Pratt's Practical Pointers on the Care of Livestock and Poultry — Background and Themes

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

BENJ. LOXLEY, JR._ -----------------------------------------------------------------

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

~Retained After-Birth~

_Causes._--The cow, the most of all our domestic animals, is especially subject to this accident. It is most likely to occur after abortion. Again, in low conditions of health and an imperfect power of contraction, we have causes for retention. The condition is common when the cow is given food insufficient in quantity or in nutriment.

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

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

~Barrenness and Sterility~

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

~Aphtha, Sores on the Lips and Tongue~

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

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

----------------------------------------------------------------- _Pittsfield, Ill.

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

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

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

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

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

~Caked Udder, or Garget~

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

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

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

----------------------------------------------------------------- _McDonoghville, La.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

~Closing of the Milk Duct~

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

~Cut, Cracked, Injured or Sore Teats~

Apply Pratts Bag Ointment according to directions on box.

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

~Foot and Mouth Disease~

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

~Milk--Bloody or Stringy~

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

----------------------------------------------------------------- _East Point, Ga.

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

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

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

~Milk--Blue and Watery~

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

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

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

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

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

~Milk--To Increase the Flow of~

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

~Ophthalmia--Sore Eyes~

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

Fasten a cloth over the eyes and keep it wet with a lotion of chloride of zinc, one dram; carbolic acid, two drams; water, one gallon. Apply to the cheek below each eye, to the space of about two inches, a small portion composed of Spanish fly, 2 drams; lard, two tablespoonfuls. Apply in the morning and wash off with soap suds and a sponge, six hours later. Apply lard. Keep separated from herd for a month after recovery.

_Symptoms._--Hot, painful swellings at the joints, stiffness in walking and difficulty in rising.

_Cause._--By exposure, badly ventilated and wet stables, damp, marshy pasture and impure food.

_Treatment._--Bathe joints with Pratts Liniment. Give a physic of a pound of Epsom salts in warm water. Give two drams of salicylate of soda every three hours for two days. Keep animal warm and dry. Give nutritious feed of a laxative nature with Pratts Cow Remedy daily.

_Symptoms._--Difficulty in swallowing, pain and difficult breathing.

_Treatment._--Place in dry, clean, well ventilated stable. Use nose bag. Rub throat with Pratts Liniment. Give physic of one pound of Epsom salts in warm water. Give one-half ounce of tincture of belladonna every six hours. Syringe throat three times a day with an ounce of following solution: one and one-half drams nitrate of silver and one pint of distilled water.

Use Pratts Liniment, nothing better.

_Treatment._--Wash off with one part Pratts Dip and Disinfectant and 50 parts of water. Use Pratts Teat Opener. Pratts Self-Retaining Milking Tube can then be inserted until teat is better. Rub teats with Pratts Bag Ointment.

_Treatment._--All cattle infected with ticks should be sponged or dipped at once with one part Pratts Dip and Disinfectant to 20 parts water. Repeat in ten days. This will not only kill the ticks but cure mange, soften the hair and make the skin healthy.

~Tuberculosis--Consumption~

_Symptoms._--Not well marked in early stages. Disease develops slowly. There is a loss of flesh, a short dry cough, irregular appetite, rapid breathing, weakness, bloating, diarrhoea, the milk is lessened and is watery and blue in color. The coat is rough and back arched. Whenever an animal is suspected of having tuberculosis, have a competent person give the "Tuberculosis Test" at once.

_Cause._--Poor feed and water, badly ventilated stables, dirty stables, from over-feeding and inoculation. It is hereditary. May also follow abortion and catarrhal trouble of the genital organs.

_Treatment._--Disease is incurable. Kill and burn all animals affected at once and disinfect thoroughly stables, yards, etc., with one part Pratts Dip and Disinfectant to 50 parts of water. Disinfect every week until every germ is destroyed. Use Pratts Dip and Disinfectant in all whitewash and sponge or dip all the cattle in a solution of one part Disinfectant to 100 parts water.

~Wire Cuts, Wounds, Bites, Etc.~

_Treatment._--Wash with one part Pratts Dip and Disinfectant and 50 parts water and apply Pratts Healing Ointment or Healing Powder three times a day.

Give Pratts Specially Prepared Worm Powder according to directions. It is quick in its action and has a strong tonic effect.

Many years ago the sheep industry of America flourished. Then came a period of depression in this line accompanied by a steady decrease in the number of sheep kept. But the tide turned again about 1914 and the sheep are rapidly coming back to American farms and ranges.

This change is doubtless due to the steadily increasing cost of grain and labor accompanied by correspondingly high prices of lamb, mutton and wool. Also to a general recognition of the economic value of sheep--both of the mutton and wool breeds--as quick producers of income, no little part of which should be profit. The latter point is due to the fact that sheep are inexpensive to maintain as they thrive upon the roughest of pastures and coarse feeds which will not sell to advantage, and their care consumes but little time. Low production costs--feed and labor--and high prices for the products make a most satisfactory combination.

Methods of successful sheep management vary in different sections of the country. The beginner may well consult the successful sheep-growers in his section and adopt the methods which give good results under the conditions existing in his locality. At the same time he should neglect no opportunity to secure more information from all sources, in order to know and use the most advanced methods and so make the maximum profits.

Here are a few basic facts:

Sheep raising requires careful attention, but does not demand a great amount of heavy labor or expensive equipment.

The best time to make a start is in the early fall when good breeding stock may be selected.

While pure-bred breeders are best, a pure-bred ram and ewes of good grade will prove very satisfactory.

A start may be made in a small way, but it is best to have at least twenty to forty breeders for economy of time, labor and other expenses.

As a rule it is most profitable to push the lambs for growth and market them when they weigh 65 to 75 pounds.

This weight can be secured in about four months.

If a very large pasture is available the flock will thrive on this. Otherwise fields must be fenced off and forage crops provided.

Breeding ewes must be exercised in the winter to insure strong lambs. But protect them from rain or wet snow as soaked fleeces cause colds and pneumonia.

Thrifty condition and vigorous health must be maintained at all costs. Otherwise the lambs will be small and weak and fleeces of inferior quality. The regular use of Pratts Animal Regulator will improve condition, insure health and vigor, increase number and quality of lambs, promote growth of flesh and wool. And in large measure, it keeps common diseases away because Pratt-fed sheep are in condition to _resist_ disease.

Shearing should be done after lambing, usually in late spring or early summer. If lambing time is late, the shearing may be done before the lambs arrive. Tie up the fleeces separately, first sorting out dung locks and tags.

After lambing, the individual ewes should be carefully watched to see that they have plenty of milk and are in good condition. They should be kept in pens for about three days, when they may be permitted to run with the flock. Feed lightly for two or three days, then heavily to stimulate the milk flow so lambs will be well-nourished. They may profitably receive one to two pounds of grain per day during the nursing period.

Inferior ewes should be marketed as rapidly as they are identified. Get rid of the barren ones, producers of poor lambs, poor milkers, light shearers.

Sheep must be protected against blood-thirsty dogs and external and internal parasites. In many sections sheep growers have united to fight sheep-killing dogs and good results have been secured. United action against a common enemy is best, as public sentiment may thus be aroused.