WAIKATO FARMERS' CLUB.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXIX, Issue 3155, 13 September 1892, Page 2

WAIKATO FARMERS' CLUB.

DEHORNING CATTLE. At the last meeting of the Club Mr Henry Bottle road a cm per on the above subject by Mr R. P. Gordon, which had appeared in a Queensland paper. Before reading the paper Mr Buttle said ic was a new subject to ihem in New Zealand, but it might prove of benefit, for cattle were much damaged bv horning when being trucked. Since it had become known that ho was to read a paper on the subject of dehorning, ho had been pitched into by his friends for having anything to do with what was designated such vilely cruel work, but if it would saw the animals sufforing.hn thought they would be justified in practising it. lie then read the paper which commenced by contending that in the early ages when cattle were not under human control and deterioration was prevented by what Darwin called the "survival of the fittest," horns played a most important part in preventing the weaker sires from peipetnating their like; but under the conditions in which cattlo are now maintained tor the use of man, horns are not only not essential, but are a positive objection. It then referred to the hornless breeds and spoke in favour of the Polled Angus, it also pointed out that it would take many years to breed the horns oft" the five million cittle in Queensland. D.dmrning had been occasionally practised in England many years ago, but was discontinued when the. cat.ilr, were tied up or fed in different stalls. Lately, however, store cattle had been brought over from America and Ireland, and these had to be fed in open courts, as they would not bear handling, and the farmers had found it necessary to resort to dehorning to prevent injmy. Dehorning not only deprived the animals of the means of injuring their coirpanions, but also had the effect of depriving them of their natural courage and rendered them more tractable.

"Tipping," or flawing off the points of the horns had a wonderful effect in 6ubduing wild cattle.—The paper gave several instances of wild cattle being tamed by "tipping," and then pointed out the advantages of the process to those who had to truck cattle long distances. It then con tinned : " Dehorning has been practised in four different ways : By performing the operation on calves; by sawing off the tips; by half-horning; and by removing them close to the skull. The practice of dehorning calves has been all but discarded as unsatisfactory and unnecessarily cruel. Tipping the horns is unsatisfactory ; for although it may prevent animals from ripping each other, considerable injury by bruising is still caused by the pointless horns. Half-horning—that is sawing them off at about half their length—is a much .more cruel operation than cutting them off close to the head. Experience has proved that the best mode of dehorning is to remove the horn within a couple of inches of the skull, and the proper age at which to perforin the operation is at from two to two and a-half years old. There are two modes of performing the operation : First, by means of what are called by the operator's "scissors": and secondly by a finetoothed tenon-saw. The "scissors'" are in. the form of large pruning nippers, with powerful wooden handles, from four to five feet in length. Those who ha.e had most experience in dehorning appear to profer the fine-toothed saw, and by means of that only a very few seconds—about fifteen—are occupied in cutting through the horn. The wound bleeds freely for about ten minutes, but the animals do not appear to suffer any pain after the operation is over, and in almost every instance they take their food as soon as released. With respect to the cruelty of the operation, of which so much has recently been heard in connection with prosecutions by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, it would appear that the majority of veterinary surgeons in England and America are agreed that the pain is not so great, and certainly not so enduring as in the operations of castration and brandings." The paper then gave a resume of several cases tried in the various courts, the result being that at the present time the practice is legal in Scotland and Ireland, but illegal in England.

Mr Buttle also read an extract, for warded by Mr Brooks, of Churchill, describing a cheap and efficacious method of preventing the growth of horns by the application of caustic potash. This will lie found in entenso in next Saturday's supplement.

Mr Buttle said 11,000 cattle went from Waikato to the Auckland market annually ; and of the 800,000 in New Zealand 200,000 were in the Auckland province. One point farmers bad to consider with respect to Polled cattle was whether they would come to maturity as early as the horned breeds. If dehorning would benefit dairying it was worthy of a trial, for he understood thore were now 2000 cows being milked to supply Messrs Reynolds and Co.'s dairies.

The Chairman (Mr John Fisher) said it was a new subject to them, and he did not know if the practice would be permitted. Ho had seen Polled cattle sold in Auckland markets and had heard it said they would have fetched 10s per head more if they had been horned. His experience; with Polled cattle was that they were of a stubborn disposition, but he admitted that the Polled Angus were excellent quality and fetched good prices. If dehorning was to be done ha agreed with the cut being made close to the skull.

Mr Reynolds said it had been stated in one of the cases tried in Ireland that if dehorning was stopped in that country, that it would cause a loss of half a million of money. The practice was new to the inhabitants of New Zealand and would be hard to get established, although he believed it was not nearly so cruel an operation as castration and branding, with which they were well acquainted and practised daily. His friend Mr Day, of Tamahere, had intended being present to speak against the question, and he regretted that Mr Day was nut with them for he believed the paper read by Mr Buttle would have caused him (Mr Day) to alter his opinion on the matter. He concluded by moving hearty votes of thanks to Mr Every Maclean, who had sent them the paper, to Mr Brooks, of Churchill, for contributing further information on the subject, and to Mr Buttle for having read the paper to the Club. The votes were carried by acclamation.