DEHORNING CATTLE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2437, 28 November 1900, Page 7

DEHORNING CATTLE.

By J. L. Thompson, Travelling Agricultural Instructor, N.S.W., in the Agricultural Gazette. The operation of dehorning cattle is simplicity itself. The calf is operated upon when about a week old, or just when the horn-buds are beginning to shov, . A little caustic potash is applied to the wetted hornbud, and sufficient of this can be obtained for a few pence to do 20 or 30 calves. "Hoard's Dairyman" describes even a simplei method ' of dehorning calves as follows : — "The first day after the calf has sucked itself full it will lie down and sleep. Then is the time to operate upon it. Open the i hair where the little horn is to come and you. will find a spot w 4 here there is no hair. Just put a little common potash on the, spot, and it won't wake it up, and thejiorn will never grow. By common potash is mean common box lye that they use in making soft soap." Take a little wooden stick to put it on with. ' Don't put on too much ; just wet tbe little button, as we call it, is all that is needed; Then the next, day go and examine it, and' if the spot Has a little dent (which it will have in 99 cases out of 100), the horn is dead, and in a short time a little scale will come off, then the hair will grow, ancl be as smooth as a poley can be. If there is no dent, then the next day you must put on a" little more, but it is' seldom needed, and I think it 'so naucli better to have the horns, off. Our dairy cattle have no use for them now, and I think it merciful to kill the horn when the operation can be so painlessly." DEHOENING THE ADTJLT BOVINE. Everyone will admit that the operation is a painful proceeding for the adult bovine; but stockowners affirm that its - advantages in preventing still greater suffering justify its use. Anyone noticing a train-load of fat bullocks in transit to the metropolitan market cannot help seeing the excessive torture some of the animals suffer from being gored by the horns of others. Again, horns are sometimes broken off close to the skull, causing excruciating agony. Similar facts are frequently illustrated at the Homebush saleyards, whilst those who visit that market ,vill have noticed the differences between the "polled" ancl "horned" cattle as to disfiguration, etc. Polled cattle have many advantages that cannot be - claimed for the horned race. First: Their gentility is remarkable, the absence of horns apparently destroying in the bulls much of the quarrelsomeness belonging to horned breeds. be-, cond: The want of horns renders their travelling by rail comparatively safe, being a positive assurance against many ,of the accidents to which homed cattle are liable. They are the cheapest kind to market; more of them can be placed in the same space either in railway trucks or on board ship, and they arrive at their destination in the pinL of condition, enabling their beef ancl hides to realise a higher price than in the case of other breeds. On this account the polled Aberdeen Angus or Norfolk red polls should be more frequently bred than is at present the case. Horns are unnecessary and dangerous appendages, and if the above simple operation is carried out there need not be a single horned bovine left in the country. POLLED DTTBHAiIS, HEBEFOItDS, AND JERSETS. Of late years a breed of hornless shorthorns has come into prominence in the United States under' the name of Polled Durhams. Some magnificent illustrations of this breed have been shown in. the "Chicago Live StocJc Journal, showing all the characteristics of the best types of the shorthorn family. A hornless breed of Herefords is beginning to attract attention in -the United States. The new breed is due to -the enterprise of a Kansas enthusiast, Mr W. W. Guthrie, who, according to the Rural New Yorker, conceived the idea of founding a strain of hornless Tiereiords by having a polled calf of vie breed dropped in his herd some years ago. This was the foundation of the Polled Hereford. In a similar way a race of polled Jersey cattle has been established in no way inferior to their horned ancestors. There is a rapidly-grow-ing sentiment all over the States for hornless cattle. An American polled Jersey cattle company has lately been organised, eomprisin" 14 members, all being breeders of polled Jerseys. There are 48 cattle registered, with 50 more known to be eligible. A polled Jersey breeder states: "My experience is that the polled Jersey has proved to be equal in dairy work to any other breed. The great advantage of the hornless heads makes these cattle far superior to those having horns. It requires much less space in stabling polled cattle, there is no fighting or scaring going on, ancl other farm stock are not maimed or killed by the relic of barbarism that some jßeojgle persist in calling an orngdavaife."