Rumen

“ The symptoms are principally due to abnormal fermentation, the peristaltic 176action of the rumen being in abeyance, and the food failing to pass towards the omasum and abomasum. Rumination is generally suppressed.
The disease usually follows change of diet. When the diet has long been restricted, as occurs during years of bad harvests, and animals are afterwards set at liberty in rich pastures, they eat greedily, distend the rumen with large quantities of green fodder, and set up all the necessary conditions for this form of indigestion. ”

“ On post-mortem examination of animals which have died of complicated forms of the disease, we find certain lesions peculiar to gaseous indigestion associated with impaction of the rumen.
If death has followed the consumption of root pulps, we see signs of poisoning. As a consequence of prolonged stagnation of food in the rumen, there follows an exaggerated organic fermentation, whose products are absorbed through the stomach or intestine and pass into the circulation. ”

“ It undermines the health and vigor, and through lack of tone favors gastric torpor and impaction, but it also secures ample leisure for rumination, which is so essential to the integrity of the rumen and favors the onward passage of its contents. With dry feeding and a restricted water supply it cannot be too much condemned, but with succulent food and abundance of water the alleged danger is reduced to the minimum. ”

“ Anything which lessens the normal vermicular movements of the rumen and hinders regurgitation and rumination tends to impaction, and hence an aliment which is to a large extent fibrous, innutritious, and unfermentable, such as hay from grass that has run to seed and been threshed, the stems of grasses that have matured and withered in the pastures, fodder that has been thoroughly washed out by heavy rains, sedges, reedgrass, rushes, chaff, finely cut straw, and in the case of European sheep, the fibrous tops of heather contribute to this affection. ”

“ Walking the animal uphill, injections of cold water, friction on the left side of the abdomen to rouse the rumen to activity, antiseptics as in tympany to check further fermentation, and stimulants to overcome the nervous and muscular torpor, may be employed separately or conjointly. When it can be availed of, a rubber hose may be wound round the abdomen and a current of cold water forced through it. ”

“ If the animal forcibly gulps fluids down, or if they are given hastily and bodily, they will follow the caul at the base of the gullet with considerable momentum, force asunder the pillars, and enter the rumen; if they are drunk more slowly, or administered gently, they will trickle down the throat, glide over these pillars, and pass on through the maniplus to the true stomach. ”

“ It shows whether the rumen is full or empty, reveals the consistence of the contained food in cases of chronic indigestion, the sensibility of the walls, and the rate and order of the muscular contractions. Direct or indirect percussion may be carried out on a horizontal line from the twelfth rib as far back as the flank, and vertically from the lumbar vertebræ to the white line. In health one discovers in young animals an upper zone of normal resonance due to gas, a zone of semi-dulness and an inferior zone of absolute dulness, due to the liquids in the rumen. ”

“ Appetite may not be entirely lost at first, but only impaired and irregular, and as rumination ceases, grinding of the teeth becomes common. The secretion of milk is diminished or altogether arrested, and emaciation advances day by day. Fœtor of the eructations, the result of prolonged and septic fermentation in the rumen, is often a marked symptom. ”

“ Hence it is common in animals that break into a cornbin, a store of potatoes, a field of growing corn or small grain, or that are turned out on green food in early spring. Cadeac maintains that paresis of the rumen is the essential cause in all cases, while the nature of the aliments ingested fills a secondary and comparatively insignificant rôle. According to this view the torpid stomach can neither relieve itself through regurgitation for rumination, nor expel through the œsophagus the constantly evolving gas which therefore distends the viscus to excess. ”

“ In more severe cases the impaction and tympany of the rumen are more marked, the hyperthermia runs high, appetite and rumination cease, the milk dries up, rigors and tremors appear, the head and ears droop, the eyes are sunken, the mouth is clammy and fœtid, the colicy pains are severe or extreme, the right side of the abdomen is very tender, defecation may be altogether suspended and rumbling in the right side of the abdomen ceases or becomes rare. Straining may continue but seldom is anything but mucus passed. ”

“ Causes.—When cattle, especially such as have had poor and scanty food, are turned into a rich pasture, or stray into the fields of lucern, etc., they will often eat ravenously, and take more than they can digest. Wet grass in warm weather, or fodder that has become heated in consequence of being heaped together while damp, may also be too freely eaten. The consequence is that the rumen is overloaded, and the contents, under the influence of warmth and moisture, ferment and evolve what is at first carburetted hydrogen ”

“ The rumen being distended with gas not only makes the animal appear much fuller than usual, but it presses forward on the diaphragm, or ‘midriff,’ and this presses against the lungs, and interferes seriously with the animal’s breathing. The breath is short and rapid. ”

“ It is supposed to be a fermentation; no doubt at all times a certain proportion of gas is evolved from the food, but excessive fermentation is indicative of disease (Hoove) , and of rapid and dangerous chemical change in the contents of the rumen. The pulpy mass, to which the food has been reduced by the chemical change and churning movement of the first two digestive cavities, is now prepared for thorough mastication by the teeth, and for ultimate solution by the digestive fluids. This mastication is rumination, or “chewing the cud.” ”

“ The conditions under which food is swallowed by ruminants after preliminary mastication permit indigestible objects, such as stones, fragments of wood, nails, needles, bits of iron wire, etc., to enter the rumen, whence they reach the reticulum in consequence of peristaltic movements. Sharp, perforating objects, like needles or fragments of iron wire, penetrate the walls of the gastric compartments, and, impelled by the movements of these organs, pass through the intervening tissues, usually in the direction of the heart. ”

“ Diseases of the digestive organs are very common among cattle, and may often be traced to defects in feeding. The first three stomachs of the larger ruminants hold the feed for a long time, during which period it is subjected to macerating, mixing, and straining processes in preparation for entrance into the fourth or true stomach. The straining is accomplished through the medium of the manyplies or book, while the paunch, or rumen, with its adjunct, the waterbag, is concerned in the macerating, kneading, and mixing, as well as in regurgitation for rumination or the chewing of the cud. ”

“ Active work and over exertion of all kinds must be admitted as a factor. At slow work the ox can still ruminate, but in rapid work or under heavy draft this is impossible, and the contained liquids may pass over from rumen to manifolds conducing to impaction of the former, or fermentations may take place, swelling up the mass of ingesta and distending the walls of the first stomach. Similarly, cattle and sheep that are hurried off on a 110rapid march with full stomachs are greatly exposed to both tympany and impaction. ”

“ This is not common, to any dangerous degree, among sheep; but, if turned upon clover when their stomachs are empty, it will sometimes ensue.
Hoove is a distension of the paunch by gas extricated from the fermentation of its vegetable contents, and evolved more rapidly, or in larger quantities, than can be neutralized by the natural alkaline secretions of the stomach. When the distention is great, the blood is prevented from circulating in the vessels of the rumen, and is determined to the head. ”

“ The animal has an anxious expression, moves uneasily
and is evidently distressed. If relief is not obtained in time the sheep
breathes with difficulty, reels in walking or standing and in a short
time falls down and dies from suffocation. The distention of the stomach
or rumen may become so great that it pushes the diaphragm (the membrane
separating the lung and intestinal cavity) forward against the lungs, so
as to squeeze and stop their movements, thus preventing the animal from
breathing and in some instances the case may be complicated by a rupture
of the stomach. ”

“ They now know that, as to early lambs, for instance, the ewes [3] should be strong, and kept in good condition, so that they can supply the lambs with plenty of milk. They are now kept in a warm barn where the cold winds do not touch them, and where the sun can shine on them. They commence feeding them by putting a little bran in the lamb’s mouth, so that it can taste it, and the lambs commence eating from a box separate from the sheep. They generally feed them with cracked corn or meal, and sometimes oats and corn ground together, with plenty of milk from the ewes. ”

“ Ruminants should have no food necessitating chewing of the cud; thus the roots, etc., should be pulped or boiled, and hay and even grass must be interdicted until rumination is re-established. When food is absolutely refused for days in succession well-boiled gruels of oatmeal, barley-meal, linseed meal, bran, etc., may be given from a bottle or by injection. Dogs and cats should have only vegetable mush (unbolted flour, barley, or oatmeal) with just enough beef-juice to tempt the animal to eat a little. ”

“ Ah, it’s a rum sight to see the lank, fierce, hungry beasts licking their chops, and thinking every now and then that they’ve got the calf, for the old mother keeps going off a little way to try and make the stupid cow baby get up and follow. ”

“ Then the girl went to the stove where the animals were lying, and petted the cock and hen, and stroked their smooth feathers with her hand, and caressed the brindled cow between her horns, and when, in obedience to the old man’s orders, she had made ready some good soup, and the bowl was placed upon the table, she said, “Am I to eat as much as I want, and the good animals to have nothing? Outside is food in plenty, I will look after them first.” So she went and brought some barley and stewed it for the cock and hen, and a whole armful of sweet-smelling hay for the cow. ”

“ At some distance from the house and barn lies the great pasture land, where in the sunny autumn days eight sleek cows graze contentedly upon the fragrant grass, making sweet music as they wander to and fro,—for each cow wears a little bell about her neck. Sometimes the whole herd starts up together into lively movement ”

“ To make you understand this fearful complaint, I must remind you that cows, in common with all ruminating animals, have four stomachs; and that, when a cow is turned into a field, she twists her tongue round mouthful after mouthful of the long grass, and after biting each off, conveys it without chewing to her first stomach or paunch, till this is about half full, when the animal seems stimulated by nature to seek rest and quiet, for she leaves off eating, and either stands perfectly still in some shady place, or lies down. ”

“ But swan, peacock, and venison are, after all, only revivals of the old bill-of-fare which was available in the households of Old England. To find a new meat, we must take stock of the world’s resources of animal food, and inquire, after due survey, if there does not still exist some neglected quadruped which will furnish what we seek. Roughly speaking, our main supply of animal food is drawn either from the rodents, the ruminants, or the pachyderms,—represented by the rabbit, the ox or sheep, and the pig. ”

“ FROM THE LARGE PROPORTION OF MOISTURE OR FLUIDS contained in the tissues of all young animals, the flesh of lamb and veal is much more prone, in close, damp weather, to become tainted and spoil than the flesh of the more mature, drier, and closer-textured beef and mutton. Among epicures, the most delicious sorts of lamb are those of the South-Down breed, known by their black feet; and of these, those which have been exclusively suckled on the milk of the parent ewe, are considered the finest. ”

“ For their drink, they draw a liquor from barley or other grain; and ferment the same so as to make it resemble wine. Nay, they who dwell upon the bank of the Rhine deal in wine. Their food is very simple; wild fruit, fresh venison, or coagulated milk. They banish hunger without formality, without curious dressing and curious fare. In extinguishing thirst, they use not equal temperance. If you will but humour their excess in drinking, and supply them with as much as they covet, it will be no less easy to vanquish them by vices than by arms. ”

“ The best living appears to have been in South Britain, where venison, oxen, sheep, and goats were eaten; and ale or mead was the common drink. The whole family attended upon the visitors, and the master and mistress went round, and did not eat anything till their guests had finished their meal.
The Romans made little use of cattle as food; and the fattening of cattle for this specific purpose was unknown to them. Neither can we find evidence that beef and mutton were eaten by the Roman people generally. ”

“ A vigorous ram will suffice for 35 to 40 ewes, when running with the flock; yet his powers would not be more taxed by double or even treble this number, if admitted to each but once. Bread is a convenient food for the ram while running with the sheep. If he is gentle, which he should always be, he will come up readily and eat from the hand, without exciting the attention of the other sheep, which crowd, and not unfrequently injure each other when grain is placed before him; or he may be stabled at night and fed with grain. ”