The farmer protested as to the
inconvenience, but the owner insisted, and was conducted to the new
drawing-room. The door was thrown open, and the room was seen to be
stacked from floor to ceiling with wool, without a stick of furniture
in the place!
The veterinary surgeon is a necessary, but not very welcome visitor,
for, of course, his attendance means disease or accident to the stock.
He is not often mistaken in his diagnosis, though his patient cannot
detail his symptoms, or point to the position of the trouble. But the
vet is a man to be dispensed with as long as possible when epidemics,
like swine fever or foot and mouth disease, are raging in the
neighbourhood, because he may be a Government Inspector at such times,
and there is great danger to healthy stock if he has been officially
employed shortly before on an inspection. We had very little disease
at Aldington, being off the highroad, but we had one bad attack of
foot and mouth disease which I always thought was brought by a
veterinary surgeon. The complaint went all through my dairy cows and
fattening bullocks, and soon reduced them to lean beasts, but it was
surprising how quickly they picked up again in flesh and resumed their
normal appearance. It was curious to notice that, with the cows
standing side by side in the sheds, the disease would attack one and
miss the next two perhaps, then attack two and miss one, and so on;
doubtless it was a matter of predisposition on the part of those
affected.
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