THE SPAYING OF COWS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1107, 19 May 1893, Page 7

THE SPAYING OF COWS.

The experiment as to the value of spaying cows which the Council of Agricultural Education are carrying Dookie College has created a fresh interest in the practice among the dairy farmers of the colony. M. Gouin, a French scientist, has recently prepared an impartant paper upon the spaying of cows, and he has shown that the operation has resulted in some instances in considerable benefit to' the owners of cattle. It appears that the system was in operation in Sweden and Norway during the last century, and that in 1823 an American was enabled to prolong the period of lactation in a cow by spaying. When antiseptics )were unknown, and when practitioners operated upon the flank of a cow, accidents were frequent, and under such conditions the practice did not become general. It remained for M. Charlier to make known his system of ovariotomy by what is termed the procede vaginal. The instruments used were perfected a little later on, when M. Mansuya, veterinary surgeon at Remiremont, who made a great number of experiments, announced that he never had more than from one to two per cent of accidents, although to succeed to such an extent he believed it was necessary to have had considerable experience. Another veterinary surgeon, M. Flocard, of Geneva, who has also had considerable experience both in France and in Switzerland, has had still better results, being no more than five per 1000, and in this case the loss is stated to have been owing to want of care. The writer states that in the canton of Geneva spaying is daily practised, the farmers being satisfied with the results which are obtained. There appear to be two causes which render success uncertain. The chief is that surgeons have not had sufficient practice in this most delicate operation, not daring to risk their reputation by an experiment, the success of which can hardly be assured. Much depends upon the care which the animals receive at the hand;} of of the cowmen after the operation. Some men have no faith in it, and take little trouble in the achievement of success, but when success has been assured the writer states that they become zealous auxiliaries in promulgating the system. Ovariotomy is performed upon the cow about six weeks after calving. A cow belonging to M. Nicholas, the famous Parisian milk purveyor, at his farm at Arcy, in December, 1881, was actually giving two gallons of milk daily in July, 1884, while a cow belonging to M. Galley, in Geneva, which was spayed at 17 years old, was sold to a butcher four years afterwards when giving about six quarts of milk daily. In another case a heifer of three years gave an average of four gallons daily for three years after the operation, M. Gouin states that six years is the maximum period during which a spayed cow remains in milk, but such cases are rare, for Jan owner can scarcely co- ' or more than an average of f .; ; > months. It is stated i: of such cows is richer th , . unspayed cows. Ovariotc . :to; certain advantages which are u great extent increased in the case of cowkeepers who do not breed, and who are anxious to lengthen the period of lactation as much as possible. If by this system cows which yield from ten to eleven quarts a d^y;

can be induced to increase their yield to from 14 to 16 quarts, it is scarcely necessary to suggest that the plan would become a favourite one. In some cases it appears that spaying raised the yield of milk per cow from nine to eleven litres on the average. M. Gouin claims that when a castrated cow is yielding no more than eight litres of milk per day (about six quarts) she will, as a rule, be in a condition fit for the butcher, and will provide beef of a very high quality.