cient. If too much protein is in the ration there is a waste of
expensive feed, and the tendency is for the animal to become thin. It is
evident that a cow can not thrive on concentrated feeds alone, even though
these contain in assimilable form all the nutritive materials needed for
perfect support. It is because bulk is necessary that the standard of about
25 pounds of dry matter per cow per day has been reached by experimenters.
There is no objection to feeding grain or meal separately to a cow,
provided enough bulky feed is fed at another time in the day to keep the
digestive tract sufficiently distended.

In changing the ration, and especially in making radical changes, as at the
beginning and the end of the pasturing season, the change should be made
gradually, so that the digestive organs may accommodate themselves to it.
After the digestive organs and juices have from long practice become
adjusted to the digestion of a certain feed, which is then suddenly
withheld and another of quite different character and properties is
substituted, the second feed is not well digested; it may even irritate the
digestive canal. It is often observed that cattle lose from 25 to 100
pounds when turned on pasture from dry stable feed. This loss can readily
be prevented by not shocking the digestive organs by a sudden change of
diet.

Regularity in feeding has much to do with the utilization of the ration,
and gross irregularity may cause indigestion and serious disease.

Water for live stock should be as free from contamination and as nearly
pure as that used for household purposes. When practicable it is well to
warm the water in the winter to about 50 deg. F. and allow cattle to drink
often.

DISEASES OF THE MOUTH.

WOUNDS AND CONTUSIONS OF THE LIPS, AND SNAKE BITE.

The lips may become inflamed from contusions, which are sometimes produced
by a blow from the horns of another animal, or, in the case of working
oxen, by a blow from the driver. While cattle are grazing, more especially
when they are in woods, they may be bitten in the lips by insects or
serpents.

_Symptoms._--As a result of a contusion the lips become thick and swollen,
and if treatment is neglected the swelling may become hard and indurated,
or an abscess may form. This condition renders it difficult for the animal
to get food into its mouth, on account of the lips having lost their
natural flexibility. In such cases an ox will use his tongue more in th