USA > Illinois > Monroe County > Prairie farmer's directory of St. Clair and Monroe counties, Illinois 1919 > Part 2
USA > Illinois > St Clair County > Prairie farmer's directory of St. Clair and Monroe counties, Illinois 1919 > Part 2
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The medicine case should also have a special division in which to keep a few instruments, bandages, suture silk and absorbent cotton; or better still, immediate use as
required. The emergency bag should contain a roll
of absorbent cotton, several rolled three-yard bandages of _unbleached. muslin in strips three inches wide, a pound or two of oakum, a spool of strong suture silk, half a dozen suture needles of assorted shapes and - sizes, most of them large; a half-ounce, short-barreled, strong-nozzled hard rubber syringe, a two-ounce metal syringe, a cow trocar and canula for tapping a bloated animal, a pair of curved shears, a combination operat- ing knife containing a curved bistoury, a probe pointed bistoury and a strong straight scalpel, a few milking tubes and a tcat bistoury, an artery forceps, metal probe, castrating knife and pair of' horse clippers.
These will suffice, but there are many other useful instruments such as a clinical thermometer, horse tro- car, catheter and dentistry "float," which may be added from time to time. Some of the medicines to be listed later may also have a place in the emergency kit or bag, notably those needed for the treatment of wounds, and at hand should be a strong quart drenching bottle and ten feet of quarter-inch cotton rope with which to hold up a horse's head for drenching. A veterinary force pump is added on a large farm, but its place may be taken by three feet of new lawn sprinkling hose fitted with a large tin funnel. This is used to give a horse. or cow a rectal injection. There should also be a six-foot piece of new half-inch rubber tubing for use in giving a cow or mare a vaginal injection.
Simple necessary medicines may best be listed under the following spe- cial heads :
Physics
Epsom and Glauber Salts. Average dose .for an adult cow, one pound in three pints of warm water. Dose for a horse, 12 ounces.
Castor Oil. Especially useful for these may be kept in a handbag for . young animals. Dose for a caif or
foal, from 1 to 6 tablespoonsful shak- en up in milk.
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Raw Linsed Oil (not boiled, which is poisonous). Average dose, one pint for constipation and to follow a dose of colic medicine, or contain medicine for colic.
Barbados Aloes (freshly powdered). Average dosc, one ounce, to be given to an adult horse as a "physic ball."
Wound Medicines
Keep in stock one pint each of car- bolic acid and coal tar disinfectant and a gallon can of the latter for dipping and disinfecting purposes. Two tea- spoonfuls to a pint of water ordinarily makes a sufficiently strong solution. Bleeding is stopped by applying Mon- sel's solution of iron on oakum or cotton batting, or applying Monsel's powder. As a wound lotion also keep on hand a mixture of one ounce of sugar of lead and six drams of sul- phate of zinc in one pint of water. This is called "white lotion" and should be plainly labeled "poison" and well shaken before use.
Dusting Powders
A dusting powder of equal parts of slacked lime, charcoal and sulphur is useful for application to surface wounds and sores. Boracic acid also is needed and a little iodoform may be added to keep flies away.
Liniments
Keep on hand a pint (pound) cach of turpentine and aqua ammonia. One ounce each of these mixed with a pint of soft water, in which two raw eggs have been shaken up and the mixture left for 24 hours, will make a good stimulating liniment; or one ounce of cach may be mixed with 6 to 14 ounces of raw linseed oil to make a very strong or comparatively mild liniment.
Lotions
"White. lotion" for wounds has al- ready been mentioned. Equal quan- tities of lime water and raw linseed oil make "carron oil," an excellent ' lotion for burns. Two to four . unces of Goulard's extract and one to two ounces of glycerine in one quart of soft water form a useful lotion for scratches and mud fever of itchiness and "gumminess" of the legs. A good lotion for inflammation of the udder
is made by mixing together one part cach of fluid extracts of poke root and belladonna leaves and one part of tur- pentine with five parts of sweet oil, melted lard or camphorated oil. It is made weaker or stronger as required. Anodyne lotion for painful swellings is made by combining equal quantities of tincture of opium, aconite, bella- donna and druggists' soap liniment. A small quantity of chloroform may be added. Mouth lotion consists of an ounce of powdered borax or alum in a quart of soft water; eye lotion of half a dram each of sulphate of zinc and fluid extract of belladonna in a quart of soft water.
Tonics
Fowler's solution of arsenic is a good general tonic for rundown, thin, hidebound horses and those afflicted with chronic skin diseases or heaves (broken wind). The average dose is half an ounce (one tablespoonful) given night and morning until one quart has been given. The medicine may then be gradually discontinued, taking at least a week /to the work. Dried sulphate of iron (copperas), dose one dram night and morning, is another good tonic, commonly com- bined with an equal dose of ground gentian root or ginger root, nux vomica, saltpeter and fenugreek as a condition powder. The dose is one tablespoonful of the combination ; of drugs mixed in the feed night and morning for ten days. Omit sulphate of iron for pregnant animals. Nux is poisonous and must therefore be given with care. It is most useful as a nerve tonic and appetizer.
Colic Medicines
Keep in stock one pound each of laudanum (dose, 1 to 2 ounces) ; es- sence of ginger root (dose, 1 to 2 drams) ; sulpuric acid (dose, 1/2 to 1 ounce) ; turpentine (dose, 1 to 2 ounces ) ; granular hyposulphite of soda (dosc, 1 to 4 ounces). A dose of each' of the first three medicines in a pint of water containing two ounces of hyposulphite of soda will prove effective for most colics. Two ounces of turpentine in a pint of raw linsced oil may be given for "wind" (flatulent) · colic, or following the other medicine when the pain of "cramp" (spasmodic) colic has subsided. .
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Fever Medicines
Powdered saltpeter is an important drug for animals. It is given in the fever of influenza, founder (laminitis) or lymphangitis (milk leg, also for stocking of the legs and other large swellings. A dram is the average dose. Give it every four or six hours in fever, twice daily for swellings, or with tonics as a condition powder, and in double doses for founder or milk leg. Do not give it in colt distemper, when abscesses are forming. It may often be administered in drinking water or a bran mash or damp fced. It also is given in tablespoonful doses once or twice daily for garget of the cow. Beware of aconite often given for fever. It is too dangerous a poison to be safely used by anyone other than a trained doctor.
Blister
An effective blistering ointment is made by melting together three parts of lard and one-quarter part of finely shaved, yellow beeswax, and then stirring it one part of powdered can- tharides (Spanish fly). Stir in a tin dish until cold, then store in a capped glass fruit jar. It improves with age.
When using this blister clip off the hair, wash the skin clean, dry it per- fectly. Tic the horse up short in his stall, rub the blister in for fifteen minutes and then smear on some more blister. Wash the blister off in 48 hours and then apply a little lard daily. Do not cover a blistered part, or rub it on the loins, or on top of the hips, or use it after a poultice, or on irritated skin, or in very hot or cold weather.
Absorbents
Never be without tincture of iodine to swab on swollen glands, tumors, forming abscesses, bony growths, capped or puffed joints, indolent sores or wounds, canker of the mouth in pigs and ringwork spots. It also is useful to inject into abscesses, fistula and lump jaw cavities. Iodine oint- ment is made by mixing one dram cach of iodine crystals and iodide of potash in one ounce of lard. This is used on swellings, sore necks and shoulders, puffs of . all sorts, tumors, forming abscesses, ringworm spots and enlargements of the udder. As an absorbent blister rub up one dram
of biniodide of mercury with two ounces of the fly blister already men- tioned and use on bony growths, such as splints and ringbone, callouses, indolent sores, tumors of the udder.
Worm Medicines
Gasoline is kept on most farms and in tablespoonful doses in six ounces of milk is the best remedy for stomach worms in sheep. Lambs take less in proportion. Two ounces of turpen- tine in a pint of raw linseed oil is effective as a starting dose for a "wormy horse." Follow with worm powders composed of equal parts of salt, sulphur and dried sulphate of iron. Dosc, one tablespoonful night and morning for a week, then skip ten days and repeat. Omit iron for preg- nant animals. For worms of swine give one teaspoonful of turpentine in slop for three consecutive days for each eighty pourds of body weight ; or one dram of dried sulphate of iron in slop for five successive mornings for each hundred pounds of body weight. Where swine are known to be seriously infested with worms, give cight grains of santonin and five grains of calomel in a little slop for each hundred pounds of body weight. Divide the pigs into lots of five and give the medicine in a little slop after starving the animals for eighteen hours. Care must be taken to give only the doses here prescribed, else damage may be done.
Disinfectants
In the paragraph on wound medi- cines it has been advised to keep car- bolic acid and coal tar disinfectant in stock. To these may be added for- maldehyde, bichloride of mercury tablets and permanganate of potash crystals. In disinfecting a stable a solution of four or five ounces of for- maldehyde to the gallon, or a 1-1,000 of bichloride of mercury (corrosive sublimate) or a 1-30 solution of car- bolic acid or coal tar disinfectant should be used after a thorough clean. sing of the premises. For wounds a 1-1,000 solution of corrosive sublimate also is the most effective disinfectant and a 1-500 solution should be used for disinfecting when a spore-form- ing germ, like that of anthrax, is pres- ent. Permanganate of potash is a useful mild disinfectant (antiseptic
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and deodorizer) in a 1-5,000 to a 1-50 solution. The weaker solution is used lukewarm for vaginal injection pur- poses, while the 2 per cent solution is useful for injection into cavities from which come bad-smelling discharges and for. swabbing sores (cankers) of the mouth. »As a wound lotion it is usual to employ a 2 to 5 per cent solution of carbolic acid, or lysol, or coal tar disinfectant. Carbolic acid is also much used as an internal disin- fectant in contagious abortion. Two drams of the' acid. is well diluted with water and mixed in soft feed for cach pregnant cow every other night throughout pregnancy. Peroxide of hydrogen one part and clean water two or three parts is a popular dis- infectant for cleansing foul wounds.
Scour Medicines
The farm medicine chest would not be completely stocked without some remedies for diarrlioca or scours. A mixture of one part of salol and two parts of bismuth (first prescribed years ago by the writer) has become a standard remedy among farmers. The average dose is one teaspoonful given two or three times a day and washed down with milk or water. The dose may be doubled in bad cases and for larger calves and foals. Prepared chalk, powdered alum, sulphur, pow- dered catechi, rhubarb and ginger root are also much used for diarrhoea.
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Administering Medicines
Small doses of liquid medicine, such as the average two-ounce dose of a fever medicine or tonic solution, arc best given by means of a half-ounce hard rubber syringe. Expert veteri- narians sometimes give such medicines of bad-tasting drugs. in gelatine cap- sules, or in form of a "ball." Worm, condition and tonic powders are mixed in damp grain feed. A large dose of liquid medicine is termed a "drench" and is given from a strong, long-necked bottle. A few inches of rubber hose may be fitted on the neck of such a bottle.
To drench a horse, back him into a stall, place a running noose of soft, small cotton rope or "clothes line" upon the upper incisor teeth, under the upper lip, and draw the noose tight, with the knot of the rope to the front. Throw the loose end of
the rope across an overhead beam, raise the horse's head, hold it there by means of the rope and pour the medicine into the mouth a little at a time until all is swallowed. Do not squeeze the throat of the horse when giving medicine and never pour the medicine into the nostril. If the horse will not swallow, pour a teaspoonful of cold water into a nostril and swallow- ing will instantly occur.
To drench a cow, place her in a stanchion or tic her in a stall. Walk up on her right side (milking side). Pass the left hand across her face and into her mouth. Hold her head in a straight line forward and slightly cle- vated, not turned to one side. Pour the medicine very slowly into the right side of the mouth. Let the head down instantly if the medicine causes the cow (or horse) to cough. Fluid given too fast passes into the paunch and is practically wasted. Administered slowly, it largely goes to the third and fourth stomachs and absorption takes place in the latter.
Sheep have to be very carefully drenched from a bottle to avoid chok- ing. Swine take medicine through a hole cut in the toe of an old shoe thrust into the mouth or from a short, strong rubber hose fitted in the neck of a strong bottle. Dogs take medi- cine in capsules inserted in meat or from a bottle or spoon emptied into a ponch formed of the lip and check.
Avoid "doping" animals unneces- sarily. Medicine should only be given when the animal is sick, should be the right medicine, and is best pr scribed by an expert.
VALUE OF LABOR
The United States Department of Agriculture found in 1855 that it re- quired four hours and 34 minutes of human labor to produce a bushel of corn. At the Minnesota experiment station it has been found recently that 45 minutes of human labor is about the average time required for the same work. In other words, human labor is worth six times as much as it was 60 years ago, due to the use of better machinery, better varieties of corn and better soil management.
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Some Common Unsoundness
By Dr. A. S. Alexander, in Prairie Farmer
T AKE nothing for granted when a horse. One should make sure about doubtful things. If the eye cannot decide the mat- ter the hand may be employed to corroborate or disprove; but the cye should be the main dependence and the hand used only as a last resort. An Irishman does not like to buy a pig "in a poke." He wants to see and examine the "rint payer" and may even make the animal squeal to be sure that he is getting his money's worth. In just the same way one must make the most careful examination of every part of a horse, "size up" the entire combination of points and make sure that there is lack of vice, sound- ness of eyes, wind and limb, and perfect fitness for the special kind of work the animal will have to do.
A famous veterinary teacher once called upon his senior students to ex- amine a lame horse and state in writ- ing what they thought was the cause of lameness. The horse had a splint, one sidebone and a small ringbone affecting the lame leg. To one or
other of these three unsoundnesses cach student in turn attributed the lameness. But one learns best by making mistakes and this truth was soon "rubbed in" by the teacher. Having collected the reports he told the smith who was standing by, to remove the shoe from the lame foot. Then a majority of the students no- ticed for the first time that the sole of the foot was covered with a thick leather pad. When the leather came off puss spurted from a nail prick wound which had been purposely hid- den. Lameness was due to the nail prick, not to splint, ringbone or side- bone, and the laugh was on the "boys." Never again would one of them be similarly caught and so a · never - to - be - forgotten lesson was learned. Every intending purchaser should learn this lesson, too, and be a "doubting Thomas" until his hands have felt where the eyes could not definitely decide a mooted point.
Seck to deal with men of known integrity in business. . If not expert, and the horse to be bought is a dear
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Curb
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one, 'it will be good policy to employ a veterinarian to make a critical cx- amination. Better visit the stable when not expected and see the horse in the stall. There some things can be learned that will not be seen when the horse is warmed up. You should be able to enter and leave the stall on the left side of the horse, without being received with a bite or expelled with a kick. Note, too, if the horse digs a hole in the floor by pawing, or chews his manger and hay rack, which may indicate cribbing and wind suck- ing, or weaves from side to side, or pulls back on the halter. Make him "stand over" and note if he jerks up a hind leg, or hops over. The hopping may indicate spavin lameness, which quickly disappears when the horse is warmed up.
The jerking up of a hind leg may be accompanied by quivering of muscles and tail and such a horse is a "shiv- erer" or "crampy" and afflicted with incurable St. Vitus' dance. The symp- toms of the latter disease become more apparent as the horse backs out of the stall, but quickly subside with slight exercise. If the animal has "string halt" the jerking up of the hind legs is continued as long as the horse is in motion, he does not warm out of it. When a horse is brought out for inspection "on a run" or "dead jump" it is impossible to detect spavin lameness or chorea and even string halt may not be noticed. This will be more certainly the case if the horse is turned loose in deep snow, or plowed land, or in a straw bedded pad- dock. This commonly is donc. Some- times an old plug that has scarcely animation enough to get out of its own way will kick up, strut and trot, proud as a peacock, when suddenly the halter shank, previously cut part way through breaks and the old pilgrim imagines he has broken loose by his own great strength. This trick is often .tried. Never allow the dealer to keep the horse "in the air."
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After making an examination in the stall watch the horse for a while as he stands at case on a level floor. Maybe he cannot stand at ease. If a foot hurts, soon that foot will be thrust forward; if two hurt each will be thrust forward; if two hurt, cach will be advanced turn about; if four hurt the horse will rest each foot in turn.
And do not forget to walk around the horse that every part may meet the eye. Often one side is a pretty pic- turc, the other marred. Sec both sides, for often the aninai is turned toward the wall if an eye is out, a big bare spot present or somc unsound- ness there that had best be kept hid- den. A "watch" or "wall" cyc can sec, but it is unsightly. The tour of inspection around the horse discloses such blemishes.
Remember about not buying a pig in a poke, so remove the blanket from all fancy harness and see that the halter has no springs and trusses to press down upon the nostrils to pre- vent high blowing and . "roaring." Many a man has neglected to remove a horse's hood before buying and af- terward has discovered that it hid a cropped, lopped, or split car, fistula of the base of the car, a "poll evil" or some unsightly blemish.
Don't get too close to the horse when making the preliminary exam- ination. Ex-Governor Hoard, of Wis- consin, once said that in farm business matters a man may hold 'a cent piece so close to his cyc that it keeps him from secing a big silver dollar a little further off. So if one rushes up and grabs a foot, before viewing what the French term the tout ensemble-the assemblage of all points-he misses the comprehensive estimate of the horse as a whole and that is of most importance. When one has looked the horse over from a little distance and from . all points of view and has seen how the animal stands and be- haves it will be time enough to scru- tinize cach component part of his an- atomy. First we shall see - him move away and back, at a walk, then at a trot, and finally we shall gallop him. Be there when he stops and so decide as to the soundness of his "wind." It is not enough to test the "wind" by standing the horse close to a wall . and suddenly threatening to strike him with a whip .. The sudden fright may cause the animal to grunt loudly, but this does not necessarily prove that such a "bull" is unsound in wind.
Many sound horses grunt when so threatened, or even when one goes to mount. In the latter instances it is a nervous "expression" and nothing serious. When watching the horse at rest one should note that he does not
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Sidebone
Spavin
heave at the flanks, cough or pass gas from the rectum. These are the symp- toms of "heaves"; but the "heavey" horse may be "shut" or "doped" with drugs so that temporarily the symptoms do not show. . Usually they will quickly appear if the horse is given all the hay and water he wants and then is gal- loped. Roaring sometimes is tempora- rily relieved by plugging the nostrils with a sponge or squeezed half lemon. Discharge is also prevented by this means. It is best to locate these at once than have them sneezed into the feed box when the horse is yours.
At both walk and trot the horse should go straight, level and truc, cach joint perfectly fixed, the soles of the feet well turned up, as he goes away, and no "padding," "winging," in or out, "forging," stumbling or toe dragging noticeable. Lameness should be absent. If the horse passes muster when in motion and his style, action and conformation are suitable, he next may be critically examined as he stands at rest. He should stand square and firm on each foot. The profile of the front and back of cach leg should show no abnormal. bends, curves, puffs, swellings, or lumps. If any one of these things is seen its nature will have
Handle each part upon which har- to be carefully determined. The eyes . ness will have to bear and see that should be sound and of the same color. The pupils should dilate in the dark and contract when the horse is brought into the light. Angular, wrinkled eye- brows and sunken eyes denote previous attacks of "moon blindness" (periodic
ophthalmia). "Smoky" or "opaque," or "pearl ' grey," or "curdy" appearance of the cornea (anterior chamber of the cye) denote more serious stages of the discase or blindness from cataract or glaucoma. A brilliant sparkling prominent eye ("glassy cyc") may be stone blind from paralysis of the ret- ina and optic nerve. The cars should neither be absolutely unused, nor ab- normally active. The former may in- dicate deafness; the latter, impaired vision, nervousness or vice.
Sce that a thread from car to car under the forelock, does not keep lop cars upright and that a leaden ball, suspended from a thread in the car, is not preventing undue motion. The horse should let one handle his ears, his poll (back of cars), the top of the neck, where the collar will bear, and the withers, where fistulous openings or their scars so commonly are found. Fighting against such handling indi- cates a reason for fear and the rca- son usually is that a twitch has been used on the car and the horse may be hard to shoe, have sore neck from the collar, poll evil or fistulous with- ers, or have suffered a previous opera- tion for such discase.
it is sound and free from sores, tu- mors or abscesses. The nostrils should be large, under command of the will, rosy pink inside, not slit and free from abnormal discharge. See that the breath does not smell foul and
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that the teeth are sound and the jaws not under or over "short." Examine the back. It should be strong, broad,
straight, free from sores and well muscled. Pinching the loins is un- necessary. A ticklish horse will squat when so handled but the test does not detect weak kidneys. Note that the ribs are well sprung, the underline fairly straight, the abdomen capacions, the flank not tucked up and the coupling short and strong. See that no wounds or abscesses are present high up on the right flank, as the re- sult of tapping for flatulant colic. With the left hand on the horse's loin, as a support, stoop and examine sheath, or udder as the case may be, and other parts high up in the groins.
Examine the tail, which should be strong, not artificial ("joined on") and not rubbed bare from itchiness. Lift it and see that the black skin below is free from tumors, the anus clean, "vell pursed up, free from scurvy substances or streaks of mucous; or, in the marc, that the space between rectum and vulva is intact and that no discharge comes from the latter. Looking from the rear, compare one hip with the other. If one is "knocked down" that side will be steep. At cach side of the tail is the tuberosity of the ischium. Like the point of the hip (ilium) this often is fractured, leaving one side' depressed. All parts of the shoulders, neck, barrel and hindquarters should be smoothly and deeply covered with sound muscles.
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