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HINTS 
 
 ON THE 
 
 BREEDING AND REARING 
 OF FARM ANIMALS 
 
 THOMAS WALLEY, 
 
 PRINCIPALj ROYAL (DICK's) VETERINARY COLLEGE, EDINBURGH, 
 
 PROFESSOR OF CATTLE PATHOLOGY TO THE HIGHLAND AND AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY 
 
 ■* OF SCOTLAND ; VETERINARY ADVISER TO THE LORD PROVOST, MAGISTRATES 
 
 AND COUNCIL OF THE, CITY OF EDINBURGH J VETERINARY INSPECTOR 
 
 OF THE PRIVY COUNCIL; AND EXAMINER IN VETERINARY 
 
 HYGIENE, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH 
 
 EDINBURGH: 
 
 TURNBULL& SPEARS, THISTLE STREET. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The Author of the following " Hints on the Breeding 
 and Rearing of Animals " had the privilege of read- 
 ing a paper on the subject in the summer of 1886 
 to the Fife Farmers' Club. The members present 
 at the meeting expressed a unanimous wish that the 
 paper should be published, and with this wish the 
 author has now (though somewhat late) the pleasure 
 of conforming, but in doing so he has thought it 
 advisable to interpolate (where in his opinion it 
 was advantageous to do so) remarks made by him 
 in other addresses and papers published on various 
 occasions during the last few years. These inter- 
 polations are enclosed in brackets. The author, in 
 view of the large amount of public attention recently 
 directed towards the subject, has materially extended 
 his original remarks on abortion. 
 
 Edinburgh, July 1st, 1887. 
 
THE BREEDING AND REARING OF 
 ANIMALS. 
 
 A Paper read at the Quarterly Meeting of the Fife Farmer^ 
 Club, held at Cupar, fune 29, 1886. 
 
 In considering the above subject it will be necessary 
 to divide my paper into several sections. I propose, 
 then, to deal firstly with the choice of parents ; 
 secondly, with their management during the breed- 
 ing season, and during the period of utero-gestation ; 
 thirdly, with the causes of sterility and abortion ; 
 fourthly, with the management of the mother and 
 young at the period of parturition ; and lastly, with 
 the management of the young subsequent to birth. 
 
 The first section is, in my view, by far the most 
 important, as upon the choice of parents success in 
 breeding is, in the main, dependent. I do not propose, 
 in a paper of this kind, to enter into the considera- 
 tion- of nic"e and theoretical questions, but rather to 
 deal with the subject in a plain and comprehensive 
 manner. ' . 
 
 In the Choice of Parents. — Adaptability for the 
 purposes to which it is intended the offspring shall 
 be subservient is of the first importance, and this 
 holds good to a greater degree in the case of the 
 horse than in any other animal. Cattle and sheep 
 are' bred mainly with a view to early maturity, and 
 consequently for early profit, hence these two de- 
 
 A 
 
2 The Breeding and Rearing of Animals. 
 
 siderata overshadow every other motive ; but with 
 the horse the case is different : he is required for so 
 many and such varied purposes as to render it 
 necessary for the breeder to consider how he can 
 best raise particular animals fitted to perform par- 
 ticular functions. This, however, is largely a breeder's 
 question, and can only be treated satisfactorily from 
 a breeder's point of view, and by a man of large and 
 varied practical experience. I shall, as I think you 
 will expect me to do, treat the matter rather from 
 the point of view of a scientific onlooker. 
 
 In the first place, then, we will start with the pro^ 
 position that in order to ensure success in breeding, tite 
 dam and the sire should each be perfect — perfect not 
 only in bodily conformation, but also, and I think of 
 far more importance even than this, perfect in struc- 
 tural conformation. Defective bodily conformation 
 in the dam may be compensated for by perfection in 
 the sire, and vice versa, at least to a large extent. 
 Defective structural conformation in either sire or 
 dam can never be compensated for. It is like the 
 mark of a Cain, it is indelible and everlasting in the 
 new generation, and very largely also in the genera- 
 tions that may be born after ; and it is very fre- 
 quentlyintensified by that maddest of all mad pro- 
 ceedings, breeding — in-and-in. Multiplied consan- 
 guinity means multiplication of pre-existing evils — 
 transmission and re-transmission of hereditary de- 
 fects ; and in spite of all the lessons that have been 
 taught the breeders of animals, especially of horses, 
 this truth requires to be dinned more and yet more 
 into their too often non-receptive minds. A defect 
 of conformation may be got rid of, or it may be kept 
 in abeyance by judicious crossing, but even here it is 
 
Choice of Parents. 3 
 
 liable to reappear,* and that, too, after the lapse of 
 several generations, especially if in-breeding is re- 
 sorted to — a fact well shown by a recent writer in 
 one of the agricultural papers in reference to 
 deformity of the jaws in sheep. 
 
 In reference to bodily conformation, it may be sim- 
 ply stated that that kind of bodily conformation which 
 has been found by experience most suitable to the 
 particular purpose for which an animal is required, is 
 just that which the breeder should strive to obtain. 
 
 Few general rules applicable to all animals can be 
 laid down under this head, but it may be asserted as 
 an axiom that no animal whose frame is asymmetrical 
 or mean, should be chosen for the purpose of pro- 
 pagating its species. It is not mere size, weight, and 
 bulk that are required or desirable — it is quality, it 
 is symmetry, it is perfect proportion, so as to ensure 
 a maximum development of vigour and endurance ; 
 that should be sought after. These cannot be 
 got in a creature with a narrow chest, long legs out of 
 all proportion to its body, long narrow barrel, slack 
 loins, scraggy neck, drooping quarters, narrow hips, 
 mean arms and thighs, and in the horse, calf-knees, 
 and sickle or cow hocks. On the contrary every point 
 must harmonize, and the stiff neck and stubborn will 
 of thebreederwho caresnotwhat point is wrong so that 
 the one particular point he fancies is right, must be bent 
 and broken if he is to be successful in his calling. 
 
 If you like to see a narrow chest, remember in time 
 that it means little breathing space and limited heart 
 accommodation, and, as a consequence, inability to 
 perform great and sustained exertion, and increased 
 liability to pulmonary and cardiac derangement. 
 
 * Atavism, 
 
4 The Breeding and Rearing of Animals. 
 
 If you fancy disproportionately long legs, remember 
 that they mean limited and uncertain muscular con- 
 trol, and as a consequence a tendency to leg-weari- 
 ness, and all that it entails in the shape of strained 
 sinews and self-mutilation by brushing, speedy-cut- 
 ting, over-reaching and tramping. 
 
 If you are fond of a long narrow barrel, remember 
 that it can only be associated with limited stomach 
 and bowel accommodation, and, as a consequence, 
 limited storage and power of digestion, impaired 
 stamina, and, in the case of feeding animals, diminu- 
 tion in weight and size ; and in breeding animals, 
 limitation of ^uterine development, leading to limita- 
 tion in the development of the offspring. 
 
 If you are advanced in years, and like a springy 
 seat, choose a slack loined horse, but remember that 
 slack loins means limited motor power in the horse, 
 and limited sirloin in the ox. 
 
 If you fancy a ewe-necked horse because you think 
 he has little to carry and little to lift, remember 
 that when you are on his back there is little to look 
 at, and, if you are a bad rider, little between you and 
 mother earth if your nag takes a fancy to make a 
 dead stop in the middle of a sharp trot ; neither is 
 there in his throat much space for the larynx, and 
 consequently a greater liability to roaring. 
 
 A mean neck is not of so much consequence in a 
 sheep, or for that matter in a cow. Indeed in the latter 
 animal it is not infrequently associated with good 
 milking qualities. 
 
 A horse with drooping quarters is not fitted to 
 execute heavy lifts, neither is one with mean mus- 
 cular development in the arms and thighs, likely to 
 be possessed of much staying power and is very apt 
 
Choice of Parents. 5 
 
 to "give in" in a race for life, while an animal 
 with narrow hips cannot be expected to show great 
 development of muscle, nor to afford a great extent 
 of pelvic space for the easy birth of its young. 
 
 If you like to see a horse standing back on his fore 
 legs, remember that your fancy costs you deficient 
 action, a matter certainly not of great importance in 
 heavy, but of vital importance, pecuniarily, in light 
 horses ; neither, as a rule, are such horses " stayers," 
 and when they become leg-weary, they are very apt 
 to trip. 
 
 Sickle hocks may to some eyes present a gracefully 
 curved outline, but they are not fitted for the purpose 
 of heavy traction or severe exertion, and they are 
 highly predisposed to the formation of curbs ; and 
 while cow hocks may be all very well if you want an 
 "ambler" or "runner," they are notprettyto the critical 
 eye, and are very liable to become the subject of spavin. 
 
 [So far as I can gather, one of the great objects of 
 breeders in the past has been to obtain horses with 
 plenty of hair on their legs — "well feathered," in 
 other terms ; and I would ask at once, of what benefit 
 is this superabundant growth of hair on the lower 
 part of the extremities } If horses were, like Cochin- 
 China fowls or pouter pigeons, required for no more 
 important purpose than to strut about in a dignified 
 manner and to please the eye of their owners, I could 
 understand the anxiety of some breeders to increase 
 — even by questionable artificial means — the quantity 
 of this hirsute appendage ; but seeing that horses are 
 intended to subserve a useful purpose, I fail to see 
 wherein they are advantaged by the possession of a 
 plentiful supply thereof on the posterior aspect of 
 their limbs. Indeed, considering the great disadvan- 
 
6 The Breeding and Rearing of Animals. 
 
 tages its possession entails upon animals in hard work 
 and in dirty weather, I marvel that men can be found 
 to advocate its production. That a large quantity of 
 hair on the legs improves the appearance of an animal 
 I have yet to learn ; and if this were the case, how is 
 it that the absence thereof in the legs of light horses 
 is accepted as a mark of beauty and a sign of good 
 breeding ? A profusion of hair presupposes a coarse 
 skin, and r coarse skin means a corresponding de- 
 crease in vitality, and consequently a greater liability 
 to diseases of malnutrition — such as grease, thick 
 legs, and cracked heels. It further means a more 
 highly lymphatic constitution, and as a consequence 
 a greater tendency to such affections as Weed. 
 Bushy hair is also a splendid harbourer of dirt, and 
 an effectual screener of laziness ; moreover, being 
 very retentive of, moisture, it predisposes to sloughs 
 and hacks of the pasterns and coronets, and leads to 
 excessive irritation and itching. 
 
 Another great point aimed at by some breeders, is 
 the production of plenty of bone. This in itself is 
 laudable enough, but I would suggest that if a little 
 more attention was given to quality of bone, a greater 
 and more valuable desideratum would be obtained 
 than can ever be got by mere quantity. In compari- 
 son, the small bones of the thoroughbred are, in 
 strength, as two to one of the ordinary cart-horse. 
 Quality of texture — not excess of texture — is re- 
 quired, and I would prefer the Cleveland bay, with 
 his flat shanks and cannons, before the round-boned 
 heavy cart-horse we so frequently meet with, for 
 fatiguing and straining work. A broad, flat cannon- 
 bone is usually associated with well-developed ten- 
 dons, the whole measuring between five and six 
 
Choice of Parents. 7 
 
 inches in width. The round cannon, on the. contrary, 
 is usually associated with ill- developed tendons, 
 the whole measuring between 3 and 4 inches 
 in width. The former will' stand any reason- 
 able strain on the tendons ; the latter is a prolific 
 source of contracted and straightened limbs. In 
 conjunction with such conditions as these, we want, 
 what are frequently overlooked, big joints and well- 
 developed muscles. If we have the forrqer, we get 
 freedom and elasticity of motion, with plenty of room 
 for attachment of the more active agents of locomo- 
 tion ; and if a horse possesses the latter, he possesses 
 the means of co-ordinating the movements of his 
 limbs and is thus less liable to suffer from ligament- 
 ous, tendinous and joint lesions. If greater care were 
 exercised in the production oi big arms and big thighs, 
 we should see fewer " calf-kneed " and " sickle- 
 hocked '' brutes than we now do, and " knuckling- 
 over at the fetlocks " would be a rare deformity. 
 
 In regard to the shape of the pasterns, opinions 
 seem to differ very widely, some minds favouring a 
 comparatively straight, and consequently a short pas- 
 tern ; others a very oblique, and consequently long 
 pastern. In both extremes there is danger, and in 
 every case a happy medium should be aimed at. If 
 the pastern is straight and short, it favours concus- 
 sion and the production of ring-bone and side-bone, 
 and predisposes to strain of the " check " ligaments 
 at the back of and below the hocks and knees ; while 
 opposite extremes most certainly do not, as a rule, 
 add to the strength and traction-power of the limbs. 
 Personally, however, I prefer the latter extreme. 
 
 Other points which add to the traction-power of 
 an animal — and that by virtue of affording space for 
 
8 The Breeding mid Rearing of Animals. 
 
 attachment of muscles, as well as by increasing lever- 
 age — are well-developed leverage bones, such as the 
 ilium (point of hip), the olecranon (point of elbow), 
 and the calcis (point of hock or " nap ") ; and well- 
 developed floating bones, as the patella (stifle cap), 
 the trapezium at the back of the knee, and the sesa- 
 moids at the back of the fetlock. In the Clydesdale, 
 some of the bones mentioned are conspicuously short, 
 and most notably so in the case of the calces, the 
 shortening leading to great prominence of the flexor 
 tendons, which gives to the hock the appearance of 
 being the subject of Thorough-pin, a disease to which 
 such hocks, in my experience, are not particularly 
 prone, though they are frequently, from their narrow 
 formation, affected with bone-spavin. 
 
 In the estimation of some judges, I am afraid, gross 
 condition counts for more than do good points ; and 
 I suspect that many a horse who, in our showyards, 
 appears to be a "' splendid creature," would be only 
 of use for the purpose of a " clothes horse," if reduced 
 in condition to the level of a working animal ; and 
 this abuse and absurdity will continue, to the disad- 
 vantage of the horse, until those interested begin to 
 recognise that " fat is not power," and that " it hides 
 a multitude of sins of conformation." 
 
 I know that an objection is sometimes entertained 
 against the breeding of big horses from their, theo- 
 retically, greater liability to become roarers, and to 
 develop side-bones, &c. ; but this objection would 
 not in any sense be valid, if strict attention were 
 paid to soundness and conformation. In speaking 
 of big horses, I do not necessarily refer to mere 
 height, but rather to a well-developed, bony frame- 
 work, with plenty of room for the respiratory, circu- 
 
Defective Structural Conformation. g 
 
 latory, and digestive organs ; plenty of muscle, good 
 shoulders, haunches, arms, and' thighs ; big joints, 
 and short shanks and cannons, and good, open feet. 
 The animal that is required for heavy town work 
 can be described in the single sentence — "a mountain 
 in a mole heap." We don't want long-legged, nar- 
 row-chested, flat-barrelled animals, with long thin 
 necks and head set on at an acute angle. They are 
 neither useful nor ornamental, but are deficient in 
 constitutional stamina, and, as a rule, are the first to 
 fall victims to enzootic and epizootic affections, and 
 the first to succumb to serious sporadic maladies. 
 For town work, big horses are required, not only on 
 account of the great weights that have to be drawn, 
 but also on the score of economy. With rates of 
 cartage as low as it is possible for them to be fixed, 
 and with the present high price of labour, one horse 
 requires to be strong enough to do the work of two 
 before a reasonable profit can be obtained ; and if 
 our breeders neglect to provide such animals, they 
 must expect to see the Shire horse replace the 
 Clydesdale; and not only so, but when the 'day 
 comes, as it most assuredly will, that the present 
 foreign demand slackens, they must expect to have 
 a large number of animals left on their hands, to be 
 sold at unremunerative prices. The best customer of 
 the breeder and trader, in my opinion, is the steady 
 and certain employer of horse labour.] 
 
 Defective Structural Conformation means heredi- 
 tary transmission from sire or dam to offspring ; 
 and, as a consequence, loss and disappointment to 
 the- breeder, and suffering to the victim of man's 
 neglect and indifference. 
 
 " Why will ye die } " was the cry of the prophet 
 
J o The Breeding and Rearing of Animals. 
 
 of old to the obdurate people around him. " Why 
 will ye wilfully shut your eyes to the natural con- 
 sequences of disobeying nature's Jaws ? " has been 
 the cry of well-wishing veterinary surgeons for long. 
 Personally, I have directed attention over and over , 
 again to this fatal indifference of breeders. I shall 
 continue the hammering process until they listen, 
 and show by their actions that they are convinced 
 and converted. If you want to be successful breeders 
 you must select not only vigorous and physically 
 perfect parents, you must select them, as far as it is 
 possible, with untainted constitutions. "Like father, 
 'like son," "As ye sow, so shall ye reap," "Like begets 
 like," are axioms well worth your closest attention. 
 If you breed from horses with marked bone defects 
 and other abnormalities, as heart disease, broken 
 wind, roaring, curby hocks, blindness, shivering, &c., 
 you must expect that they will make their appear- 
 ance in their offspring, but only in a greater degree. 
 If you will persist in breeding from consumptive 
 (tuberculous or angle-berried) cattle because you 
 have an overweening love for some particular strain, 
 you must not grumble if your calves pine and die, 
 if your yearlings do not thrive, and if, in the course 
 of time, your cows waste and consume away ; or if 
 perchance (as many of them will, from causes well 
 known to the veterinary surgeon) they should fatten 
 for the butcher and when slaughtered their car- 
 cases should be condemned as being unfit for human 
 food. The only animal of which it can truthfully be 
 said that it is not the subject of hereditary tendency 
 to diseased conditions is the sheep. 
 
 [Large premiums are offered by our agricultural 
 societies for the best sires, and it is, I aver, a sin and 
 
Defective Structural Conformation. 1 1 
 
 a shame that every possible precaution is not taken 
 to ensure that these animals are worthy of the 
 position to which they are elevated. In most 
 instances, I believe, in England the question of 
 soundness, and particularly the question of freedom 
 -from hereditary defects, is looked upon as of primary 
 importance ; and in many instances the directors of 
 shows stand firmly to their guns and uphold the 
 decision of their veterinary inspector, upon whose 
 dictum they implicitly rely. Of one such case which 
 came under my own observation I have a very 
 distinct recollection. It was a case in which a 
 huudred pounds premium had been awarded by the 
 judges to a particular-^ stallion, as the best stock- 
 getter for hunting purposes in the yard. After the 
 award came the veterinary examination ; it showed 
 that the horse had a curb, and consequently in the 
 judgment of the veterinary surgeon and of the 
 directors of the show he was disqualified. The 
 decision, as such decisions usually do, caused a great 
 explosion ; the owner of the horse loudly declared 
 his intention of invoking all the veterinary aid he 
 could press into his service, and he succeeded in 
 securing that of several eminent men, but the 
 directors stood firm. The owner and his profes- 
 sional supporters were right, the horse was sound in 
 a sense, he was what is called practically sound, but 
 the question was — "Is he sound for the purpose for 
 which the premium, is awarded?" The veterinary 
 inspector and his friends, of whom I was, quite 
 accidentally, one, said no ; and the premium was 
 withheld in consequence. 
 
 Mark the sequence ; fate decreed that in a few 
 hours I landed unwittingly within a few miles from 
 
1 2 The Breeding and Rearing of Animals. 
 
 the home of the condemned horse, and knowing that 
 I had been to the show in question, one of the first 
 questions put to me by my entertainer was, " How 
 
 did it come about that was awarded the £\<x> 
 
 premium yesterday?" and the question was followed 
 by the offer to show me, in the short space of two' 
 hours, twenty of the progeny of the particular^ horse 
 either with curbs or curby hocks. 
 
 Not only does the question of hereditary trans- 
 mission of defects stand out prominently in connec- 
 tion with the selection of sires and dams, but the 
 still more important question presents itself — What 
 will be the probable result of these defects whenithe 
 horse or colt is in due course put to hard work ? And 
 who, I would ask, is best qualified to give the 
 answer ? Most certainly the veterinary surgeon, not 
 only by virtue of his scientific training but still^more 
 importantly by virtue of his practical training ; by 
 virtue, in other words, of the experience he gains in 
 his everyday practice as to the results of such 
 defects, and from the treatment of which results he 
 derives a large part of his professional income. 
 
 One of the best horses, or one that was generally 
 looked upon in that light, that ever trod Scottish 
 soil, could not go fifty yards, even at a jog trot, 
 without emitting a very undesirable and inhar- 
 monious musical note from his larynx ; and one of 
 his progeny, looked upon as the best colt of his 
 year, could not trot a hundred yards without pro- 
 claiming, in a most pronounced manner, that he, like 
 a good son, followed his father — at least in his fond- 
 ness for music. 
 
 I am convinced that there is nothing to be gained 
 by breeders and judges wilfully closing their eyes to 
 
Defective Structural Conformation. 13 
 
 such defects as I have mentioned. On the contrary 
 there is a great deal to be lost by such a course, and 
 although they may successfully dispose of their two 
 or three year olds, the dealer will be the loser in the 
 long run when his high priced youngster is con- 
 demned, as having some important structural defect 
 which renders him unfit for stock-getting or for hard 
 work. 
 
 But the diiSculty in this matter is not in the 
 making of you or me believe the truth of this state- 
 ment, but in the convincing of the prejudiced mind 
 of the breeder and the dealer. Given a good top, 
 good feet and legs, and a commanding appearance ; 
 grave structural defects are by these men passed over, 
 and that too very frequently to their own ultimate 
 loss. A little circumstance which came under my own 
 immediate observation a year or two ago will illus- 
 trate my meaning. I was requested by the manager 
 of a western ranche to accompany him to two 
 separate farms in the Lothians, and there examine 
 a two-year-6ld colt and a three-year-old mare re- 
 spectively. The former had, very pronouncedly, 
 bog spavins, and I had very little difficulty in con- 
 vincing him that it would be a great mistake to 
 purchase such an animal for breeding purposes. 
 The mare had a distinct bone spavin on the off hock, 
 and sidebone on each forefoot, and was distinctly 
 lame, even on a soft road, on the off foot. I had no 
 difficulty in convincing my friend of the existence of 
 these defects, but seeing that the animal was, so far 
 as conformation was concerned, a perfect model, and 
 had she been sound, well worth the two hundred 
 guineas asked, "-the intending purchaser had the 
 greatest possible difficulty in making up his mind to 
 
14 The Breeaing and Rearing of Animals. 
 
 leave her. At last he asked my candid opinion, as he 
 said (though he had already had it a dozen or more 
 times), as to the probability of the defects which I 
 had pointed out to him interfering with the breeding 
 capacities of the mare. My answer was such as I 
 would always give under similar circumstances. I 
 said, " If your object is to breed colts for disposal at 
 bne and two years old, well and good ; but you must 
 be prepared for the inevitable result, viz., that in 
 due course the defects pointed out will make their 
 appearance in the offspring, and the character of 
 your ranche as a breeding establishment will be 
 
 effectually and deservedly damned." Mr T 
 
 was a conscientious man, he had a character to 
 preserve and a name to make, and the mare re- 
 mained in the possession of her owner. I think, 
 gentlemen, it may be laid down as an axiom in 
 Ijreeding, " that if lasting success is to be attained, 
 only sound sires and sound dams should be selected; 
 but if breeding is to be carried on only for the pur- 
 pose of temporary gain, then let animals of an 
 attractive form and appearance be chosen, and let 
 soundness go to the winds." Those who adopt the 
 latter part of this axiom as their guide must not be 
 disappointed at the result. If the Manchester 
 merchant elects to palm off shoddy articles on his 
 customers he must not grumble if the genuine mer- 
 chant displaces him in his own market. 
 
 There is, in my opinion, only one maxim which 
 requires to be impressed upon intending breeders of 
 animals, and that is to breed sound and to breed true. 
 That this maxim is toa little acted upon, is proved 
 every day in your Clydesdales ; animals in which a 
 grand top often proves more attractive than sound 
 
Defective Structural Conformation. 15 
 
 timber, the admirers of the former overlooking the 
 fact that without the latter the Clydesdale is like a 
 wonderfully furnished carriage on ricketty wheels, 
 and that as with the maker of the ricketty carriage, 
 so with the breeder of the unsound horse, the defect 
 is likely to bring him to grief at any moment. 
 Believe me, gentlemen, when I say, from a large 
 experience, that if there is one thing more calculated 
 than another to bring the Clydesdale down from his 
 high pinnacle, it is this want of care in breeding ; 
 and as to you I have only to say that it is the rift in 
 your lute which may spoil its melody, the hole in 
 the bottom of your ship which may cause it to sink, 
 the fissure in the banks of your reservoir which may 
 some day lead to its being emptied. And if the 
 warning is required in respect of your horse-breeding, 
 it is not the less required in regard to your cattle- 
 raising. In your Highlanders, in your polled Angus, 
 in your Galloways, and to a slightly less extent in your 
 Ayrshires, you have a succession of breeds of wonder- 
 fully sound constitution, and remarkably free from 
 the scourge of scrofula, which has eaten, and is now 
 eating, the heart out of some of our best shorthorn 
 strains. 
 
 If there is one thing which has caused me more 
 amazement than another in connection with the 
 awarding of prizes to Clydesdales, it is the utter 
 neglect of all ordinary precautions to ensure that the 
 prize is given to animals of reasonably sound consti- 
 tution. In the ring, horses are often kept on the 
 short leet with constitutional defects so glaring that 
 even the veriest novice in veterinary science would 
 detect them in a moment, and order the horse's 
 groom " to stand aside " with him ; but the judges in 
 
1 6 The Breeding and Rearing of Anima:ls. 
 
 their wisdom prefer to give such animals " a chance," 
 and not infrequently are ultimately persuaded to 
 " to give them a place '' too, on the principle, I sup- 
 pose, that they " improve on acquaintance." 
 
 I have said elsewhere, and I repeat it here, that 
 this neglect of ordinary precautions to ensure that 
 prize-winners may be entrusted with the important 
 function of begetting sound animals, is likely to be 
 the rift in the lute of the Clydesdale breeder which 
 will spoil ' its melody ; and so long as agricultural 
 societies fail to recognise the important fact that it 
 is their duty to protect the breeding public from the 
 danger to which I refer, and so long as they allow 
 their stamp of approval to be put upon brutes unfit 
 for any other purpose save that of being deprived of 
 the power of propagating their species, and ending 
 their lives between the shafts of a cart or in the 
 plough, so long will the evil be perpetuated. If 
 animals were only bred for the purpose of turning 
 them over at two and three years old to outside pur- 
 chasers with more money than brains, the system of 
 breeding from unsound animals could not be pro- 
 ductive of any material harm ; but seeing that in the 
 long run the profit of the breeder must come from tlie 
 consumers, i.e., from those who require horses for 
 utility only, the utter carelessness so largely shown in 
 reference to unsoundness is rapidly bringing on " a 
 day of reckoning " for breeders of this class. It is 
 all very well for a man to say, when he has his horse 
 on his own farm, " Oh, it's only a bit side-bone ; " or, 
 "his hock is just a wee bit puffed." But the "bit 
 side-bone," and the "'wee bit puff," are very fre- 
 quently a curse to the owners of town horses, and 
 the farmer and contractor alike forget that what 
 
Equality in Size. i 7 
 
 may be a minor defect on land becomes a major 
 defect on the streets. 
 
 I must most emphatically declare that, in my 
 opinion, no animal, be he Clydesdale or any other 
 breed, should be awarded a prize as a stock-pro- 
 ducer if he has the slightest trace of constitutional 
 disease about him, and that every batch of judges 
 should not only be accompanied in the ring by an 
 attending member, but by a skilled veterinarian — or 
 two, more preferably — in large shows. 
 
 Of the heavy class of horses for town purposes 
 there is, it seems to me, a strange dearth at the 
 present time ; indeed, they are scarcely to be got 
 for money. Doubtless this can be explained to a 
 large extent on the hypothesis that every colt which 
 promises to develop into anything like a horse is left 
 entire, and after he has attained maturity, his owner 
 grudges to render him useful and valuable as a 
 gelding, no matter how unsuited he may be for the 
 purposes of procreation, and does all in his power to 
 sell him for a long price as a stock -getter ; his efforts 
 in this direction — by the aid of pedigree, trimming, 
 and fat — being frequently crowned with success. I 
 am strongly of opinion that every animal which, at 
 the age, of eighteen months or two years, shows a 
 lack of those points which go to make a valuable 
 sire should be castrated.] 
 
 Equality in size as between male and female is 
 another point to which I would particularly direct 
 your attention in choosing animals for the purpose of 
 breeding. Neglect or indifference in this tespect has. 
 caused many hours of suffering to animals, and much 
 pecuniary loss to breeders. You cannot expect if 
 you put, proportionately, a male elephant to a female 
 
 B 
 
1 8 The Breeding and Rearing of Animals. 
 
 pigmy that the latter will produce a pigmy too. 
 Depend upon it that the progeny — unless she 
 is a " weed " — will be out of all proportion to the 
 bearing and delivering capacity of the mother. If 
 you select a roomy, fully matured dam, proportion 
 between her and the sire in point of size is not of so 
 much importance ; but if you take a small virgin 
 female and put her to a disproportioned male you 
 must expect serious trouble at the time of parturi- 
 tion, and the range of this truth does not stop at 
 bodily development alone, it extends to dispropor- 
 tion in size of any particular organ (as the head) 
 also. Many years ago, while passing through the 
 period of pupilage, I well remember a stupid old 
 farmer putting a Leicester ram to a flock of Shrop- 
 shire Down ewes, with the result that in a large per- 
 centage of instances I had to ride several miles in 
 order to assist the ewes in giving birth, and in every 
 instance the element of obstruction to delivery was 
 the disproportionate size of the head of the off- 
 spring. 
 
 ^g^ again is a great factor in the attainment of 
 success in breeding. I am not one of those who hold 
 that great evils result from early breeding. I believe 
 if you have a vigorous and well-developed female, 
 that you may breed from her at any age with large 
 expectation of success, providing you mate her with 
 a matured and vigorous male. It holds good in all 
 creation ; and I was much pleased the other day to 
 see that one of our recent writers on this subject 
 (Captain Kerr) held the same views ; but if you take 
 a virgin female well advanced in years and expect 
 to get a robust and healthy offspring, you must not 
 be surprised and disappointed if your expectations 
 
Condition of Sire and Dam. 1 9 
 
 are not fulfilled. In the case of. old mares the first 
 produce is, in the majority of cases, puny, and very 
 frequently iftuch trouble is experienced before they 
 can be got to breed at all. 
 
 In the matter of late breeding, it is, I think, 
 an acknowledged fact that so long as a mare or a 
 cow shows a desire for the male and preserves a 
 healthy bodily condition, so long may you expect 
 that the progeny will be possessed of a large share 
 of vigour and capability of profitable development. 
 It is, on the contrary, only natural that if you choose 
 a sire in an advanced stage of senility, you must 
 expect mean, dwarfed, or puny offsprings. 
 
 On the subject of over breeding, much difference of 
 opinion exists as to how long a time should be allowed 
 to elapse after parturition before the female is put to 
 the male, and as to the wisdom of periodical breeding. 
 
 I apprehend that the system usiJially adopted, in 
 reference to the former question, of putting the 
 female to the male in the first return of oestrum is 
 largely sanctioned by custom, and however desirable 
 it may be to give a breeding animal a period of rest, 
 few breeders can afford to throw a brood mare idle 
 for twelve months or two years, and I candidly con- 
 fess I have never seen any reason to assume that 
 annual breeding is injurious either to the mare or 
 the cow. 
 
 Condition of Sire and Dam. — If there is one 
 element in the art of breeding less studied than 
 another it is (speaking in a general sense) the 
 element of condition. With many breeders any 
 kind of food or treatment is good enough for brood 
 animals ; the crumbs that fall from the tables of their 
 more fortunate brethren are sufficient for their wants 
 
20 The Breeding and Rearing of Animals. 
 
 — they neither require shelter nor clothing. Empha- 
 tically I say it, there is no greater mistake made in 
 connection with breeding animals than this, except 
 it is going to the opposite extreme, viz., over-forcing. 
 If you stint your brood animals in the matter of 
 feeding — giving them just enough to keep the life 
 within the body — you cannot expect them to have any 
 nutrition to spare for the second life they are called 
 upon to bear. Two animals cannot live and thrive on 
 a quantity of food sufficient only for one ; either one 
 or the other must suffer primarily, and both will 
 suffer in the end. Many there are who imagine that 
 a fat animal must necessarily be in a perfect state of 
 health ; it is nothing of the kind, it is only one 
 remove from disease, as neither its nervous nor its 
 circulatory apparatus can perform their natural 
 functions with any degree of vigour. How often do 
 we see breeding mares, cows, and ewes kept in a 
 state of absolute obesity, a mass of blubber, and yet 
 they are expected to breed without failure and to 
 bring forth perfectly developed and vigorous young; 
 while, in many instances, they will not hold to the 
 male, and if they do, they not infrequently bear 
 puny offsprings, and that too, for the simple reason 
 that (as the boy said to the stout lady with the lanky 
 dog) " She taks a' the meat to hersel'." If there is 
 a large development of internal fat there is, neces- 
 sarily, undue pressure exerted on the uterus, and 
 through it on the growing foetus. 
 
 If fat is a mistake in the female it is equally a 
 mistake in the male, and yet, how often do we see 
 people to whom is entrusted the choice of a stallion 
 to serve in a particular district go to a show and 
 choose a brute whose body is laden with fat. I 
 
Condition of Sire and Dam. 2 1 
 
 sometimes wonder what they would have thought of 
 the same animal if they had gone to his home a few 
 months prior to the date of the show and seen him 
 en deshabille? And yet, were this done, many an 
 unshapely brute would go a-begging for his season's 
 work. Fat may please the eye, but it hides many 
 faults, and fat animals are like fat babies, they are 
 only fit for show purposes, and there is not one old 
 stallion in a hundred who dies with an absolutely 
 sound liver ; and many young ones not only succumb 
 to fatty changes in this organ, but become the sub- 
 jects of founder, weed, and grease. Athletes when 
 in training don't load their bodies with fat, then why 
 should stallions and rams and bulls who are engaged 
 in the most athletic of all work be so over-bur- 
 dened ? 
 
 The evil of over-feeding extends beyond the 
 breeding season ; many fat ewes are lost from con- 
 gestion of the lungs during the period of utero- 
 gestation, especially if the weather is changeable, 
 and many fat cows become the victims of apoplexy 
 at the time of parturition, while few fat animals are 
 capable of withstanding the effects of adverse in- 
 fluences at this period. 
 
 In the case of over-forced bulls it is no uncommon 
 thing fcfr them to become the victims, during their 
 early youth, of laceration of the tendino-achilles, and 
 this is especially likely to take place when they are 
 put to serve disproportionately sized cows. 
 
 In selecting food for brood animals it must be 
 borne in mind that it is not material rich in the 
 elements of motor power that is particularly required, 
 they are not called upon (especially cows and ewes) 
 to perform excessive work, but merely to supply 
 
2 2 The Breeding and Rearing of A nimals. 
 
 suitable nutrition to the foetus for the growth of 
 muscle, nerve, bone, sinew and teeth; and this 
 cannot be got from hydro-carbons alone. If you put 
 ewes and mares in pastures the produce of which is 
 deficient in bone salts, and the elements required for 
 healthy brain and spinal development, you must not 
 be surprised if your lambs suffer from such diseases 
 as rickets and louping-ill, or your mares become 
 liable to spontaneous fracture of the limbs. On the 
 contrary, if you supply food rich in salts and hydro- 
 carbons, but deficient in the necessary elements for 
 the production of healthy blood and muscle, you 
 must not find fault if your ewes die from braxy or 
 milk fever, or your foals and lambs become the 
 victims of joint-ill. 
 
 A brood mare can no more bring forth a healthy, 
 vigorous foal, if fed largely on maize, than a ewe 
 can give birth to a healthy lamb if she is fed mainly 
 on turnips ; and remember this, that the more your 
 turnips are forced with artificial manures and ex- 
 cessive moisture, the less natural they are and the 
 less capable of supplying healthy blood for the 
 nutrition of dam and offspring. 
 
 The same remarks apply to tlie keeping of animals 
 on succulent, innutritious grasses, such as is often 
 found growing along water courses and in damp 
 spots in the hollows of hills. 
 
 Mouldy, musty, dusty and gravelly foods are all 
 totally unfit for breeding animals ; and may, both 
 directly by their action on the blood in the case of 
 moulds, and indirectly by producing indigestion 
 and sub-acute inflammation of the mucous membrane 
 of the stomach and bowels, in the case of dirt and 
 gravel, be the source of great injury. 
 
Proper Management in Feeding. 23 
 
 Improper management in feeding as in other ways 
 is often a cause of sterility, but I cannot in the scope 
 of a paper like this enter fully into this subject. I 
 can only refer to the most prominent and important 
 points in connection with it. 
 
 I take it, that you are all, as breeders, well aware 
 of the fact that, as a rule, a female twin calf is sterile 
 and is known as a "free marten." It is due to the 
 imperfect development, or total absence, of the 
 essential organs of generation ; a fact which was 
 well demonstrated a short time since in the case of 
 a twin calf forwarded to me by an old pupil, Mr 
 Richard Miller of Hornby, and dissected by my 
 colleague. Professor M'Fadyean. 
 
 Any congenital or acquired abnormality of the 
 generative organs sufficient to interfere with the 
 formation and discharge of ovarian fluid in the 
 female, and of semen in the male, and of their being 
 brought into contact for the purposes of impregnation, 
 will certainly produce sterility. Thus, if the hymen in 
 the virgin female is as strong as to resist laceration 
 by the penis of the male, or if the os uteri (the open- 
 ing into the womb) is impervious the semen cannot 
 pass into the uterus ; or if the penis of the male is 
 in any way malformed ; or if, in the ram, the delicate 
 prolongation, known as the vermiform appendix, has 
 been removed or destroyed, the semen cannot be 
 conveyed to its destination. I may observe that the 
 existence of such defects as those above mentioned 
 in breeding animals renders any bargain that may 
 have been entered into null and void. 
 
 In cows, sterility is frequently due to tubercular dis- 
 ease or to dropsy of the ovary. The former condi- 
 tion cannot be remedied, the latter may be so by an 
 
24 The Breeding and Rearing of Animals. 
 
 operation simple in itself, but only capable of being 
 performed by a veterinary surgeon. 
 
 Imperforate hymen and imperforate os uteri can also 
 be successfully dealt with by the veterinary practi- 
 tioner. 
 
 Very prolific causes of sterility are over-stimulation 
 and exhaustion of the male. The former is not so often 
 practised in other animals as it is, in the horse, the 
 latter is common in all animals. 
 
 Owners of stallions are, naturally, desirous of ob- 
 taining as many mares for their horses as they can 
 possibly get in a single season, and the result of this 
 is that not only legitimate but also illegitimate means 
 are resorted to for the attainment of the desired end. 
 It is quite a legitimate proceeding to keep a horse in 
 as perfect a state of condition as can be attained by 
 judicious and generous feeding, but it is not a legiti- 
 mate proceeding to produce a false or " Dutch 
 courage or desire " by means of the administration 
 of cantharides, and such like. By the aid of the 
 former a stallion may be able to perform the maxi- 
 mum of honest procreative work ; by the aid of the 
 latter he may seem to perform it, but the perform- 
 ance is an abortive one — it is "all cry and no wool." 
 As illustrative of what greed will lead a man to do 
 in this matter, I may relate an instance (gross cruelty, 
 too, it was) which came under my observation when 
 I was a pupil. 
 
 My preceptor, Mr Kettle of Market Drayton, was 
 asked by a well-known proprietor of stallions to per- 
 form the operation of neurotomy on a celebrated 
 horse, the subject ©f chronic founder, the object be- 
 ing to get as many mares covered by him that 
 season as possible. 
 
Exhaustion of the Male. 25 
 
 The owner was duly warned of the probable re- 
 sults of the operation, but he was deaf to the voice 
 of reason, he only desired gain. 
 
 The operation was performed, and strict injunc- 
 tions were given that the horse should not be over- 
 fed, and should not be allowed to serve a single mare 
 until at least three weeks from the date of the opei-a- 
 tion had elapsed. In less than a fortnight, by dint 
 of stimulation with cantharides, beans, eggs, &c., the 
 horse had covered eight mares, but it was at the cost 
 of mortification of both feet, and the loss of his life. 
 
 Exhaustion of the male is a matter which is far too 
 often overlooked. The fact of an animal being de- 
 sirous of copulation is no proof of his capability to 
 do so. He may, I again say it, appear to perform his 
 work, but he does not do it, and it is a well-known 
 fact that in the case of the stallion, the mares 
 covered at 'the close of the day's work are just those 
 that come back to him on the renewal of his round, 
 or that prove to be barren the following spring. In 
 connection with this subject a very interesting ques- 
 tion might be asked, viz., " How many females is it 
 fair to expect a male animal to serve in a single 
 season or in the course of twenty-four hours t " The 
 answer, in the natural order of things, could not be 
 a definite one ; various circumstances, as the breed, 
 condition and age of the male would have to be 
 taken into consideration. Nor does the question 
 refer so much to the bull or the boar as it does to 
 the stallion or to the ram. In the case of the two 
 first mentioned animals we are perfectly well aware 
 that they are not as a rule overworked in this re- 
 spect, and both of them have a great advantage over 
 the horse, at least in the superiority of their semen- 
 
26 The Breeding and Rearing of Animals. 
 
 secreting powers, owing to their relatively larger 
 testicles, while the sexual appetite of the bull is 
 practically insatiable. I am informed by Lord Pol- 
 warth that he has had bulls in his possession 
 who would serve a hundred cows in a year, but 
 that he considers such a proceeding a great 
 mistake. The opinions of stock owners vary very 
 materially as to the number of mares a horse is 
 capable of serving, and the same may be said in 
 reference to the ram. Not only from my own ob- 
 servations, but from that of others well versed in 
 these matters, I am quite satisfied that few heavy 
 horses are capable of "stinting" successfully more 
 than five mares in a single day. It is all very well for 
 a man to boast that his stallion has served eight, ten, 
 or twelve animals in a day, but how many of these 
 will return, or how many at the foaling time will be 
 found to be barren } or, if. they breed at all, how 
 many will be found to bring forth useless weeds .' 
 
 [Stallions that have been overbred. — General W. 
 H. Jackson, who paid £AfX)0 for "Iroquois," on 
 being asked if he would allow the horse to serve 
 mares outside those owned by himself, said : 
 " No ; I think not. I cannot spare his service to 
 outside mares. I do not want to breed to him more 
 than twenty-five mares anyhow, and I can supply 
 the twenty-five out of my own stud. That's enough 
 for any horse, at least such I have found by ex- 
 perience. When I first used 'Enquirer' he was very 
 popular. ' M'Whirter ' and ' Falsetto ' were fresh in 
 the public mind, you know, and being too greedy, we 
 bred him to nearly fifty mares each season. You 
 might have noticed (I know the public generally did) 
 
Stallions that have been Overbred. 2 7 
 
 that for a few years his colts and fillies did nothing 
 on the turf, and when I found it was affecting 
 the horse — he began letting down his pasterns — I 
 stopped it, bred him only to a few mares, and see 
 how well the Enquirers are now doing. Inspector 
 B. has run him up in the ' Winning Sires.' It was 
 the same with ' Priam,' the greatest English race horse 
 that ever crossed the Atlantic. Mr Merrit let him 
 cover 150 mares the first season in America, at ;£'20 
 each, and thus he got back the money he paid for 
 him. What was the result } Simply that ' Priam ' 
 was a failure, while before he left England his suc- 
 cess was tremendous. After he came to Tennessee 
 General Harding saw what was the matter, but it 
 was too late." 
 
 " Don't it strike you 'Mortemer' has been similarly 
 overbred .' " was asked. 
 
 " I have no doubt of it at all. I am told he covered 
 nearly fifty mares each season at Rancocas until 
 this. The result is his get have failed lately, and 
 everyone is down upon them. It's all a mistake. 
 'Mortemer' is a great horse. His getting such great 
 ones in France, and one like 'Wanda' here, proves 
 that such excessive covering will ruin any horse's 
 reputation. Consider a horse having to serve fifty 
 mares in a season. That means covering nearly 200 
 times in, a season, particularly if the mares be old 
 ones and keep on taking the horse. No ; no ; ' Iro- 
 quois' shall not be abused like that." — Extract from 
 " The Farming World" March 4th, 1887.] 
 
 In the matter of the ram very much depends on 
 breed. A fair complement of ewes for a Leicester 
 ram is about forty to fifty ewes ; and for a Cheviot 
 or blackfaced about sixty to seventy, but the Shrop- 
 
28 The Breeding and Rearing of Animals. 
 
 shire down is a perfect glutton in desire, and a 
 Hercules in ability — he being capable of accommo- 
 dating from eighty to a hundred ewes in a season, 
 providing he is generously treated ; and his superi-, 
 ority does not terminate here, as he is capable of 
 begetting more twins and triplets than is the male 
 of any other^ known breed of sheep. 
 
 I have it, on good authority, that in America 
 horses serve a far larger proportion of mares than in 
 this country, and this is accounted for by the fact 
 that the mares are not kept in suck high condition 
 as we keep them, and consequently are more 
 frequently impregnated at the first copulation, and 
 this in itself is a great saving of energy. 
 
 I apprehend that, in practice, the remark once 
 made to me in reference to the drinking powers of 
 an individual, by a celebrated Dublin professor, to 
 the effect " that it was not a question as to how much 
 a man could drink, but as to how much he could 
 stand," will apply also to the capabilities of indi- 
 vidual male animals in the matter of procreation. 
 One thing cannot be too strongly insisted upon, viz., 
 the advisability of protecting stallions against tmneces- 
 sary excitement, by taking care not to stable them in 
 too close proximity to oestral mares, and by not 
 worrying them with unsympathetic mares. It is 
 almost a pity that the same plan as that which is 
 adopted in connection with sheep, viz., the employ- 
 ment of " teasers," cannot be put in force in connec- 
 tion with horses. 
 
 In the mare, a little known cause of sterility exists, 
 viz., the blighting or perversion of the ovum, whereby 
 it becomes converted into a cyst, with membraneous 
 walls, which in some cases become calcified (i.e., bone- 
 
The Period of Utero Gestation. 29 
 
 like matter is deposited in them), and containing a 
 watery fluid — serum. These cysts are about the 
 size of a goose or ostrich egg, and are retained (pro- 
 bably in one horn of the womb) until a subsequent 
 parturition, when they are expelled with the foal. 
 They are attached to the uterus by a pedicle, the 
 analogue of the navel string or umbilical cord. 
 
 During the period of utero gestation many little 
 matters have to be thought of in order to ensure suc- 
 cess. The most important of these are, to keep 
 animals in a state of vigorous health ; to treat them 
 uniformly in the matter of feeding, not gorging them 
 one day and starving them the next ; to see that they 
 get regular exercise, and to avoid anything like over- 
 exertion, fatigue, or great excitement, and especially 
 to protect sheep from being chased by dogs ; to see, 
 in the case .of housed animals, that th«y are not ex- 
 posed to the effects of a vitiated or foul atmosphere, 
 and in the case of animals out of doors, that they are 
 protected against storms ; to guard against the ad- 
 ministration of irritant medicines, such as aloes and 
 powerful diuretics in the mare, and to relieve, with 
 all possible speed, abdominal pain, constipation, or 
 flatulence ; to guard against falling-down of the 
 vagina in pregnant, and eversion of the womb in par- 
 turient animals by keeping them, where it is prac- 
 ticable, on level pastures, and by attending to the 
 incline of the stalls. These precautions are especi- 
 ally called for in fat ewes and fat cows, in which 
 animals also endeavours should be made to reduce 
 their condition by moderate doses of non-irritant 
 purgative medicines, and by making them work for 
 their own living by depasturing them on moderately 
 bare pastures. 
 
30 The Breeding and Rearing of Animals. 
 
 Mares, it is well known, always do- best when they 
 are kept at light work up to the day of foaling ; and 
 if cows could be treated in the same manner, we 
 should hear less of that dreaded bovine malady, 
 milk fever. This disease can certainly be prevented 
 by attending to the surrounding conditions, by guard- 
 ing against over-feeding, and by withdrawing milk, 
 in the case of plethoric animals and heavy milkers, 
 immediately it is formed in the udder. 
 
 The two great banes of the stock-breeder are mal-pre- 
 sentations and abortion. Of the former there will 
 always be, in spite of the exercise of all possible care, 
 a certain proportion amongst a given number of 
 brood animals, but the percentage can be re- 
 duced to a minimum by carefully guarding them 
 against all forms of violence and excitement, and by 
 not permitting undue meddling at the period of 
 parturition. From a very extensive experience I am 
 enabled unhesitatingly to say (and I know I shall be 
 borne out in the statement by all veterinary practi- 
 tioners) that a large proportion of the cases of mal- 
 presentation that occur, and a large percentage of the 
 accidents attendant on parturition, are due to the ig- 
 norant meddling of so-called " knowing hands." If I 
 were to stop to relate all the instances of malprac- 
 tice it has been my lot to witness, I should keep you 
 not one, but many hours, before I exhausted the 
 list ; it is enough that I tell you that I have seen as 
 many as three ewes in one small flock of sheep die from 
 rupture of the womb as the result of the ignorant 
 groping of a man who possessed a fist comparable 
 in size with a leg of mutton ; and that I have seen a 
 so-called " knowing hand " insist upon pulling, with 
 all available force, upon the foot of a foal while yet 
 
The Causes and Prevention of Abortion. 3 1 
 
 the uterus of its mother was twisted. I maintain 
 that he who is guilty of gross malpractice of this 
 kind is equally as deserving of punishment as is 
 the midwife in similar circumstances. 
 
 One thing perhaps above all others, cannot be too 
 strongly impressed upon those engaged in the de- 
 livery of parturient animals, and that is the necessity 
 of adopting strict antiseptic precautions and of scrup- 
 ulous cleanliness. The life of many an animal has 
 been sacrificed from blood poisoning induced by 
 neglect of the attendant to cleanse and asepticize his 
 hands after having been engaged in removing a 
 putrefying foetus, or skinning and cutting up the 
 carcase of a dead animal. 
 
 It is an easy matter to keep at hand during the 
 breeding season a supply of carbolized vaseline 
 (i to 10 or 12), wherewith to smear the arms and 
 hands when engaged in the delivery of a foetus. 
 
 In reference to the causes and prevention of abortion 
 we have yet much to learn, but notwithstanding our 
 comparative ignorance, we know enough to enable 
 us to explain some, at least, of the forces in opera- 
 tion to produce it. 
 
 It is a curious fact that the cow is more often the 
 subject of this accident than any other animal, and if 
 we were to take into consideration her apparently un- 
 sympathetic nature and her sluggish habits, we should 
 wonder somewhat that this should be the case. From 
 long and close observation, I am enabled to say that 
 the cow is a far more sympathetic animal than she is 
 generally supposed to be, and that she is even more 
 susceptible to the influence of disturbing agencies 
 than are other females. 
 
 The general causes of abortion are numerous, and 
 
32 The Breeding and Rearing of Animals. 
 
 in most instances the death of the foetus precedes the 
 act, as those cases in which it is born alive and 
 well developed may be looked upon as premature 
 births produced by some disturbing influence of 
 an accidental nature, the effects of which have been 
 exerted on the uterus. 
 
 Causes of abortion are (a) maternal, ((5) fcetal. 
 
 Maternal Causes are (i)*accidents, (2) emotional 
 influences, (3) vital and pathological influences. 
 
 (i.) The accidents most likely to produce abortion 
 are contusions received in railway or sea travelling ; 
 kicks and blows ; goring by cattle ; rushing through 
 half closed doors or gates ; falling over embankments 
 or precipices ; rolling on to back naturally, or in the 
 agonies of colic in the case of the mare ; rolling on 
 the back in a hollow of a field, " rolling awald," Scot., 
 in the case of the ewe ; violent strains as in slipping 
 outwards or backwards of the hind legs, or negligence 
 in " throwing " and " turning " sheep for the purpose 
 of dressing the feet. Injuries may cause death 
 immediately by shock ; or secondarily, by extrava- 
 sation of blood (haemorrhage) between the womb and 
 placenta, or traumatic inflammation of the womb. 
 
 (2.) Emotional or Psychological. — These influences,it 
 is asserted by some, do not come into operation in 
 the lower animals, but this opinion does not accord 
 with my own experience. Fright, as the chasing of 
 sheep by dogs ; the effects of foul odours, as of that 
 of a retained placenta, or a decomposing or dead 
 foetus ; or fright by an animal being suddenly con- 
 fronted with some strange object, may each be ac- 
 credited as occasional causes of abortion. Theeff'ect 
 of fright was well exemplified a few years ago in the 
 case of a mare that aborted at Musselburgh, she hav- 
 
Vital and Pathological Causes. 33 
 
 ing been frightened by a steam tram car two days 
 before the abortion. Emotional influences are more 
 likely to be operative in the later than in the earlier 
 stages of pregnancy, and it is highly probable that 
 the modus operandi of such influences is the pro- 
 duction of convulsive movement in the uterus itself, 
 accompanied with, or followed by, dilatation of its 
 mouth. 
 
 (3.) Vital and Pathological Causes. — These are local 
 (organic) or systemic maternal disease, improper 
 management, the action of injurious drugs, and of 
 micro-organisms — germs. The local organic diseases 
 most likely to produce abortion are inflammation of 
 the womb — though less common in pregnant than in 
 parturient animals — produced by undue exposure, 
 chills, and other similar influences, abscesses in the 
 walls of the uterus, ulceration, in some cases produced 
 by gonorrhoea (bull-burnt) in the cow, cancer, 
 tumours and tuberculosis. The systemic disorders 
 are contagious or infectious diseases, such as influ- 
 enza and strangles in the mare, foot-and-mouth 
 disease, cattle plague, consumption, and pleuro- 
 pneumonia in the cow, sheep-pox in the ewe, 
 swine-fever in the sow ; and anthrax in all ani- 
 mals. In some of the above-mentioned cases, the 
 abortion is due to effusion of serum (dropsy) or ex- 
 travasation of blood between the placental membrane 
 and the uterine walls ; in others, to the fact that the 
 blood is so far altered in its vital and physical pro- 
 perties, as to be incapable of supporting the life of 
 the foetus ; in others, to the womb itself becoming 
 the seat of the local lesions of the disease : this is 
 most largely operative in consumption (tubercle), 
 which affection may be accredited as the cause of 
 
 c 
 
34 The Breeding and Rearing of Animals. 
 
 many more cases of abortion than is either ima- 
 gined or acknowledged. Another very important 
 systemic cause of absorption is a deteriorated or 
 depraved condition of the blood, produced by improper 
 feeding or indigestion. 
 
 This cause comes more frequently into operation 
 in the case of the sheep than in any other animal, 
 and I have frequently traced its effects, when the 
 cause of abortion in a flock of ewes was not under- 
 stood either by the owner or the shepherd, and, in 
 fact, has, by the former, been attributed to careless- 
 ness on the part of the latter in not cleansing his 
 hands after the delivery of a dead or aborted foetus ; 
 and I have even known an instance where the shep- 
 herd has been unjustly discharged. 
 
 Turnips grown with large quantities of artificial 
 manures and allowed in abundance, without a due 
 proportion of nitrogenized matter, as also sewage 
 or other succulent -grasses, are more largely to blame 
 than any other kind of food. 
 
 Indigestion may produce death of the foetus by 
 causing a deteriorated condition of the blood, or by 
 inducing over-gorging (impaction), colic, and tym- 
 pany. In the latter case the death may result from 
 the excessive pressure of the distended stomach and 
 bowels, temporarily suspending or interfering with 
 the venous circulation of the womb ; or from dimin- 
 ishing the oxidation of the maternal blood. Mouldy 
 foods may exert a specific influence on the womb, 
 through the agency of the mould spores on the blood. 
 And that this may be so, is rendered more pro- 
 bable by the light which has been recently thrown 
 on the systemic action of such fungi as the aspergillus. 
 And, indeed, it has been shown that the Ustilago 
 
Over^feeding. 35 
 
 Maydis (Corn Smut), Smut of Maize, produces 
 effects identical with those of ergot. Frosted 
 foods and food in a decaying or decomposing state, 
 foul air and impure water are each in their turn 
 highly injurious to pregnant animals. Some years 
 ago Professor Law, of Cornell University, put on 
 record some serious cases of illness in cows, produced 
 by the imbibition of water contaminated with the 
 products of putrefaction, and in the blood of his 
 patients he detected, microscopically, organisms 
 identical with those which he found in the drinking 
 water ; and a few months ago I saw an instructive 
 practical illustration of the effects of exposing preg- 
 nant cows to the evil influence of insanitary condi- 
 tions, two out of three cows aborting before it was 
 discovered that the air of the byre in which they 
 were housed was contaminated day and night with 
 foul exhalations from a veritable slough of filth, 
 which had been allowed to collect a little distance 
 from the building, and with which the untrapped 
 drains of the byre communicated. In the same byre 
 I detected the odour of putrefying uterine discharges, 
 though I was assured that everj^hing of the kind 
 had been carefully removed. 
 
 Over-feeding inducing plethora and organic (fatty) 
 changes in the liver ; and debility or an impoverished 
 condition of the ^/i?<?d? produced by organic disease of 
 important organs as the liver, lungs, kidneys, bowels, 
 or stomachs, by feeding on innutritious foods, aggra- 
 vated by exposure to the effects of inclement weather, 
 or by the continuance of such drains as over-breeding 
 or iti-breeding, the excessive secretion of milk, diabetes 
 or diarrhoea ; are in many instances productive of 
 abortion, and this too, not only by the injurious in- 
 
36 The Breeding and Rearing of Animals. 
 
 fluence exerted on the mother, but also on the tissues 
 of the fcEtus. 
 
 Abortion is sometimes produced by the specific or 
 indirect (reflex) action of medicinal and poisonous 
 agents, e.g., the ingestion of large quantities of salt 
 or of sulphate of iron given as condiments or tonics. 
 It has been known to follow the continued ingestion 
 of water impregnated with iron. It is produced by 
 the action of copper, lead and arsenic ; and is fre- 
 quently seen from these causes in the neighbourhood 
 of works in which these metals are manipulated for 
 manufacturing purposes, and the fumes from which 
 lodge upon and contaminate the herbage of the 
 fields on which pregnant animals are depastured. 
 
 Mares sometimes abort from the reflex irritation 
 produced by the action of an overdose of aloes as a 
 purgative ; and in these animals, too, the administra- 
 tion of savin for the purpose of destroying worms 
 has frequently been known to cause abortion, as has 
 also (in both mares and cows) the ingestion of savin 
 in its green state. 
 
 But of all the influences supposed to be at work 
 in the causation of this accident, two are at the 
 present time attracting paramount attention. They 
 are (i) the influence of ergot; (2) the influence of a 
 contagium or abortion germ. 
 
 The action of ergot {Claviceps purpurea) in pro 
 ducing abortion is now well understood. For a very 
 long period the members of the medical profession 
 have been familiar with the condition known as ergot- 
 ism, in which mortification of the lower extremities 
 with paralysis are prominent lesions. 
 
 Abortion, it was supposed, was produced by the 
 action of certain active principles contained in the 
 
Ergot-Abortion. 
 
 2>7 
 
 ergot, which had the power of producing violent 
 spasm of the uterus, this interfering with the circula- 
 tion and preventing the growth of the foetus ; again, 
 it was thought by some authorities that the death of 
 
 the foetus was due to con- 
 traction of the coats of the 
 small blood vessels, or to 
 degeneration of their tis- 
 sues ; but in the light of 
 recent experiments con- 
 ducted by Kobert it is now 
 tolerably certain that ergot 
 abortion is due to the violent 
 and continuous contraction 
 produced by the combined 
 action of an acid principle 
 (sphacelinic acid) and an 
 alkaloid (comutine). 
 
 The part played by ergot 
 in the production of abor- 
 tion has for long been a 
 matter of discussion, and 
 there are few who know 
 anything of its action on 
 the pregnant uterus who 
 will deny that it may be, 
 in some instances, the cause 
 of enzootic outbreaks of this 
 accident. 
 
 The extent to which 
 
 ergots protruding. "(3) Ergot enlarged. graSSeS may be afifcctcd 
 
 by the fungus is unsuspected by most breeders, 
 and it may be a surprise to many when I 
 direct attention to the statement of a well-known 
 
 (a) Spike of ergotised 
 
 with 
 
38 The Breeding and Rearing of Animals. 
 
 enquirer into this matter — Mr Brotherston of Kelso 
 — to the effect that he has discovered ergot in no 
 less than twenty-three (probably more) of our British 
 grasses ; and I have myself frequently walked 
 through grazing land in the late autumn, and plucked 
 numbers of bents of rye grass whose seed had become 
 €rgoted. On retentive soils in low lying pastures, in 
 damp foggy seasons, the fungus should be carefully 
 sought for, and, if discovered, pregnant animals 
 should be at once removed to other pastures, or the 
 bents mown down, carefully raked up, and burned. 
 
 In searching for the ergot, the body of the seeker 
 should be so far inclined as to enable him to look 
 aslant the heads of the grass stems, when, if present, 
 it will be seen as a black body about three-eighths 
 to half an inch long, projecting in a lateral direction. 
 There may be one only, or several on each spike. 
 
 The favourite spots in pastures for the growth of 
 the fungus are under trees, alongside hedges, and in 
 damp sheltered places. 
 
 The following grasses, according to Mr Brother- 
 ston, are liable to be attacked by the fungus : — 
 
 Agrostis vulgaris (fine bent grass). 
 
 Aira ccespitosa (tufted hair grass, " bull snouts "). 
 
 Airaflexuosa (waved hair grass). 
 
 Alopecurus pratensis (meadow fox- tail grass). 
 
 Anthoxanthum odoratum, (sweet vernal grass). 
 
 Avena elatior (false-oat grass). 
 
 Avena pratensis (narrow-leaved oat grass). 
 
 Briza media (common quaking grass). 
 
 Dactylis glomerata (cock's foot grass). 
 
 •Digraphis arundinacea (canary grass). 
 
 Festuea duriuscula (hard fescue grass. 
 
 Festuca elatior (tall fescue grass). 
 
Ergot- Abortion. 39 
 
 Festuca pratensis (meadow fescue grass). 
 
 Glyceria fluitans (floating meadow grass). 
 
 Holcus lanatus (meadow soft grass, or Yorkshire 
 
 fog). 
 
 Holcus mollis (creeping soft grass). 
 
 Lolium perenne (rye-grass). 
 
 Nardus striata (mat grass, " wire bent "). 
 
 Phleum pratense (cat's-tail grass, Timothy grass). 
 
 Poa -annua (annual meadow grass). 
 
 Poa pratensis (smooth-stalked grass). 
 
 Poa trivialis (rough-stalked grass). 
 
 Triticum. repens (couch grass). 
 
 Ergot, so called from its resemblance to the spur 
 of the cock, is the aborted seed of the rye and of some 
 grasses, the compact mycelium, or spawn of the 
 fungus known as the Claviceps purpurea of Tulasne, 
 or Oidium abortifaciens of Link. The following 
 botanical description of the fungus is from the pen of 
 my colleague, Dr Macfarlane, Lecturer on Botany in 
 the " Dick" College :— 
 
 " As shown in the accompanying illustration, ergot 
 appears as small, brown-black, horn-like growths, 
 projecting from the glumes of the infested grass. It 
 may vary under different conditions, and on different 
 species of grass, from a quarter to one and a quarter 
 inches in length, and when examined carefully with a 
 lens, it shows fine longitudinal striation. The ergot 
 developed, on the rye {Secale cereale) is that which 
 generally attains the largest size, and is most power- 
 ful in its physiological action. On transverse section 
 it is of a white or whitish red colour, and if a thin 
 section be examined under a high power of the mi- 
 croscope (300 diameters), it shows a very dense, 
 interwoven felt-work of cell filaments, with firm, 
 
40 The Breeding and Rearing of Animals. 
 
 yellowish, walls. By botanists the entire mass is 
 termed a sclerotium, and it represents only a stage in 
 the life-history of the fungus — ' Claviceps purpurea.' 
 In spring or early summer, previous to formation of 
 the sclerotium or ergot, a small, reproductive body or 
 spore, germinates in the cavity of grass-flowers, and 
 forms a loose mass of filaments round and over the 
 ovary of the flower, and from these spores are given 
 off which may spread to and infest other parts. This 
 has been called the sphacelia stage of the fungus. In 
 summer or autumn, however, the filaments grow 
 rapidly, become very densely interwoven, and spore 
 formation ceases. The sphacelia stage thus passes 
 into the sclerotium or ergot stage. The hard, dry 
 sclerotium may remain dormant for months, and thus 
 persists through winter, remaining attached to the 
 withered spikelets of grass, or falling to the ground. 
 In the succeeding spring, the claviceps stage is formed 
 by internal filaments of the now moist ergot bursting 
 through the wall, and forming stalks with a globular 
 head. In cavities of the latter numerous spores of an 
 elongated, thread-like shape develop, which, on reach- 
 ing young flowers of a grass, germinate and give rise 
 to the first or sphacelia stage. It will thus be seen 
 that ergot is the dormant and intermediate phase in 
 the history of a fungus, which propagates itself in two 
 ways." 
 
 According to Tulasne, " The first indication of the 
 presence of the fungus is the deposition of drops of 
 a yellowish, intensely sweet slime of fungous odour, 
 called honeydew, upon the ears. After a few days the 
 honeydew dries up, and meanwhile the soft ovaries 
 are pervaded by the white mycelium of the young 
 fungus; and become altered in structure, hypertro- 
 phied in growth, and assume a very dark, purple 
 
Ergot- Abortion. 41 
 
 colour, retaining, however, the original form of the 
 seed."— Royle's " Materia Medica." 
 
 One of the most elaborate papers which has ever 
 been written on the subject of ergot-abortion appeared 
 in the 22nd vol. of the Journal of the Royal Agricul- 
 tural Society of England from the pen of Dr C. J. B. 
 Johnson. Few men probably possess the enthusiasm, 
 or have at their disposal the time necessary, for 
 the carrying out of such an extensive enquiry as that 
 undertaken by Mr Johnson, and the facts related by 
 him go far towards strengthening the largely enter- 
 tained opinion, that ergot does, in some instances 
 at least, produce abortion in cows. 
 
 It is unnecessary for me in this place to refer at 
 length to Mr Johnson's report, further than to notice 
 several conclusions and facts of the highest import- 
 ance. These are : — 
 
 (i.) That a very large percentage of the cases in- 
 vestigated (upwards of 400) occurred within a limited 
 area on stiff clay-land. 
 
 (2.) That in adjoining light lands serious outbreaks 
 had not occurred. 
 
 (3.) That ergot was found on every farm where 
 abortions had recently taken place, when sought for 
 at a time that it would be visible if present. 
 
 (4.) That removal from known ergotized fields to 
 aftermath and to sheds (entirely) has, on several 
 occasions, cut short the disease. 
 
 (5.) That in all the serious outbreaks which took 
 place whilst the cattle were entirely indoors, some of 
 the hay then consumed was made late. 
 
 (6.) That in the only instances in the winter of 
 1885-86 where serious outbreaks occurred, both the 
 farmers had mown the surplus grass of a pasture late 
 on in the season. 
 
42 The Breeding and Rearing of Animals. 
 
 Mr Brotherston, of Kelso, pointed out in 1880 that 
 the later flowering grasses are the most subject to 
 ergot. 
 
 Seeing that ergot is found most abundantly (at 
 least in my experience) in damp spots and on reten- 
 tive soils, it is scarcely necessary to advise that such 
 places should be drained, or, where practicable, tilled 
 for several seasons, or mown twice in the year bfefore 
 the grasses are fully matured. Further, seeing that 
 the fungus cannot be perpetuated if its spores are 
 destroyed, the advisability of using salt and lime as 
 top dressings in the spring should be considered. 
 
 The fields may be depastured with sheep or horses 
 with comparative impunity, the former animals rarely 
 eating the bents if a bite is to be had at the roots, 
 and in the case of the horse, while I have known 
 several instances in which two or three cases of 
 paralysis of the lips, or partial paralysis of the limbs, 
 have occurred simultaneously in a stud, and believed 
 to be due to ergot in hay, I have not met with any 
 instance in which abortion in mares could be reason- 
 ably supposed to be due to this fungus. Sheep may 
 possibly pick up the fungus in the early spring when 
 biting close to the ground for a meal, but it is 
 questionable whether it possesses injurious properties 
 at this stage. 
 
 The question of contagion has for a very long 
 time had a place in the minds of scientific men and 
 others, but not until recently has any systematic 
 attempt been made to prove or to disprove its in- 
 fluence. It is assumed by those who have investi- 
 gated the subject that the contagious virus gains 
 access to the uterus by the vaginal canal, but, looking 
 at the firmly closed condition of the mouth of the 
 
Inoculating for Abortion. 43 
 
 uterus, and at the fact of its being during pregnancy- 
 protected by a very viscid mucus secretion, I think 
 the assumption is scarcely warranted. 
 
 The contagium has been described as a bacillus, a 
 minute, staff-like organism whose habitat is in the 
 uterine fluids, from which, according to some autho- 
 rities, it enters the blood. A veterinary surgeon at 
 Annaberg in Saxony — M. Charles Brauer — between 
 the years 1873 to 1882 inoculated with abortion fluids 
 thirteen supposed pregnant cows, and of these, it is 
 stated, eleven aborted between the ninth and four- 
 teenth day after the inoculation ; the remaining two, 
 it was afterwards shown, were not pregnant. The 
 same authority records cases in which he claims to 
 have prevented abortion, where it was threatened, by 
 injecting into the flanks of the cows a solution of car- 
 bolic acid at intervals of fifteen days, the cows at the 
 time of the injection being between five and seven 
 months in calf. 
 
 These experiments are, to say the least, of doubtful 
 utility, so far as proof either of the accident being 
 due to a contagium or of the preventive efficacy of 
 the agent is concerned. Carbolic acid would not be- 
 come absorbed into the system in sufficient quantity 
 to kill germs, seeing that it is not even when .brought 
 into direct contact with them in a diluted state a 
 very reliable germicide, and if it were injected in its 
 undiluted state, or only moderately diluted, it would 
 establish so much inflammatory action in the tissues 
 that its absorption would be prevented. 
 
 The abortive influences acting on the foetus itself 
 are mainly two — (i) inherent deficiency in the vita- 
 lity of its tissues or acquired deficiency transmitted 
 from the dam or sire and due to constitutional 
 
44 The Breeding and Rearing of Animals. 
 
 parental defects ; (2) disease of one or other of the 
 organs of the foetus, e.g., tubercle (of the intra- 
 uterine development of which there is now tolerably 
 abundant proof), congestions or inflammations ; and 
 as evidence of the fact that injurious influences are 
 exerted on the organs of the foetus, I may mention 
 an instance where, on making a post-mortem exami- 
 nation of a newly-born calf, I discovered a splendid 
 example of rotatory twist of the small bowel, its 
 structures also being intensely inflamed. 
 
 Many of the agencies already alluded to as exert- 
 ing an abortive influence on the mother are equally 
 operative on the foetus, e.g., mineral poisons and such 
 organic poisons as the virus of anthrax and allied 
 affections. Lead, copper, and arsenic undoubtedly 
 produce spasmodic contraction in the voluntary 
 muscles of the foetus, and also exert an injurious 
 influence upon the tissues of the important viscera, 
 though their influence is probably exerted most 
 largely on the uterus of the mother, as in causing 
 persistent contraction of its walls, thus interfering 
 not only with its blood supply but also with the 
 development of the foetus. Arsenic may act in- 
 juriously by inducing fatty degeneration of the cell 
 tissues in the womb as in those of other organs. 
 
 For a . long time the opinion was held that no 
 germs could gain access to the circulation of the 
 foetus from the blood of the mother, but this theory 
 has been now abandoned. Many years ago 1 dis- 
 covered the bacilli of anthrax not only in the blood 
 of lambs, but in the uterine fluids also in the case of 
 pregnant ewes that had succumbed to the affection. 
 
 In some cases the development of the ovum is 
 from some cause arrested, blighted, or perverted, and 
 
Signs of Abortion. 45 
 
 a remarkable production known as a mole (anidian 
 monster) results. These formations are usually in 
 the form of membranous sacs of a brown colour, 
 with or without hair on the external surface, and 
 sometimes having one or more teeth or imperfectly 
 developed bones connected with them. 
 
 Signs of Abortion. — While it is the fact that many 
 animals evince premonitory signs of the advent of 
 this accident, it is equally true that in other cases 
 no such signs are presented. Thus an animal may 
 be apparently in a perfect state of health one day, 
 or even one hour, and abort the following, and that 
 too without suffering any diminution or perversion 
 in the performance of the natural functions, though 
 undoubtedly this more frequently happens in the 
 mare than it does in the cow or the sheep. The 
 existence of such signs will depend largely upon the 
 cause and nature of the abortion. If the force which 
 gives rise to it has , been exercised energetically, as 
 for example sudden fright or violent uterine con- 
 tractions induced by the action of some special 
 uterine stimulant, there may be absolutely nothing 
 noticed amiss with the animal until the foetus is 
 found lying at her heels; on the contrary, if the 
 foetus has been dead for some time, premonitory 
 signs will be presented, though this is not in all 
 cases absolutely true, and will depend upon the 
 simple (and largely unrecognised) fact of the admis- 
 sion or non-admission of atmospheric air into the 
 womb. If the mouth of the uterus dilates and air 
 gains admittance to its cavity, putrefaction will be 
 set up, and the foetus, as also its membranes, will 
 undergo decomposition, evidence of which will be 
 forthcoming in the discharge of a foetid, glary- 
 
46 The Breeding and Rearing of Animals. 
 
 looking fluid from the generative passages, and by 
 more or less straining (heaving pains) ; while in the 
 animal herself, symptoms of constitutional disturb- 
 ance in the shape of unthriftiness, listlessness, and 
 interference with the digestive functions will be 
 manifested. But if, on the other hand, dilatation of 
 the OS has not taken place, the foetus may lie in the 
 womb for months or years, and the fact that the 
 animal has ever been pregnant be entirely forgotten 
 until the butcher's knife reveals the fact that the 
 uterus contains a mummified foetus. 
 
 Prevention of Abortion. — Under this head it might 
 be considered that it would be sufficient to say that 
 the prophylactic methods to be adopted are indicated in 
 the consideration of its causes, but while this is to a 
 large extent true, this summary dismissal of the sub- 
 ject would scarcely be satisfactory to most people. 
 Undoubtedly, the most important question to be 
 considered in connection with the prevention of 
 abortion is, from what cause has it arisen } and if the 
 nature of the cause is clearly recognised, we may, by 
 its avoidance in the future, have gained half the 
 battle ; but there are other subsidiary and highly im- 
 portant questions to be considered, and most pro- 
 minent amongst these are : (i) ' The influence which 
 an abortion is likely to exert on tlie aborting animal in 
 the case of a future pregnancy ; and (2) The probable 
 effects of the accident upon susceptible individuals of 
 the same or other species with which the subject of 
 abortion may be cohabiting. 
 
 While it is a fact that in many instances abortion 
 exercises such a disturbing influence.upon the womb 
 as to predispose to abortion not only for an imme- 
 diately succeeding, but for several successive preg^ 
 
The Legal Aspect of Abortion. 47 
 
 nancies, it is equally true that many animals which 
 have once aborted, again become successfully im- 
 pregnated, and pass through the period of utero- 
 gestation without a repetition of the accident. But 
 while recognising this, the fact that the occurrence of 
 abortion predisposes to a repetition of the accident, must 
 not be lost sight of. . 
 
 That the immediate proximity of an aborting 
 animal, or even of an animal suffering from retention 
 of the placenta, with others that are pregnant is 
 highly prejudicial will be generally conceded, but it 
 is necessary that we should go further than this, and 
 recognising the fact that such a proceeding is exces- 
 sively dangerous, we should take steps to effectually 
 remove every source of contamination from the 
 vicinity of healthy pregnant animals ; not only so, 
 but every particle of contaminated manure, litter,, 
 and fodder should be disinfected or destroyed, and 
 the floors, fittings and drains thoroughly cleansed 
 and disinfected ; the aborting animals, and also those 
 with retained placentae, should be isolated, and the 
 uterus and its contents carefully disinfected by the 
 injection, twice or thrice daily, of some disinfecting 
 solution, such as that of Condy's fluid, chloride of 
 lime, or carbolic acid. 
 
 The legal aspect of abortion has not as yet received 
 much consideration, in fact I am not aware that any 
 legal proceedings bearing on the subject have ever 
 been taken, except on a recent occasion at the 
 close of last year, in the Lanarkshire Sheriff 
 Court. 
 
 The matter is surrounded by many difficulties, nor 
 can I see how any authoritative legal decision can be 
 arrived at until the question of contagion has been 
 
48 The Breeding and Rearing of Animals. 
 
 definitely settled, and even if this were done it would 
 rest with the complainant to show that no other cause 
 than contagion had been in operation. 
 
 Even if it is ultimately proved that abortion is 
 contagious, I imagine a purchaser would have little 
 remedy in an action for damages unless he could 
 show that abortion had been prevalent in the seller's 
 «tock, and further, that the seller had made a declara- 
 tion to the effect that his stock was healthy, or that 
 no disease had existed on his farm. The dictum of 
 the Sheriff of Lanarkshire, " that the fullest informa- 
 tion ought to be given by a seller to a purchaser," is 
 an admirable moral maxim, but if it is law, and if it 
 were followed out to its legitimate conclusions, the 
 seller of an unsound horse (even if he does not 
 warrant him) should surely be responsible if he fails 
 to impart any knowledge he may possess as to the 
 existence of a defect to the purchaser. 
 
 The argument that a seller who has only had a 
 cow in his possession for a short time, and who knows 
 nothing as to her antecedents, cannot be held to have 
 wilfully suppressed information is intelligible, but, it 
 may be asked, where in this case is the purchaser to 
 seek for a remedy .'' In the case referred to, it was 
 shown that a cow which had aborted while herded 
 with the cow that was supposed to have been the 
 means of infecting the purchaser's stock, had been 
 sold to another person, and introduced by him 
 amongst his other stock without any resulting in- 
 jury. 
 
 The question of contributory negligence would most 
 certainly come to the front if abortion were recog- 
 nised as an infectious or contagious malady, for it 
 would then be held that the purchaser, equally with 
 
Treatment at Parturition. 49 
 
 the seller, ought to be aware of the fact, and it would 
 be incumbent upon him to put into force all necessary 
 measures to arrest the spread of the infection im- 
 mediately a cow aborted. 
 
 The dictum that the symptoms of abortion are 
 patent to all persons accustomed to cows is utterly 
 absurd, and could only have been laid down by a 
 person quite unaccustomed to cows. That animals 
 do sometimes show premonitory symptoms of abor- 
 tion, and symptoms, too, of a cognizable character, is 
 undeniable, and has already been shown ; but in how 
 many instances do mares come into the stable from 
 work in anapparently healthy condition and abort in 
 a few hours, aye, even in a few minutes afterwards } 
 And cows very frequently appear to the attendant 
 in a state of absolute health the day prior to abortion ; 
 nay, more, in how many cases does post mortem ex- 
 amination reveal the fact that the foetus has been dead 
 and become mummified, and has been, unsuspectedly, 
 in that condition, not only for months, but years .' 
 
 Treatment of Mother and Offspring at Parturition. 
 — When one devotes one minute's thought to the 
 matter, he is struck with the difference in the care 
 taken of parturient animals as compared with that 
 bestowed on the human female under similar circum- 
 stances ; but it is said that circumstances alter 
 cases, and in this instance the saying is quite 
 apropos. 
 
 The more- domesticated an animal becomes, the 
 greater the amount of interference will it brook at 
 the period of giving birth. 
 
 Injudicious fussiness is, however, distasteful to all 
 animals, if we except the cow, at this period ; and 
 he who pays a too demonstrative attention to the 
 
50 The Breeding and Rearing of Animals. 
 
 mare or sow must be prepared for unpleasant 
 results. 
 
 Even the ewe isolates herself, and until she has 
 striven in vain to perform this natural act, she 
 prefers man's absence to his presence. But while 
 this is so, there is not, neither should there be, any 
 period of a stock-breeder's life during which he 
 requires to exercise so much vigilance and at the 
 same time to pay such unobtrusive attention to his 
 stud, his flock, or his herd as in the breeding 
 season ; and most assuredly his vigilance will be 
 rewarded. 
 
 It is the simple truth to say that many thousands 
 of animals and very large sums of money are 
 annually lost by inattention and ignorance at this 
 most critical of all periods of the lives of our 
 domestic animals. 
 
 In a state of nature, it may be said, animals 
 require no care ; then why make so much' fuss about 
 our mares, our sows, or our ewes .' The answer 
 obviously is, that we are not dealing with animals 
 under natural conditions but in a state of domesti- 
 cation. 
 
 The ewe and the sow, as a rule, do not require 
 nor do they receive any particular attention at par- 
 turition so long as matters take a natural course, but 
 custom, if not some wiser teaching, has led to the 
 adoption of certain rules in reference to the mare 
 and the cow. In the case of the former animal we 
 certainly do very little beyond seeing that she is not 
 unduly exposed to the effects of cold or cold and 
 wet, that she is allowed a good roomy loose-box 
 with a short bed, and that she is supplied with a 
 drink of oatmeal and water or of gruel, or with a 
 
Treatment at Parturition. 5 1 
 
 succulent mash. The placenta is usually born 
 with the foetus, or immediately thereafter, and the 
 subsequent uterine discharges are very insignificant. 
 The same, too, may be said of the ewe and the 
 sow. 
 
 The cow, however, is in the great majority of 
 instances tied by the neck to a stake, and is only 
 allowed sufficient space wherein to lie down and rise, 
 and sometimes she is even denied that luxury. 
 
 It is natural to her and to the ewe that they 
 should be allowed to lick the skin of their offspring, 
 but man's ingenuity often steps in and prevents this 
 natural and instinctive act, with the result that he is, 
 ignorantly and unconsciously it may be, damaging 
 both mother and offspring. 
 
 The act of licking affords a healthy stimulus to 
 the nervous system of the mother, and it most 
 certainly assists in restoring the equilibrium of the 
 circulation, while it dries and stimulates the skin 
 of the young and thus ensures the free contact of 
 the atmosphere, which acts as a natural and neces- 
 sary, though reflex, stimulus to the muscles of respi- 
 ration thereby ensuring perfect inflation of the lungs. 
 If this is not brought about, a portion of the lungs 
 will remain in a collapsed condition and in this way 
 the foundation for future lung mischief is laid. The 
 same result is also brought about by allowing ewes 
 to give birth on dirty wet fields, as it is also by ex- 
 posing the newly born lamb to the effects of biting 
 winds, especially if they are accompanied by rain or 
 if there is much ground moisture. 
 
 It may be laid down as an axiom that lambs, like 
 sheep, will stand a tolerably low degree of cold, but 
 that cold and wet combined exercise a very injurious 
 
5 2 The Breeding and Rearing of Animals. 
 
 efifect upon their delicate constitutions. Many of 
 tlie so-called cases of joint-ill and of swung back — 
 spinal paralysis — can be traced to this cause, inflam- 
 mation of the lining {synovial) membrane of the 
 joints, and congestion and inflammation of the serous 
 investment of the spinal cord (and as a consequence 
 effusion of serum — dropsy) resulting therefrom. 
 Poorness of the mother's milk in the first place, and 
 a poor quality of pasture in the second, favour the 
 production of these lesions and aggravate them. 
 
 In the case of the calf it is a common plan in 
 some districts to scatter a little salt or oatmeal on 
 the skin inmiediately at birth, and while it is not 
 absolutely necessary, no objection can be urged 
 against its adoption, and both salt and oatmeal are 
 relished by the cow at this period. Some people 
 also withdraw the surplus milk from the udder of 
 the mother and give it to her to drink ; to this pro- 
 ceeding also there can be no objection, as although 
 in a state of nature the cow could not obtain a 
 drink of milk, it can do her no harm, and it is 
 highly nutritious, and is usually partaken of with 
 a relish. 
 
 In the case of cows intended for dairy purposes 
 only, and where the calf is a secondary consideration, 
 it is a common practice to remove the calf imme- 
 diately it is born ; arid the reason given for doing so, 
 is, that to allow the calf to suck damages the mother 
 and interferes with her milking capabilities. 
 
 There is no more mistaken idea entertained by 
 stock-breeders than this, and there are absolutely no 
 grounds for such a statement. If the cow is required 
 for dairy purposes, it can do her no harm to allow 
 the calf to suck for the first few days, as thereby the 
 
Treatment at Parturition. 53 
 
 secretory activity of the udder is stimulated, and not 
 only is congestion, and, as a result, inflammation of 
 the organ warded off; but milk fever is, to a very 
 large extent, prevented. The necessity of allowing 
 the calf to suck is greater in fat than in lean animals, 
 and if, with this, they were allowed a moderate 
 amount of exercise, carefully fed, and the bowels 
 kept in a relaxed state, we should hear much less 
 frequently of milk fever supervening upon parturition 
 than we now do. Moreover, the ingestion of the first 
 milk secreted is a necessity to the well-being of the 
 calf, as it contains a natural purge {colostrum), which 
 has the effect of facilitating the free evacuation of 
 the foetal dung {meconium) from the bowels. 
 
 Interference with the umbilical cord is not, as a 
 rule perhaps, called for ; but the want of paying a 
 little attention to it is frequently the cause of serious 
 results, not so much on account of any danger that 
 may arise from bleeding, but rather that the clot of 
 blood formed in the vein is a splendid pabulum for 
 the development of septic germs which always gain 
 access to it through the medium of the air. If the 
 blood of the young animal is in a healthy state, and 
 it is in itself vigorous, no harm results ; but if, on 
 the contrary, as frequently happens, the blood is not 
 in a healthy state owing to the mother's system 
 being unhealthy from improper feeding or otherwise, 
 septic processes are set up which produce mortifica- 
 tion of the structures of the navel {navel-ill) and 
 septic inflammation of the umbilical vein followed 
 by septic inflammation of the joints, and death as a 
 consequence. 
 
 Another important result of neglecting the um- 
 bilical cord, is the condition known as perforate um- 
 
54 The Breeding and Rearing of Animals. 
 
 bilicus, i.e., the constant passing of urine through the 
 navel. 
 
 All these evils can be avoided by the simple 
 precaution of tying a piece of carbolized silk thread 
 or twine round the cord immediately at birth, or as 
 soon thereafter as circumstances will allow. 
 
 I am quite aware that it may be urged, and justly 
 so too, that such a procedure would be, in the case of 
 hill sheep, impracticable. I acknowledge this, 
 but it is not amongst this class of animals that 
 the great losses accruing from navel neglect occur, 
 but rather amongst animals that have been in- 
 judiciously fed upon artificially forced roots or upon 
 cakes. 
 
 It often happens that the foetus is at the time of 
 birth in a very exhausted condition, and in conse- 
 quence the respiratory efforts are feeble and even 
 abortive. In such cases it should be placed in such 
 a position as to ensure a plentiful supply of fresh air. 
 Artificial respiration, by alternately elevating and de- 
 pressing the shoulder of the uppermost fore-leg, 
 should be had recourse to, with vigorous friction with 
 hay wisps to the skin, and as soon as possible 
 a diffusible stimulant, as spirits or sweet nitre, in a 
 little warm milk should be administered. 
 
 The mother, too, in all protracted cases of labour 
 should be supported with stimulants and nutrients, 
 none being better than good sound ale or whiskey 
 and milk ; and, after delivery, a dose of laxative 
 medicine, combined with a diffusible stimulant, and 
 an opiate should be administered. 
 
 In reference to the afterbirth or placenta, no thought 
 need be given to it in the mare, the ewe, or the sow ; 
 but in the cow, judicious force should be employed 
 
The Feeding of Young Animals. 55 
 
 for its removal if it is not passed spontaneously 
 within an hour or two after parturition. Even in 
 this simple matter, how.ever, much harm may be 
 done by injudicious haste, especially in those cases 
 where the system is below par or the animal herself 
 is exhausted. Under these circumstances any 
 attempt at forcible removal may act as an exciting 
 cause to eversion of the womb, or even to the de- 
 velopment of milk fever or convulsions. 
 
 If the placenta is not expelled within a few hours 
 the cow should be isolated and means adopted to 
 facilitate its expulsion ; in addition, antiseptic solu- 
 tions should be injected into the uterus in order to 
 prevent decomposition, and, if it is not got rid of in 
 the course of three or four days, it should be removed 
 by manual force. 
 
 It may be noted that retention of the placenta is 
 more frequent in premature than in natural births, 
 and that in all cases the decomposing membranes, as 
 also the discharges, should be carefully disinfected 
 and removed from all possible contact with par- 
 turient or pregnant animals. 
 
 The Feeding of Young Animals, — In the case of 
 young animals running with their dams little need 
 be said, except that the food of the nurse should be 
 generous and of good quality ; that it should con- 
 tain sufficient material for the nourishment and 
 building up of the bones ; and that it should be 
 given regularly. 
 
 It sometimes happens that mares are, from vari- 
 ous causes, kept away from their foals for several 
 hours, and in some instances the foal is allowed to 
 suck while the mother is in a state of perspiration, 
 and the udder distended with milk. The result of 
 
56 The Breeding and Rearing of Animals. 
 
 this is an altered condition of the milk, which pro- 
 duces derangement of the stomach and bowels of 
 the foal. In no case should the foal be allowed 
 access to the mare until she has cooled down, and 
 until a little of the stored-up milk has been with- 
 drawn. It frequently happens also that in sucking 
 calves, foals, lambs, and pigs, marked stomach and 
 bowel derangement, and, as a result, diarrhoea and 
 flatulence is produced without any assignable cause ; 
 but a cause does exist, and that, too, outside the 
 young animal. There is something wrong with the 
 mother, and that something requires to be put right 
 by altering th€ feeding, and by administering correc- 
 tive medicines. Only a short time ago my advice 
 was asked in reference to the occurrence of numerous 
 deaths of calves in a valuable herd in Northampton- 
 shire. I advised (after every other treatment had 
 failed) that the calves be brought up artificially on 
 skim milk with lime-water, and the result was highly 
 satisfactory. In the case of cows whose calves are 
 not allowed to remain constantly by their side, the 
 latter should be allowed to suck at least three or 
 four times during the twenty-four hours, instead of, 
 as so often happens, twice a day. 
 
 In the artificial rearing of young animals it should 
 be borne in mind that in them digestion is very 
 active, but at the same time it is of limited capacity, 
 and consequently they should be supplied with food 
 at short intervals, and not be allowed to overgorge 
 themselves. The neglect of these precautions leads 
 to indigestion, flatulence, and diarrhoea. Moreover, 
 when they are allowed to become hungry, the food 
 is bolted, and in consequerice is not subjected to the 
 chemical action of the saliva. In the selection of 
 
The Artificial Rearing of Young Animals. 57 
 
 food for very young animals, due regard should be 
 paid to their digestive capabilities by selecting mate- 
 rials the constituents of which approximate as closely 
 as possible to those of their natural food. Milk is, 
 par excellence, food for the young ; and in the case of 
 calves no absolutely adequate substitute can be 
 found for the milk of the cow, while in the case of 
 the lamb and the foal the difference in the chemical 
 composition of the milk of the cow (the usual source 
 of nourishment for these animals), as compared with 
 that of the ewe and the mare, should be kept in 
 mind. Thus the three important constituents in 
 milk (albuminoids, fat, and sugar) exist in larger 
 proportion in the milk of the ewe than in that of the 
 cow ; while the milk of the mare, as compared with 
 that of the cow, is deficient in albuminoids and fat, 
 but is richer in sugar. There is probably no better 
 -substitute for milk than a decoction of linseed with 
 good, well-boiled oatmeal gruel and a little sugar. 
 Wheat flour is an admirable food, but apt to cause 
 indigestion if it is not properly cooked ; while for 
 fattening purposes, maize flour surpasses all other 
 meals. 
 
 If much milk is allowed, it should be mixed with a 
 fair proportion of lime-water, this agent being a 
 harmless corrective of acidity, and at the same time 
 it prevents decomposition, and supplies lime in a 
 soluble state for the building up of osseous tissue. 
 
 The value of malt in the feeding and fattening of 
 young animals seems to be largely overlooked. Pro- 
 bably this is due to the fact that few, except scien- 
 tific persons, know anything about its action on milk 
 and on farinaceous foods. 
 
 Malt possesses the property, by virtue of a fer- 
 
58 The Breeding and Rearing of Animals. 
 
 ment which it contains — diastase- — of converting 
 starch into dextrin and malt sugar (maltose), and by 
 mixing a small quantity of the malt meal (one, two, 
 or three table-spoonfuls) with a diet of cooked fari- 
 naceous matter after it has been allowed to cool, 
 digestion is greatly assisted, and flatulence and 
 diarrhoea are averted. In using malt in this way, 
 care must be taken not to subject it to heat, as 
 thereby its diastasic property is dissipated. Infusion 
 of malt may be substituted for meal if it is thought 
 desirable, 
 
 Pancreatin and Liquor Pancreaticus (preparations 
 manufactured from sweetbread) — like malt, possesses 
 the power of converting starch into dextrin and sugar, 
 but, in addition, they possess the equally valuable pro- 
 perty of converting the nitrogenous (albumen and 
 fibrin) constituents of foods into peptones, and of first 
 curdling then peptonising milk thereby facilitating 
 the digestion and assimilation of these foods. 
 
 The expense of pancreatin is a bar to its general 
 use, neither is it required so long as young animals 
 are healthy and their powers of digestion vigorous. 
 In weaklyanimals, especially valuablefoals and calves, 
 it is invaluable, and may be added to a meal of milk 
 or prepared food in quantities of one or two teaspoon- 
 fuls, combined with a little bicarbonate of soda. 
 
 Of not less value is Pepsin, a digestive ferment 
 found in the true stomach of the calf and the stomach 
 of the pig. Unlike pancreatin, however, it only acts 
 in acid media, and the most convenient form in which 
 to use it is as pepsine-wine (vinum pepsin). It may be 
 given in doses of a dessert to a table spoonful, prior 
 to meals, to calves and foals. 
 
 The preparation known as Lactina has been of late 
 
The Artificial Rearing of Young Animals. 59 
 
 much extolled as a food for young animals. Practi- 
 cally I know nothing as to its value, but judging 
 from its composition and the favourable reports I 
 hear of it, I should recommend that a trial be given 
 by those who have not done so. 
 
 Eggs are not sufficiently utilized in the feeding 
 of young animals. In all delicate subjects they may 
 be given with benefit by beating them up (raw), and 
 mixing them with milk, taking the precaution to add 
 a digestive if required. 
 
 The old-fashioned method of giving flour balls — a 
 mixture of wheat-flonr, raw eggs, and gin — has much 
 to recommend it, and I can personally vouch for its 
 value in the artificial rearing of weakly calves. 
 
 Parrish's Syrup of Phosphates (chemical food). 
 Glycerine and Cod Liver Oil should each, in turn, or 
 in combination, play an important r61e in the rearing 
 of the young. 
 
 Parrish's syrup may be given in doses of one or two 
 teaspoonfuls, either in water before meals, or, providing 
 digestion is fairly good, with the meal. Glycerine 
 may be given in doses of a dessertspoonful to two 
 tablespoonfuls two or three times a day, and is par- 
 ticularly valuable in colts whose system is below par 
 from being reared on poor lands. The same may be 
 said of cod liver oil. Both the latter agents, however, 
 must be used cautiously if derangement of the bowels 
 exists. 
 
 Salt and Sugar are splendid adjuncts to materials 
 used as foods for the young, but it must be borne in 
 mind that the former acts, in over doses, as an irri- 
 tant; while the latter, in too large quantities, is 
 apt to act as a purge. In the feeding and manage- 
 ment of young animals, capable of digesting ordinary 
 
6o The Breeding and Rearing of Animals. 
 
 foods and of getting, as it were, their own living, I 
 cannot too strongly impress upon breeders the neces- 
 sity that exists of dealing generously by them. 
 
 Thousands of young animals are annually lost by 
 the adoption of a policy of false and niggardly 
 economy, thousands again are converted into useless 
 and miserable weaklings ; while, on the contrary, 
 hundreds of so-called rittlings are, by careful and 
 judicious management, brought out as strong, vigor- 
 ous and healthy adults. 
 
 As in brood animals so here, it is not fat you want, 
 it is stamina, and this can only be obtained by pro- 
 tection and by the allowance of food sufficient in quan- 
 tity and quality to manufacture muscle, sinew, teeth, 
 and bone, and by ensuring sufficient exercise to pre- 
 serve a healthy tone of the system without inducing 
 exhaustion and debility. 
 
 If young animals are exposed to the influence of a 
 continued low temperature, a large proportion of the 
 hydrocarbons of the food is used up for the purpose 
 of supplying the necessary internal heat, while much 
 of the latter, when produced, is lost by radiation. 
 
 But while I recommend the protection of young 
 animals against inclement weather, I cannot too 
 strongly condemn the utter want of sanitary arrange- 
 ments that one sometimes sees in the construction of 
 covered courts and sheds. Bad drainage, foul air, 
 draughts and hot manure are frequently combined to 
 exert their deleterious effects upon the systems of 
 young animals, producing, as they do, blood poison- 
 ing, rheumatism and a host of other evils. 
 
 [In dealing with sanitation, viz., " The sanitary 
 arrangement of the buildings used for the housing 
 of animals and the supply of food to animals," I 
 
The Artificial Rearing of Young Animals. 6i 
 
 would first observe that it seems somewhat remark- 
 able that in this advanced period of the history of 
 the world there should be any room for adverse 
 criticism on our knowledge of such subjects ; but 
 such is the case, and we must deal with it. One 
 would think that at least an elementary knowledge 
 of sanitation was possessed by all stock-owners, but 
 it is a branch of their education which seems to 
 have been woefully neglected, or some of them have 
 not taken advantage of the opportunities afforded 
 to them of becoming acquainted with its details. 
 In this age of economical science, everything is 
 sacrificed to gain, and sanitary laws are sometimes 
 set at naught in order that one product of the farm 
 shall be rendered as valuable as possible, even 
 though it may be at the expense of the health and 
 comfort of the animals which are made to contribute 
 to this enhanced gain. I refer to the system which 
 has recently sprung up of " feeding animals upon 
 dunghills under cover." In the experience of the 
 past, all feeding and breeding establishments had 
 their wintering sheds supplied with outer courts. In 
 the sheds themselves the animals were supposed to 
 obtain a comfortable and dry bed, free from the 
 effluvia and moisture of the dunghill ; while in the 
 latter they obtained the amount of exercise necessary 
 to keep them in health, and at the same time were 
 the means of preparing a large quantity of valuable 
 manure for use on the farm. Now, the idea in some 
 districts seems to be to feed them and house them 
 night and day under the same roof, allowing their 
 liquid and solid excreta and all waste feeding 
 material to accumulate in one seething heap, reeking 
 of all the vile odours that can possibly be manu- 
 
62 The Breeding and Rearing of Animals. 
 
 factured, and steeped from its foundation to its 
 surface with liquid filth. 
 
 This description may seem an exaggeration to 
 some who have not witnessed it, but it is within the 
 truth. I have within the present year (1884), in this 
 country, seen one of the finest cattle sheds a man 
 could wish erected, with from two to nearly four 
 feet of semi-solid manure, saturated with urine and 
 in a vile state of decomposition, accumulated on its 
 floor, and the liquid filth collecting in holes made 
 for the purpose here and there over its area ; while 
 around its outer sides the same material was quietly 
 oozing out and flowing unchecked over the gang- 
 ways, and even into the adjacent byres. I have 
 seen cows standing with their blood at such a fever 
 heat as to send the temperature up to 103-4 degs. F.; 
 and young stock confined in a place which could 
 only have been beaten for its insanitary condi- 
 tion by the black hole of Calcutta ; with every 
 possible inlet and outlet of air and very nearly 
 all light blocked out and the urine of the animals 
 allowed to accumulate in one corner of the vile 
 prison. 
 
 I have again seen animals confined in a place in 
 which the liquid filth was allowed to collect in a kind 
 of cesspool, and from this the imprisoned animals 
 quenched their thirst, with the result that many of 
 them succumbed to blood poisoning ; and lastly, I 
 have seen in what is sometimes called " enlightened 
 England," a feeding shed arranged with the midden 
 in the centre, and the animals standing, tied up, in 
 rows around it, and that, too, on the home farm of 
 a landed proprietor. Such things seem almost in- 
 credible in this nineteenth century, when we think 
 
Th Artificial Rearing of Young Animals, ^t^ 
 
 that our forefathers knew so much of sanitary 
 science as to lead them to see the necessity of pro- 
 viding even their pig-styes with an inner and outer 
 compartment.] 
 
 If material rich in fatty matters but deficient in 
 bone and muscle food is allowed, you cannot expect 
 a healthy development of the two most important 
 superstructures of the body, while an unnecessary 
 quantity of fat is apt to render animals sluggish, 
 and thus prevent them from taking voluntarily the 
 amount of exercise necessary to vigorous growth. 
 
 Good grass and good hay contain within themselves 
 all the elements necessary for the nutrition and 
 growth of young herbivora, but other and cheaper 
 foods for ruminants than hay are called for 
 during the winter months. Straw and turnips are 
 usually allowed, and for store cattle, properly 
 sheltered, they are perhaps sufficient ; if not, they 
 can be supplemented by a judicious allowance of 
 cake or corn. Undoubtedly linseed cake is the 
 safest, but decorticated cotton cake is cheaper, and 
 contains the greatest proportion of albuminoids, 
 fat, and ash. The latter is however very dangerous 
 if injudicioiisly used, producing as it does, not only 
 simple functional derangement but impaction of the 
 third stomach and inflammation of the stomach and 
 bowels. 
 
 These ill effects can be largely prevented by the 
 use of bran, malt, treacle and linseed oil. 
 
 For colts, bruised oats and bran form the best ad- 
 juncts to hay and although they add to the cost of 
 keep it is more than refunded by the proportionate 
 growth and vigour resulting from their use. 
 
 In concluding this part of my subject, I may, 
 
64 The Breeding and Rearing of Animals. 
 
 dogmatically perhaps, assert that the evil effects of 
 improper treatment during the first year in the case 
 of ruminants, and of the first two years in the case of 
 colts can never be compensated for no, matter how 
 carefully they may be attended to in after life. 
 
 The over-forcing of young animals for show, for 
 breeding, and for racing purposes brings its own 
 punishment in its train. It means fatty degeneration 
 of important organs, even at so early an age of two 
 years, in cattle ; it means disappointment in the 
 form of sterility in the female or imperfect develop- 
 ment of her offspring ; and it means premature decay 
 and old age in the race horse. 
 
 In connection with the latter point, I may direct 
 your attention to a remark recently made by Captain 
 Kerr, who in speaking of " Our National Horse 
 Supply," said, " Our present method of forcing and 
 fatting yearlings for the sale ring is doing an 
 enormity of evil." " Trainers will testify as to how, 
 when put into active work, these fattlings fly to 
 pieces." I may supplement Captain Kerr's remarks 
 in this direction by saying that fat colts often " fly to 
 pieces " as the result of the often necessary operation 
 of castration ; and in reference to this operation upon 
 colts, I may observe that too much haste is often 
 evinced by the breeders of horses, and this results 
 largely from the mistaken notion that there is greater 
 danger associated with the castration of two year 
 olds than of yearlings. 
 
 Granted that the loss is greater in the case of 
 death of the former as compared with the latter, the 
 advantages gained in the shape of increased vigour 
 and greater development more than counterbalance 
 the supposititious — for such it is — comparative loss. 
 
The Over-forcing of Young Animals. 65 
 
 There is absolutely no more danger in castrating a 
 two year old than a yearling, while by late castra- 
 tion time is given to allow the animal to develop 
 its good or its bad points. I am quite aware that 
 convenience and expediency in reference to the con- 
 joint rearing of fillies and colts may be urged in 
 favour of early castration, but I apprehend that all 
 breeders who carry out their business on a systematic 
 basis will provide for this contingency. 
 
 When colts are thrown on their own resources for 
 a livelihood they should not, before they have at- 
 tained the age of twelve months, be put on bare 
 pastures. Such a proceeding is a prolific source of 
 deformity of the limbs, especially of the fore limbs, 
 by causing them to flex them in order to reach their 
 food, thereby producing knuckling-over or partial 
 luxation of the pastern joints. 
 
 In colts, especially when reared on boggy lands 
 or confined through the winter mpnths in straw-yards 
 or loose boxes, particular attention should be 
 paid to the feet, neglect in this respect frequently 
 being the cause of permanent lameness and 
 deformity. 
 
 The knife or rasp need not be applied to any great 
 extent, but all decayed, loose ahd surplus horn 
 should be removed, and the wall rasped round to 
 prevent cracking. If there "is a tendency to growing 
 inwards of the toe (in-toed or pigeon-toed), the inner 
 part should be kept short and a plate put on the out- 
 side, this proceeding being reversed in out-toed or 
 lady-toed colts. In reference . to feet I may also 
 remark that proper measures should be adopted 
 during the summer to improve the condition of the 
 feet and legs of travelling stallions, neglect in this 
 
 E 
 
66 The Breeding and Rearing of Animals i 
 
 respect being frequently the cause of permanent 
 lameness and deformities. 
 
 Another matter which is greatly neglected in colts 
 is delay in handling. If a little trouble is taken in 
 this matter from a very early period, the subsequent 
 steps in the operation of breaking-in are facilitated, 
 and many preventible accidents are avoided. Acci- 
 dents permanently damaging or fatal in their results 
 frequently occur from improper fencing ; the erection 
 of wire fences, particularly of barbed wire, cannot be 
 too strongly condemned. 
 
 Much unnecessary, and, in my opinion, reprehen- 
 sible cruelty is inflicted upon young cattle by the 
 operation of dishorning. If it is thought necessary 
 for housing and feeding purposes that the horns 
 should be shortened, the pain may be reduced to a 
 minimum by enucleating the young horn (the button) 
 as soon as it is distinctly formed, or a portion of the 
 extremity can be sawn off in an oblique direction 
 from before backwards when the animal is about 
 four months old, the result of the latter plan being 
 that the horn is stunted in its growth, and as it 
 develops it is by the longer posterior fibres drawn 
 backwards, thus effectually doing away with the 
 possibility of the animal inflicting injury upon others.- 
 In the case of two-year-olds, it is sufficient to remove 
 just so much of the tip as will expose the upper end 
 cf the horn core. The removal of the whole or even 
 the half of the horn is a barbarous and unmanly 
 proceeding. 
 
 Lastly, gentlemen, I would ask whether, in the 
 present position of agriculture, it would not be to the 
 advantage of agriculturists if they devoted a little 
 more attention to the breeding and rearing of 
 
Dishorning. 67 
 
 animals than they now do ? It is acknowledged 
 that the growing of cereals does not pay ; it is ack- 
 nowledged that the expenses of an arable farm are 
 too great to allow of a satisfactory margin for profit, 
 it is allowed that labour is the great barriei- to the 
 working of such farms, then why not go back to the 
 good old system adopted hy our British forefathers, 
 of every man breeding and rearing his own stock ? 
 There are thousands of calves sold every year in 
 the city of Edinburgh for the sum of a few shillings 
 each, to be cut up into mince meat, veal pies, potted 
 chicken-and-ham, and polonies ; would it not be 
 worth while for those who have not facilities for 
 breeding, to purchase the best of these, and, by the 
 aid of moderately cheap Danish cows and artificial 
 foods, rear them for the butcher or for stogk pur- 
 poses ? Why are we dependent upon other countries 
 for a supply of store stock, aye, and for a supply of 
 disease too ? Simply becauSe we will not take the 
 trouble to breed and rear our own animals. 
 
 And in the matter of horse breeding and rearing, 
 how is it that all the large firms of job masters and 
 horse-dealers have to send representatives abroad — 
 to Germany, the Netherlands, America, and Canada 
 — to procure their supply of hotses? Simply be- 
 cause we Britishers will not produce a supply to meet 
 the demand. Granted that the breeding and rearing 
 of horses is fraught with anxiety, and demands much 
 care and close attention, there is no occupation on 
 earth more calculated to give healthy employment 
 to the mind and body, or more calculated to in- 
 crease the vigour, the self-reliance, and the manliness 
 of our race than this ; and in my humble opinion, 
 the proud position occupied by Britain and Britons 
 
68 The Breeding ana jxearing of Animals. 
 
 to-day is largely due to the energy and fearlessness 
 begotten of their love for animals, especia:lly animals 
 of the chase, by those who many generations ago 
 preceded us. 
 
 [Another matter which often puzzles me is the 
 utter indifference shown in this country to the cul- 
 tivating of every other breed of horses than the 
 Clydesdale. Surely the breeding of lighter classes 
 of horses cannot be so unprofitable as that it should 
 be so entirely neglected ! How is it that one finds 
 it so difficult to pick up a decent cob or roadster, 
 and when they are found, that the price is so dispro- 
 portionate to that of other animals .■' What about 
 good serviceable van and carriage horses — a class of 
 animals one seldom sees .' I cannot help thinking 
 that this decline of taste for the breeding of such 
 animals, especially the former class, is not favourable 
 to the development of the manhood or the manliness 
 of the country. Perhaps the explanation is to be 
 found largely in the fact that we are rapidly be- 
 coming a bicycling and tricycling race, from the 
 former of which machines I pray to be preserved, 
 and from the latter, also, until I grow old. Certainly 
 a ride of five miles on the back of a horse is worth 
 a score on the cross-beam of an automaton. I have 
 said nothing as to hunters, for Scotland is pre- 
 eminently a non-hunting country, and the supply is 
 always good and moderate in price ; but even in the 
 breeding of this class . of animals our young men 
 might find both pleasure and profit] 
 
 Tzirnbull Sr' Spears, Printers, Edinburgh. 
 
Professor Walley's Veterinary Instruments. 
 
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 Prospectuses on application to the Principal. 
 
 THE LIFE OF THE HORSE, THE DOG, 
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