into the skin.

~Lump Jaw~

_Cause._--A vegetable parasite. It is contagious.

_Treatment._--Remove the tumor by surgical means or paint daily with tincture of iodine. Give daily two drams of iodide of potash. Give nourishing feed with Pratts Cow Remedy daily. Disinfect stable with Pratts Dip and Disinfectant.

~Milk--Bloody or Stringy~

_Cause._--By rupture of minute vessels in the udder due to injury, irritation or inflammation and derangement of the system.

_East Point, Ga.

Please send me a box of Pratts Cow Remedy and some Pratts Bag Ointment. I sure do need it. I found no other that will do the work. It brings in calves easy.

MRS. MATTIE BROWN._ -----------------------------------------------------------------

_Treatment._--Change the food and pasture. Give large doses of Pratts Cow Remedy at first, and gradually reduce to regular quantity. Give good nutritious feed with bran mashes and clean fresh, water. Rub udder twice daily with Pratts Bag Ointment. Four drams of hyposulphite of soda in feed twice a day has produced good results.

~Milk--Blue and Watery~

_Treatment._--Keep stable perfectly clean, disinfect thoroughly with Pratts Disinfectant and treat same as for bloody milk. Sometimes blue milk is the sign of tuberculosis. If so, have the cow killed and burned or buried deep.

~Milk Fever~

_Symptoms._--There is a feverish condition and inflammation of the brain; a complete stoppage of milk, weakness in hind quarters, animal staggers and when down is unable to rise, throws head to one side and goes into a state of stupor.

_Cause._--By trouble peculiar to calving or running into rich pasture during hot weather; by lack of exercise and from costiveness. Usually attacks fat cows.

_Treatment._--(From Circular 45, Bureau of Animal Industry, U.S. Department of Agriculture.) "Of all known methods of treating milk fever, the injection of sterile atmospheric air into the udder is by far the most simple and practicable as well as the most efficacious and harmless one at our disposal." Pratts Milk Fever Outfit for air treatment should always be kept on hand. The price is $3. This treatment has cured 97 per cent. of cases treated.

_Prevention._--Feed pregnant cows with nutritious and laxative feed, give plenty of water and Pratts Cow Remedy daily. Keep stable clean, well ventilated and disinfected with Pratts Dip and Disinfectant.

~Milk--To Increase the Flow of~

_Treatment._--To increase flow of milk give Pratts Cow Remedy daily with a good nutritious ration and plenty of water. These supply just what a cow needs to make her food appetizing, to regulate the blood, bowels and digestive organs, to turn all the nutriment of the feed given into flesh and milk without waste. Pratts Cow Remedy has been used for over 40 years by successful and conservative feeders, and wherever used, according to directions, has produced wonderful results.

~Ophthalmia--Sore Eyes~

_Treatment._--Separate affected animals at once and put them in clean, well ventilated but dark stalls as this is contagious. Disinfect entire place with one part Pratts Dip and Disinfectant to 75 parts of water. Give physic of a pound and a half of Epsom salts, dissolve in a pint of warm water, to which add two ounces of powdered ginger. Give sloppy feed with one dram of powdered nitrate of potassia added and Pratts Cow Remedy daily.