Injuries

Pay great attention to animal injuries.

If you see an animal walking with difficulty (limping), or bleeding after a fight with another animal, or which has hurt itself, do not wait to treat it.

If you wait, the wound will become worse, it will become infected.

An infected wound is slow to heal; it may prevent the animal from walking, from going to the pasture, from working, from giving milk. An animal in pain produces less.

· Find out why the animal is injured.

Has it a thorn in its foot?
Has a piece of wood or iron torn its skin ?
Has a rope, collar or yoke rubbed, or been too tight?
Is there a vicious animal in the herd?
When you have found out why the animal is injured, you must get rid of the cause of the injury. If it is a working animal, do not make it work; it is better to lose a few days' work than to lose the animal.

· Treat the wound.

Wash the wound with warm water in which you have put something to prevent the wound from getting infected.

You can use soap or a chemical product such as permanganate of potash or cresol.

Wash the wound often. A wound that is always kept clean heals quickly.