ENORMOUS LOSS

Dominion, Volume 16, Issue 173, 10 April 1923, Page 5

ENORMOUS LOSS

HORNED CATTLE CAUSE DAMAGE

DEHORNING THE REMEDY

In these days, when the aim is to secure the maximum of production at the minimum of cost, it is surprising to learn that the loss to New Zealand through damage done by horned cattle in tracks runs into hundreds of thousands of pounds sterling each year. In the closely-crowded trucks, the animals become excited and restive, with the result that they horn each other to such an extent that, great quantities of beef have to be cast aside at tho freezing works- The greatest amount of damage is inflicted about the loins of tho animals, just where the most valuable part of the beef is found.

With the object of preventing this serious wastage, the Director of the Live Stock Division of the Agricultural Department is going into tho question of dehorning cattle from a comniercial point of view’. Colonel Young informed a Dominion reporter yesterday that dehorning was the remedy. A line of polled animals, he said, would carry for a long distance in a truck without showing the least signs of bruising, so long as the shunting was done in a sensible way. Not only was great damage done to beef carcasses by horned animals, but a great loss was also suffered in the output of milk through injuries inflicted by cows upon each other. Dehorning, he declared, was a very simple operation, which could bo performed by a saw similar to that used by butchers. The most humane method war to dehorn calves us soon as the bone began to show’ beneath the skin. Tho practice was to make a sharp incision, and remove tho “button.” Another method was to place caustic upon the bone button, with a ring of soap around the horn to prevent tho caustic from spreading. The method of dehorning was strongly recommended to cattle growers and dairymen, and should bo at once put into operation. 01 course, there was always controversy over the best procedure to adopt- with regard to purebred animals intended for show purposes, as dehorning took a-way the characteristic expression. This was overcome on many stations by having brass or wooden knobs attached to the tips of the horns.