From: viking@iastate.edu (Dan Sorenson)
Subject: Re: Eating killed animals (was Re: Gun Control Petition)
Organization: Iowa State University, Ames IA
Date: Mon, 21 Dec 1992 05:35:00 GMT

In <1992Dec20.185357.3931@bmerh85.bnr.ca> myhui@bnr.ca (Michael Hui) writes:

>Be specific, please. Tell us what you saw, not what you didn't see.
>Tell us how the cattle were castrated, then. Tell us whether they had
>their horns removed, and how. You may not have seen the exact method
>described by Rosemary used with your own eyes. Tell us what methods you
>did see used, to achieve the same end result then.

	Oh, where to start?  How about castration?  Fine.  We de-horn then
too if the feeder cattle have them when purchased.  First, round them up
in a lot, have the chutes and rack set up.  The rack is an affair consisting
of steel tubing forming a cage, and a front and rear door.  The front
door has a cut-out for the head and neck to go through.  When the bull comes
through, you close the front door and the back at the same time, thereby
trapping him.  His head is free, but restricted enough it isn't going to
gore you.  If he's annoying, there is a leather strap that may be drawn
across his face to point his head downwards.  For some reason, they are
less likely to fight if they can't see who to fight.

	Now then, on the front end you place a pair of specialized
pliers over the horns and squeeze.  The horn is pulled cleanly from the
skull socket, exposing the artery.  The artery is then grabbed with a
hemostats, stretched, and snipped with a scissors.  This causes the
artery to retract into the skull and clot.  A few shakes of sulfa
powder to fight infection and that end is done.

	At the back end, you first take your scalpel or X-acto knife
(replacing blades is easier than honing a scalpel multiple times).  Cut
the bottom of the sack off.  That should be done in one stroke.  The
testicles fall out of their own accord, dangling from their tendons.
Grab the whole mess, wrap it in a simple half-hitch knot, pull it snug,
and cut below the knot.  Shake some sulfa powder into the now-empty sack
and you're done with that end.  A good individual can have this done in
about ten seconds.  Inject any anti-biotics that may be necessary for
that particular herd to prevent catching the pnuemonia your neighbor's
herd has, for example, and let him loose.  Total time?  Thirty seconds
if you're slow about it and take his temperature too.

	If you have smaller calves, it's even easier.  There is a
goop similar to Compound W, a wart remover, than you just smear on
their horn stubs and they'll wither away after a week or two.  You
can also place a glorified rubber band about the top of the scrotum,
and there is a locking pliers than you can clamp atop the scrotum
for about two minutes.  These methods get a bit impractical when the
cow is weighing several hundred pounds and cannot be immobilized
without drugs or else injuring itself and most likely you.

	For pigs, it's easier.  Pick them up by the hind legs and
suspend them upside-down, legs apart.  Make two incisions where the
testes are until they pop out of their own accord.  Grab, twist, and
pull.  They'll come out fairly easily.  Now set the pig down so he can
eat them or wait about you for others.  For baby pigs, you will also
want to de-tusk them.  Grab a pliers and pull them as soon as they show.
Since they have no roots yet, this won't even cause bleeding.  If the
pig is above 15lbs, forget it -- you'll most likely have your hand
torn off then his tusks out.  Just sell him before he becomes a
danger to the rest of the herd.

	Note this isn't just what I've seen, it's what I've done for
years.  It is also, in my experience, more typical than the abuses
Rosemary had recited from _Diet for a New America_ I believe it was.

>You'd be more convincing if you refuted Rosemary's argument point by
>point like this:

	No need.  You will find the post I made to talk.politics.animals
in your mailbox.  I figure others will read it if they are interested.

< Dan Sorenson, DoD #1066 z1dan@exnet.iastate.edu viking@iastate.edu >
<  ISU only censors what I read, not what I say.  Don't blame them.  >
<  "This isn't an answer, it's a pagan dance around a midnight fire  >
<   written in intellectual runes." -- Rich Young                    >
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