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Show LOCO WEED ANP LOSS OF LIVESTOCK. The loco disease aniong horses, fchcep and cattle has been known to the west for forty years and a few of the western agricultural colleges have designated the weeds which produce pro-duce the poisonous effects, but not until tho last few days has the poison itself been identified. Tho laboratory of the bureau of animal industry of the United States department of agriculture agri-culture lias established the. fact that barium is the poisonous element In1 both the purple loco and the rattle-weed. rattle-weed. , ; These weeds are found on the ranges of states as far apart as Minnesota Min-nesota and Utah. They grow as far north as Montana and south 'as far as Texas. Horses inflicted with loco weed will bite their riders, throw themselves them-selves on their backs and go through all the movements of an animal an-imal in great pain. But little success suc-cess has followed the treatment of the insane animals. ' A bulletin issued by . the government govern-ment describing the disease." says the characteristic symptoms are a slow, staggering gait, rough coal, staring, vacant look and emaciation. The affected af-fected animals have hallucinations, cannot be led or backed, show more or less lack of muscular coordination, gradually lose flesh, and die. The affection af-fection comes In a slow and cumulative cumu-lative manner, and there is no possibility possi-bility of animals becoming immune by continually eating the plants. The proverb, "an onnce of prevention preven-tion is worth a pound of cure," applies ap-plies to this disorder. Although good results can aften be obtained by the treatment of locoed animals, the most effective way of dealing with the trouble trou-ble is to keep animals from eating the loco plants. Wherever practicable, the weeds should be exterminated from the range or pasture,- and the best way of doing this is simply to cut therri out. This method, however, while often practicable on land under un-der private control, cannot very well be applied to the public range. In many cases much can be accomplished accom-plished by keeping animals away from loco-covered ranges during tho time when feed is short, as they are much more likely to contract the habit at such a time. It may sometimes be profitable to feed them for a short time, in order that the loco-eating habit may not be formed. After animals have become affected the first essential in their treatment is to place them whore they cannot eat the loco weeds. They t-hould be given plenty of nutritious feed, and, so far as practicable, feed with laxative lax-ative properties, such as green alfalfa. al-falfa. Some may recover under this treatment without recourse to medicine. medi-cine. With most animals, however, recovery is hastened by medicinal treatment. As a result of its experiments the department of agriculture suggests the following treatment: For cattle, strychnino in doses of three-twentieths to four-twentieths of a grain dally, administered hypoderm-Ically. hypoderm-Ically. For horses. Fowler's solution solu-tion of arsenic in half-ounce doses daily in the drinking water or In tho grain. This treatment should he continued con-tinued for at least a month. To correct cor-rect the constipation which is almost' universal in locoed animals, magnesium magne-sium suphatc (Epsom salt) may be administered ad-ministered as a drench in two-ounco doses. Epsom salt may also serve to some extent as an antidote to the poison poi-son produced by the weeds. Beneficial Bene-ficial results have also been obtained by giving horses daily a drench containing con-taining two ounces of Epsom salt with ten drops of dilute sulphuric acid, aud by giving cattle triweekly three to four ounces Epsom salt with a proportional pro-portional increase in tho quantity of sulphuric acid. The publicity of this method of treatment will be of service to the livestock owners of Utah and tho west, as loco weed has cost each year in livestock a large sum of money. Examiner. |