D&C 89:8 "tobacco...is an herb for...all sick cattle, to be used with judgement and skill..."

Having grown up on a dairy farm back in the 60's, I once asked my dad about this scripture. He said that it was true and he had heard it was used to treat sick cattle, although he had never used it to treat any of our own cattle's ailments.

Today I finally found a good use for tobacco. Everyone should have one of these tobacco smoke enema kits handy just in case:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tobacco_smoke_enema

Has anyone ever found a case where tobacco was used to treat sick cattle?

Is that were the phrase, "Blow smoke up ones..." comes from?

forbiddencokedrinker Wrote:
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> Is that were the phrase, "Blow smoke up ones..."
> comes from?

yes. Its another example of naval slang.
I first heard about this on a documentary about "medical treatment" on board Nelson's fleet.
It was not considered beneficial by your countrymen, hence the saying.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/26/2012 11:30AM by EssexExMo.

whom she had met at an LDS singles event. As a 12-year old boy, I had developed an ingrown toe nail taht became infected. Instead of taking me to the doctor, which would have been the appropriate course of action, he instead turned to D&C 89:8 and insisted that we apply tobacco to my big toe. I kid you not, this idiot went out and bought a bag of big Red, and had me put the leaves directly on the infected toe and wrap it in a bandage. I tried that for a week. It did no good. It made the situation worse (i.e. more infected). I am a man, not a cow. Luckily my mother divorced this idiot after a few years.

I used to chew Big Red... you think it was bad for your toe? You should have put it in your mouth. I can't believe I did that crap when I was young.

Farm life.

So... If no one has ever used tobacco to treat sick livestock where in the world did Smith come up with that concept?

Maybe some mormons can light up a few Marlboros for that 'mad cow' in California and find out just how effective their D&C 89:8 is!

I've raised cattle my entire life and the only thing I've ever seen about treating sick cows with tobacco is in the WOW. In my opinion it's right up there with the health benefits of avoiding coffee.

They should try it on cattle with Mad Cow Disease

The question should not be "is tobacco used on sick cattle" but it should be "in the early 1800s was tobacco used on sick cattle."

Probably some whacky idea the Smith family tried on their farm because they were always broke and couldn't afford other treatments.

Or maybe an excuse they used about why they had tabacky in their home.

Applied on the skin with water - an old wive's remedy.

My grandfather used to use it on his horses too when they'd get bruises.

You'd have to ask ranchers if they still use it or if there's something better.

Really. How do you tell when a horse has a bruise? Jus' askin'.

Not even my mom did anything for a bruise. Lucky horses.

Raptor Jesus Wrote:
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> Applied on the skin with water - an old wive's
> remedy.
>
> My grandfather used to use it on his horses too
> when they'd get bruises.

The key question: was grandfather a Mormon, and simply following the advice of D&C 89? If so, it doesn't count.

The WoW being a collection of health advice known at the time.

Sounds appalling. Count me out. I guarantee that I get far better results when I place a dead chicken in a paper bag and swing it high over my head.

Tobacco taken internally kills some types of parasites. Boiled it can also produce a tincture which is suppose to be beneficial for some types of skin ailments. The tincture can also be used as a natural insecticide or insect repellant.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/26/2012 11:32AM by Jim Huston.

Years ago, I had an older country gent tell me about using chewing tobacco to cure mange in dogs. He said you took two squares of chewing tobacco and soaked it over night in a bucket of water. Then the next day you bathed the dog with the”tobacco” water. The old gent said it usually cured the mange in one treatment.

It's a poison, that's why it kills insects and parasites.

I've fed very small amounts of tobacco to my hunting dog for worms following a remedy Grandpa taught me.

Never knew him to use and he never taught me any treatments using tobacco for cattle or horses.

RE: tobacco water or use of tobacco as a treatment for humans, plants, or pets

Nicotine is an extremely effective pesticide---but it can kill a person or animal if ingested by accident or on purpose, at concentrations high enough to be medicinal. Please be very careful with it.

Ask your doctor or vet first.

When used for treating roses or other plants, please only use solutions formulated professionally, or while you are treating your plants, lots of other things that come in contact with it, such as birds, butterflies, and household pets, can become sick or die.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/26/2012 02:14PM by bookratt.

Here's a "heartfelt" family history story (LDS) regarding how one of their grandparents miraculously killed rattlesnakes by spitting tobacco juice into their mouths.

https://familysearch.org/photos/stories/398833/rattlesnake-and-chewing-tobacco

In my own family, my never-Mo grandfather from New Mexico was a shepherd as a young man in the early 1900s. He claimed that if you circled the outside of your tent or bedroll with tobacco, the snake would not cross the line.

My nephew is trying to get their cow to stop smoking methols. He says it makes the milk taste funny.

I grew up on a tobacco farm. My grandfather use to put cured tobacco in the dog beds to get rid of fleas.

Now that actually sounds like an effective and believable use for tobacco. I'd really like to know how many prairie farmers and cattlemen saw the WoW thing promoting a tobacco poultice for sick cattle and thought, "WTF??"

My mother was married to an idiot high priest in her ward for a short time (i.e. a few years) when I was 10-12 years old. He was a former Bishop, High Councilman, and a venerable member of the mormon community. I had an in grown toe nail that became infected. Instead of sending me to the doctor to have it removed like any normal person, he went to the store and bought "Redman" tombacco, the leafy kind. He then took a hunk of it, placed it on my infected toe, wrapped the toe up in a bandage, and told me to keep it there for 5 days, changing it every 24 hours, after which, "you will see the hand of the Lord heal your toe." Not only did it not work, but the tobocca made it worse, infected my entire toe. I'm lucky that my next door neighbor, a nurse, finally got my idiot parents to take me to the doctor so that he could remove the in-grown toe nail, and place me on anti-biotics - else I probably would have died. Maybe that was the idiots plan anyway.

Guess what, the D&C remedy doesn't work for sick cattle, nor does it work for sick humans, you sick f$#%!

I have a friend that was a "cowboy" on the church ranch. I'll need to ask him why they don't use tobacco to treat their cattle.

In grade school (yes grade school) I had a buddy who always kept a pouch of RedMan chew in his locker. Both his parents worked and were away from home all day. Every now and then, when he didn't feel like being at school, he would swallow a bit of chew. The truth of the matter is, that one only "swallows" chew for a short time before it issues forth with great fury. So he would swallow it, go to the nurses office, puke all over the place and get sent home for the day. After puking he felt fine and would spend the day doing whatever the heck he felt like.

Maybe I should try that at work?

Laugh if you'd like, but right now there's a thread on the babycenter board about whether or not you'd cook with/eat food prepared with alcohol.

Surprisingly, many of them say it wouldn't bother them (even a couple that are notoriously hard nosed). But I had to laugh at the woman who said that cooking is an okay use of alcohol, like tobacco is acceptable in use with cattle.

Like, a woman wrote that TODAY. So, there are some mormons out there that do believe tobacco is used with cattle.