Herbal folk remedies for animal health in the Netherlands

http://www.hato.com.au/articles/2013/3/15/traditional-herbal-medicines-used-by-farmers-pet-owners-and.html

Herbal folk remedies for animal health in the Netherlands
VAN ASSELDONK, Tedje and Helen BEIJER
Institute for Ethnobotany and Zoopharmacognosy, Rijksstraatweg 158, 6573 DG Beek-Ubbergen, Netherlands Agm.asseldonk@chello.nl
As a part of their training in herbalism 85 students of the two private schools for natural animal care that exist in the Netherlands were given the assignment to ask farmers, pet owners and animal pension keepers about their traditional remedies. This led to 168 case reports in the period 1998-2004. A few reports from other sources were added and all results have been put in a database to make follow up analyses possible. The animals that were involved were often horses. The plant species involved consisted of 63 genera in 36 families of which 92% were indigenous to, or have been grown in the Netherlands for many years. The most frequently reported plant was Linum usitatissimum L., flax seeds. Next in line were Urtica urens L. and U. dioica L. (nettles) and Allium sativum L. (garlic). All three were used for several different health conditions in several species of animals. Besides traditional internal and external herbal remedies there was use of beer, gin, tobacco, vinegar, and the hanging of branches in stables.
Ethnoveterinary practice in the Netherlands as defined by Martin, Mathias and McCorkle (2001) was, until recently, almost completely restricted to folk medicine, as there were hardly any professional natural health animal practitioners in the past. But since 1998 there are two private schools for the natural health care of animals. In these schools herbalism is taught. Also at this moment the commercial market of herbal remedies for pets is growing rapidly. It was feared that the old traditions would be lost within a few decades. Finding it essential that the old knowledge be preserved, the compilation of these data was undertaken. The results of our field work were put in a database to enable follow up analyses and study. The remedies are not yet tested for safety and effectiveness. We hope to evaluate some remedies that appear to be safe and promising.
Draught horse in stable ~ Photo Credit: Paul Englefield - Recursion; Flikr, Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 GenericMethod
In the period between 1998-2004 as a part of their training in herbalism, 85 students from two natural animal healthcare schools were assigned to interview farmers, animal owners or animal pension keepers in their vicinity, asking them for their traditional remedies, whether from the past or still in use. Any herbal or food based remedy, as long as its main component was of botanical origin, would do. For the purpose of training, students had to evaluate the remedies. They had to return with a report concerning at least two such remedies. For this project we used a semistructured questionnaire. The report had to include, the remedies (they had to find out exactly what is used, how, when, and pay attention to the identification, preparation, and the dosage), the informant and the primary source (who told you about it and how did they find out), the informants experience concerning this remedy (positive/negative) and the student’s opinion on the plausibility of its effectiveness and the toxic risks involved.
Results
We received reports from 85 students and two other sources covering 173 case reports, including 63 plant genera (68 plant species).
Table 1. Ethnoveterinary recipes reported to the Netherlands Institute for Ethnobotany and Zoopharmacognosy (IEZ) 1998-2004 sorted to animal species

Animals
In the case reports we received between 1998 and 2004 the animals involved most frequently were horses (Table 1). This is not surprising as most of the students are horse owners and some are professionals involved in horse breeding or keeping. So the results may be biased in this respect. Cows are second, then dogs. There are only a few remedies for pigs; our contact with the association of biological pig farmers confirmed that their members hardly use herbs.
Remedies
The plant species involved consisted of 68 species (63 genera) in 36 families of which 92% were indigenous to, or have been grown for many years in the Netherlands. Apart from nettles, there was hardly any harvesting from the wild. The eight remedies mentioned most often are listed in Table 2.
From Flax to linseed oil ~ Photo Credit: Handwerker; Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 UnportedThe most frequently reported plant (20 times) was Linum usitatissimum, flax seeds. It is used for a range of different health conditions but mainly for skin and digestive problems in horses and cows. In two cases it was used for sheep. Many of the users are enthusiastic about the influence these seeds have on moulting, but they added a warning for boiling the seeds before use to neutralize the Prussic acid (HCN). Also in some cases only the mucous was used and the seeds were left behind.
Several studies have been conducted in Canada on the feeding of flaxseed to dairy cows. This can have a positive influence on the milk quality (Gonthier et al. 2004, 2005; Lessard, Gagnon, and Petit 2003; Petit 2002; Petit Germiquet and Lebel 2004, 2005; Soita et al. 2003). Also the beneficial influence of flaxseed on the skin of atopic horses has been confirmed by a Canadian clinical study (O’Neill, McKee, and Clarke 2002). In the Netherlands flaxseed is part of calve and piglet food, and of some types of horses foods. It is not a part of the normal food for cows or pigs.
The second most popular plant (mentioned in 15 reports) is the nettle. Two Urtica species, U. dioica and U. urens are available in the Netherlands, and they are both being used. These are among the few plants that is collected from the wild. The use is very broad; it is used for all animal species. General strength-improvement and recovery is mostly the objective. 
Table 2. Eight plant genera most involved in 168 ethnoveterinary recipes reported to IEZ 1998-2004 (exact reported number of recipes with the genera between brackets)

One interesting practice was to rub the leaf on sow’s nipples: the burning sting would make her allow the piglets to suckle more easily. We also think that the internal use of the nettle around the period of delivery is a case that deserves more research.
Clean Garlic ~ Photo Credit: Francesco Perito; Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 UnportedThe third plant, reported 11 times, was garlic. Allium sativum seems to be a world wide remedy that was reported several times for ethnoveterinary use at conferences in India (Mathias, Rangnekar, and McCorcle 1998), Italy (Pieroni 1999) and in case studies in Trinidad and Tobago (Lans 1996). This is not an indigenous plant in the Netherlands but it is cultivated on a small scale. A lot of the reports concern commercial preparations that are being sold for horses. We expect a few accidents to happen soon, because the market for these animal herbal products is booming at the moment, and there is not enough traditional herbal knowledge left among animal owners to resist the advertisements. It is known that garlic in large quantities or its chronic use can do harm to cattle and horses (Miyazawa, Ito, and Ohsaki 1991; Parton 2000; Pearson et al. 2005). It is also known that garlic’s aromatic compounds pass the ovine placental barrier (Nolte et al. 1992).
The rather popular human remedies Calendula officinalis L. and Matricaria chamomilla L. were mentioned only for external applications. Other popular plants were several mint species with several different applications and Trigonella foenum-graecum L. (Greek hay). This is another herb strongly promoted by the commercial animal herbal industry, for cough mostly.
Students reported ethnoveterinary uses of beer, gin, sugar, molasses, hay, vinegar and several grains (barley, wheat).
Application
Reported uses were mostly internal, in 20% of the reports external, and there were two enema’s noted. To summarize the treatments involved we have grouped them according to the Anatomical Therapeutical Chemical Veterinary Classification system (WHO 2005) of which we use only the main therapeutic groups (Table 3). The remedies that were reported most often were alimentary tract and metabolism treatments (QA) and dermatologicals (QD); both equally frequent. Respiratory (QR), anti parasitic (QP) and reproductive treatments (QG) are also common. There was only one cardiac remedy mentioned (QC); this was Crataegus laevigata (Poir) DC (hawthorn), sold as a commercial preparation for humans.
Table 3. Indications involved in the ethnoveterinary recipes reported to IEZ 1998-2004, sorted to ATCvet code (WHO 2005)


Table 4. Sources and assessment by interviewees of ethnoveterinary recipes reported to IEZ 1998-2004

Sources of the informants
As there are only two of these schools in the Netherlands, students came from all parts of the country as did their interviewees. Besides the owners and animal-care professionals (like breeders), older farmers and a few vets were often important sources for remedies (Table 4). When the informant took the remedy from a book, it was often a Herbal meant for human use. In three cases there was reference to a specific animal Herbal, all three were mid 19th century books (Jolij 1855; Numan 1844; Wagenfeld 1844). The interviewees considered 91% of the remedies to be good or satisfactory. 79% of the remedies are still in use, although some traditional preparations have been replaced by a commercial one, usually due to lack of time for gathering and preparing the herb.
Illustration of some specifics
– Quite often cattle or horses are given a bottle of beer. It is said to give a shiny coat (in horses) or improve digestion, it would prevent colic, and even the feared milk disease in cows (a prolonged weakness after delivery) could benefit from this.
– Some remedies have a zoopharmacognostic origin. European shorthair cat ~ Phtoto Credit: FF23-fr; Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 UnportedOne woman made a digestive tea from some herbs for herself. Her cat came and drank from it, whereas she normally didn’t do this. The event was repeated a few times and the woman noticed an improvement in the cat’s appetite. Also the cat’s chronic vomiting and diarrhea ceased. The remedy was also effective on the rare occasions the digestive problems returned in later years.
– Shepherds had been noticing that animals tended to eat dandelion flowers, plantain, or burdock leaves when they were weak. They brought them to a place where these plants were available to them when they felt the animals needed it.
– One old farmer told a student that his family had a field with a lot of Equisetum arvense L. (horsetail) in it. It was family-knowledge, that when animals grazed there, they would grow big horns and thick fur, but would have no meat on the bones. The hay from this field was kept separate and given to cows suffering from mycosis of the skin.
–  Fennel seeds (seeds of Foeniculum vulgare Mill.) are used in many countries by mothers (as a galactagogue) and for babies (for cramp soothing). We had a report on it’s usage on dogs; in Italy it was reported for cattle. At this moment 6 organic pig farms in the Netherlands are testing this remedy to see if it improves the health of their sows and piglets.
–  One farmer mentioned an old practice in case of colic. They let the horse smoke tobacco through a pipe in its anus. This is now an outdated practice. (HATO's comment: Thank Goodness this awful method is no longer used!).
–  Another interesting practice is the hanging of holly-branches (Ilex aquifolium L.) in the sheep-stable to prevent or cure ecthyma disease. This was reported twice, once by a sheep farm in the south and once by a goat farm in the north. This use seems to have a broader counterpart in France (Brisebarre 1996).
Discussion
During the last decade, there have been many studies on ethnoveterinary practices in Europe. This makes it possible to compare our results to others (Table 5). Allen and Hatfield (2004) recently compiled a survey of medicinal plants from British and Irish folk traditions. They presented 105 genera of vascular plants that were used to treat animals. Of these we share 23 genera with them, though they are often applied differently. For example, although the English name for Artemisia absinthium L. is wormwood, and we found two reports of its use against worms in the Netherlands, Allen and Hatfield only report the use for cuts on cow’s udders. Likewise we found that of the 23 genera only 7 were used in a more or less similar way.
A study of Agelet and Vallès (1999) in Spain mentioned 76 remedies, of which we shared 20, and again the indications are quite different there. With the study of Uncini Manganelli, Camangi, and Tomei (2001) in Tuscany we share few remedies, but of the ones we do share, at least one of the indications is quite often similar. This was lesser the case for the survey Pieroni et al. (2004) conducted in the south of Italy.
There are many commonalities between the remedies we found in the Netherlands and the herbal remedies Udders of a cow grazing ~ Photo Credit: Muhammad Mahdi Karim; Wikimedia Commons, Attribution GNU Free Documentation Licensereported for Austria (Ludwig 1996; Zitterl-Egelseer and Franz 1999). Lans and Mathias (2004) recently edited a report on ethnoveterinary remedies in British Colombia. The use of Calendula for skin lesions and the use of Taraxacum as a blood purifier were found in both countries. Trigonella was only reported for respiratory illness in the Netherlands, and was used for skin conditions in British Colombia. Urtica is often used in the Netherlands to cure lactation problems and general diseases, whereas it is a part of anti rheumatic recipes in British Colombia. But there is a great amount of commonalities between the remedies we had reported and the Canadian report; this may be related to the fact that many Dutch farmers have moved to Canada in the decade after the 2nd world war.
Table 5. Plant genera used for ethnoveterinary practice in the Netherlands compared to genera reported by other recent studies

There are three popular 20th century Dutch publications on animal healthcare with herbs. A popular book was written by Mrs. K. Rotstein-van den Brink (1991). She mentions many more eye-remedies than we found; some of her cough and skin remedies are similar to ours. We heard first hand that a lot of her ‘traditional home remedies’ were taken from the books of a naturopath who lived nearby her. Also in the Netherlands a translation of De Baïracli Levy’s book (1960) has been available from the 1950’s onwards. We found that from the 63 genus we reported, 47 were also mentioned in the Baïracli’s book (this book mentions 205 herbal remedies). Of these 47 remedies, 19 had a very different indication in the book, and 7 a slightly different indication so there were 21 commonalities (45%). The Reader’s Digest herbal guide was translated into Dutch under supervision of professor Van Os (1980). It contains a chapter on veterinary remedies written by the Dutch vet J.C. Bottelier. We found almost nothing that was similar to these recipe’s still in use. Our sources mention none of these three books. But three older (19th century) books on animal care were mentioned to have been of family use and were presented (Jolij 1855; Numan 1844; Wagenfeld 1844).
Some remedies stem from human oriented textbooks. There is similarity between the remedies mentioned here and the remedies in popular Dutch herbals which were summarised on an earlier occasion (Van Asseldonk 2001). However the popularity of flax seeds and Greek hay seeds appears to be rather specific for animals, whereas several very popular herbs for humans (Hypericum perforatum, Valeriana officinalis, Achillea millefolium, Alchemilla vulgaris, Melissa officinalis) were not reported for animal use in this study.
Acknowledgement
Thanks to all the students that have cooperated enthusiastically, all of those interviewed and Dr. McCorcle, Dr. Mathias, Dr. Lans and Dr. Pieroni for their stimulating efforts in this field of research.
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Citation: Van Asseldonk, Drs. Tedje and Beijer, Helen (2006) Herbal folk remedies for animal health in the Netherlands. In: Ertug, Dr. Z. Füsun (Ed.) Proceedings of the IVth International Congress of Ethnobotany (ICEB 2005) Istanbul, pp. 257-263.
Last modified: 12 April 2010 
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