DEHORNING METHODS.

Taranaki Daily News, 22 December 1930, Page 16

DEHORNING METHODS.

- REMOVAL OF “BUTTON.”

Every cattle owner experiences, at one time or another, losses from horned animals. On the dairy farm there are injuries to flanks - and udder from greedy, “bossy”- cows, who want all the feed. In marked contrast is the behaviour of polled dairy cattle, whether, at feed boxes or in the paddock. With ibeef cattle, -besides paddock injuries, there is a large percentage of loss of meat through bruising on the way to market, both by road and rail. The usual means taken to prevent these losses is by applying lunar caustic to the horn buds in calves when only a few days old. The hair is clipped off ♦he skin overlying the buds, the parts are moistened with water, and the caustic stick is rubbed over the moistened parts for a few seconds. Thq whole must be covered, but care must be taken not to let the moisture run down on to the facb, as if-the caustic is applied too long it may bum the flesh and even reach the eye and blind the calf. , ■ If carefully done this method is quite effective; but a leaflet issued by the New' South Wales Stock Department recommends a surgical method, the instruments required being a sharp knife, - a pair of claw forceps, and • a pair -of curved scissors. The‘calf is held in a steady position by an assistant. The bud is felt, and the surrounding hair removed, leaving a clear field. The bud is then raised until the overlying skin is tense, using the thumb and” forefinger, and an incision made with a sharp, clean knife over the centre of the bud, which is grasped "with the forceps and pulled through the incision sufficiently far to allow the curved scissors tb be inserted underneath, and the button clipped off. . ' ANAEMIA IN PIGS. SUSCEPTIBILITY TO DISEASE. ... An important discovery by Dr. R. A. Craig, of Purdue. University, in connection with some investigations of anaemia 'in young pigs, is reported in the Australian Press. He found that pigs sufferiuw from anaemia are. much more susceptible to infections by the organism which causes sore mouth, bull-nose, and necrosis. of the inner wall of the small intestin.es than are non-anaemic pigs. Anaemic pigs were inoculated with a suspension of necrotic material from bull-nose lesions in a young pig. The inoculations were highly effective in causing necrotic sores. Non-anaemic pigs, inoculated with material from the same source, showed nothing more than slight inflammation at the point of inoculation from which they recovered within threq or four. days.