Here is an advanced case and shows how serious the trouble may become. A very small itch mite is the cause. The mites live and multiply under the scurf and scab of the skin.]
Moreover, the stockman should be a judge of external characters, whether natural or temporary. He should have a knowledge of animal conformation. If to know a good plow is desirable, then to know a good pastern or foot is desirable. If the art of selecting wheat is a worthy acquisition, then the art of comparing hocks of different horses is a worthy accomplishment also. If experience tells the grower that his corn or potatoes or cotton is strong, vigorous and healthy or just the reverse, observation and experience ought also to tell him when his stock are in good health or when they lack thrift or are sick and need treatment.
Few farmers there are, indeed, who are not acquainted with crop diseases. Smut is readily recognized when present in the wheat or corn or oat field; so colic, too, should be recognized when your horse is affected by it. The peach and the apple have their common ailments; so have the cow and pig. In either case the facts ought to be familiar. So familiar that as soon as diagnosed and recognized prompt measures for treatment should be followed that the cure may be effected before any particular headway is at all made. Handled in this way, many cases that are now passed on to the veterinarian would never develop into serious disturbances at all.
The old saying, “Prevention is better than cure,” is both wisdom and a splendid platform on which to build any branch of live stock work. Every disease is the result of some disturbance, somewhere. It may be improper food; the stockman must know. Moldy fodder causes nervous troubles in the horse. Cottonseed meal, if fed continuously to pigs, leads to their death. Hence, food has much to do with health and disease. Ventilation of the stable plays its part. Bad air leads to weakness, favors tuberculosis, and, if not remedied, brings about loss and death. Fresh air in abundance is better than medicine; and the careful stockman will see that it be not denied.
Good sanitation, including cleanly quarters, wholesome water and dry stables, has its reward in more healthy animals. When not provided, the animals are frequently ill, or are in bad health more or less. As these factors--proper food, good ventilation, and effective sanitation--are introduced in stable accommodations, diseases will be lessened and stock profits will increase.