Pratt's Practical Pointers on the Care of Livestock and Poultry Part 12

The quarters in which the sickness first appeared should be thoroughly cleaned, all bedding and rubbish burned, and loose boards and old part.i.tions torn out and burned. If the pen is old, knock it to pieces and burn it. Disinfect pens and sleeping places using Pratts Dip and Disinfectant on the floors, walls and ceilings. Whitewash everything. If a hog dies from any cause, the carca.s.s should never be exposed where it may be devoured by the other hogs or by pa.s.sing birds or beasts, but should be burned at once or buried deeply and the pens thoroughly disinfected immediately. If possible, do not move the carca.s.s from the place where it falls; but if this cannot be done the ground over which it is dragged should be disinfected. Hog-cholera bacilli can live in the ground for at least three months. Care must be taken to maintain an absolute quarantine between the sick and well hogs. The same attendant should not care for both lots unless he disinfects himself thoroughly after each visit to the infected hogs. Dogs should be confined until the disease is stamped out.

Treatment of hogs suffering from cholera or swine plague is not always satisfactory. The disease runs its course so rapidly that curative measures are more or less ineffectual, and prevention of an outbreak should be relied upon rather than the cure of sick animals. Pratts Hog Tonic has been successful in less virulent outbreaks when administered as soon as signs of sickness are shown.

Pratts Hog Tonic should be thoroughly mixed with the feed, which should be soft, made of bran and middlings, corn meal and middlings, corn meal and ground and sifted oats, or crushed wheat, mixed with hot water. If the hogs are too sick to come to the feed, the tonic should be given as a drench. Pull the cheek away from the teeth and pour the mixture in slowly. Care should be exercised, as hogs are easily suffocated by drenching. Do not turn a hog on its back to drench it.

Hogs often suffer very much from vermin. Lice are introduced from neighboring herds, and the losses in feeding are often severe, especially among young pigs, when death is sometimes a secondary if not an immediate result. When very numerous, lice are a very serious drain on vitality, fattening is prevented, and in case of exposure to disease the lousy hogs are much more liable to contract and succ.u.mb to it.

Newly purchased hogs should be carefully examined for vermin, and they should not be turned out with the herd until they are known to be free from these pests.

When the herd is found to be badly infested with lice all bedding should be burned and loose boards and part.i.tions torn out. Old boards and rubbish should be burned. The quarters should then be thoroughly disinfected by spraying with Pratts Dip and Disinfectant.

Vermin are most common around the ears, inside the legs, and in the folds of the skin on the jowl sides and flanks. In light and isolated cases they may be destroyed by washing the hogs with Pratts Dip and Disinfectant, properly diluted, applied with a broom.

In severe cases, however, especially where the whole herd is affected, thorough spraying or dipping should be resorted to. In this case a dipping tank will be a great convenience.

Whenever any animals are brought to the farm, or when animals are brought home from shows or from neighboring farms, they should be kept apart from the rest of the herd for at least three weeks. If they have been exposed to hog cholera or swine plague the diseases will be manifested within this time, and the sick animals can be treated or killed and disposed of at once.

_Galway, N.Y.

I bought two spring pigs the 15th of April and began feeding them Pratts Animal Regulator until the 15th of December when I butchered them. One weighed 415 pounds, the other 420 pounds. I know this Regulator does what you claim it to do.

BALDWIN O'BREY._

If cholera breaks out in the neighborhood the farmer should maintain a strict quarantine against the infected herds. He should refrain from visits to farms where they are located, and should insist on requiring that his neighbors stay out of his hog lots. Visiting of all kinds at this time should be carefully restricted. Dogs, cats, crows, and buzzards are very active carriers of infection from farm to farm, and should be guarded against as far as possible.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PRATTS PRACTICAL POINTERS]

~COMMON DISEASES OF SWINE~

(Symptoms and Treatment)

~Diarrhoea or Scours~

_Cause._--By milk of the dam being affected by feeding of food tainted with the elements of decay; by making a sudden change in the food; by some disordered condition in the health of the sow, and by excess of milk furnished by the dam.

Usually occurs before the weaning stage, as a rule in swine not yet ten days old.

_Symptoms._--Very soft condition of the voidings which are sometimes almost watery.

_Treatment._--Being highly contagious, spray the floor thoroughly with Pratts Disinfectant. Keep the young swine comfortable and remove the voidings carefully two or three times a day. Correct the food given the dam, mixing Pratts Hog Tonic with her feed. Also give a small tablespoonful of sulphur daily to the sow.

~Hog Cholera and Swine Plague~

Hog Cholera and Swine Plague are very much alike. Both are characterized by inflammation of stomach and intestines, enlarged and inflamed lymphatic glands and sloughing of portions of the skin. The treatment and preventive measures are alike in many respects.

They are germ diseases, contracted in purchasing swine which may contract the germs when in transit on cars; by exhibiting at fairs; through persons who have visited infected herds; through the feet of dogs and birds to which the germs may have adhered; through the water of an infected pond or stream.

The most dangerous source of infection by far is coming in touch with diseased animals.

Reduced stamina and filthy quarters favor the spread of these diseases.

~Hog Cholera~

_Symptoms._--Dullness, loss of appet.i.te or depraved appet.i.te and a disposition to lie down; constipation or diarrhoea; stiff gait; red spots or blotches discernible about the ears and under the neck and belly; in some instances there is difficulty in breathing.

_Treatment._--Authorities agree that there is no known cure for real hog cholera. Preventive measures, therefore, are of vital importance. Pratts Disinfectant should be used frequently and to build up the general health of the hog, giving it full disease-resisting power, Pratts Hog Tonic should be added to the ration. Besides, it is a valuable tonic and fattener.

~Swine Plague~

_Symptoms._--Extensive inflammation of the lungs, by which it can be distinguished from hog cholera. There is coughing and labored, painful and oppressed breathing.

It frequently comes as a pneumonia or an inflammation of the lungs and pleural membrane. The animal is in a sleepy and even comatose condition much of the time. If it walks it staggers. The skin reddens in a marked degree and the bowels become constipated. This disease, though not nearly so common as hog cholera is usually very fatal. Preventive measures, as indicated for hog cholera, are all important. Use Pratts Hog Tonic as directed and disinfect with Pratts Disinfectant.

~Thumps~

_Cause._--Too liberal feeding and lack of exercise, resulting in poor digestion. The diaphragm contracts suddenly at irregular intervals, thus giving the name to the disease. The pig becomes unthrifty and stunted.

If the sow is a liberal milker, nursing pigs may be affected. Treatment is usually preventive, consisting of exercise and careful feeding, Pratts Hog Tonic being added to the feed.

~Tuberculosis in Swine~

The losses from this disease are beginning to a.s.sume enormous proportions. It results largely from swine drinking the milk of tuberculous cattle.

_Symptoms._--Digestive disorders, such as diarrhoea and vomiting; a stunted condition and a staring coat and breathing more or less labored.

_Treatment._--There is no positive cure for this severe disease, but good sanitation is the best preventive. Use Pratts Disinfectant freely and maintain health and vigor by regularly using Pratts Hog Tonic.

The importance of testing heads of cattle that may be affected with tuberculosis is thus further emphasized.

~Worms~

There is perhaps no other animal troubled to so great an extent or with so many varieties of worms, as the hog. Indeed it is almost a rule with some growers when a hog is sick and it cannot be told exactly what is the matter that they doctor for worms.

There are four species of worms that live in the intestines of swine, resulting in more or less harm. The Common Round Worm, Pin Worm and Whip Worm develop from eggs taken in in food and water. The Thornheaded Worm develops from a white grub which swine eat. To a great extent these are kept in check by Pratts Hog Tonic.

As preventive measures, drain stagnant pools and wet places where these eggs may be found; plough up yards and pastures; do not feed on floors not properly cleaned, or on ground that may have been much used for such feeding; do not give water from a deep well, do not allow the swine to wallow in the drinking trough.

_Symptoms._--Frequently a gluttonous appet.i.te without corresponding improvement in flesh. Again a much impaired appet.i.te is found; diarrhoea or constipation; excessive itching, causing the animal to rub, especially the hind parts. These symptoms will only exist when worms are present in large numbers.