Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1885-02-28
Dishorning Calves.
New England Farmer,

read piece saying that the horns of
calves could be easily taken out, and
by doing so the horns of cattle could
be bred off. | would like to know
more about the matter. | have bull
calf from some of the best Jersey stock
in the State, and if | thought / could
breed the horns off Of my stock by re-
moving his horns, | would like to raise
him. Would his offspring come with
out horns, or would they have to be
cut out for number of generations ?
How should the operation be perform
ed? How old should the calf be?
Can anyone who has not seen the
operation take them out with safety?
Would it be safe at this time of the
year? Would there be liable to he
any bad effect from taking cold :
Horns on cattle do not consider
either useful or ornamental, but dan.
gerous to their keepers and themselves,
and the sooner they are got rid of the
better in my opinion. If removing
the horns from the bulls tends to breed
them off, | think every breeder Of
cattle should commence right away,
Please give me all the information you
can on the subject and greatly oblige
ALBERT l.. STEELE.
REMARKs.--It is a matter of history
that in certain district in Ireland the
practice of dishorning CALVES was car
ried on for a long time quite success
fully, the sole object being to get the
horns out of the way SO that the cattle
could be herded together, or driven to
market with greater safety. We be>
lieve the Irish farmers method of dis
horning was to touch the little Dubs of
horns with an iron heated to a white
heat, a method surely not more cruel
than that of branding, which is prac-
ticed in this country on all the cattle
Of the Western ranches. But we
would not use a hot iron, nor recom>
mend its use to others. 1t must be a
bungling method at best, especially on
farm where there is no convenience
for heating an iron to a white heat.
A red hot iron is a cruel tool at any
time. When it is remembered that
the horns start from the skin and not
from the bone of the head, it will be
seen that when the calf is young re-
lnoval of the horns "skin deep" will
prevent their temperance. Maj
Henry E. Alvord is authority for the
statement that this method is as simple
as cutting off the tail of lamb, anC
not to be compared, on the score o
pain or danger, with castration O
males. His iather-in,l a farmer o
Virginia, changed a herd of horned
cattle to polled cattle in very few
generations by simply cutting out TIT
horns of his calves, and after few
years the calves mostly came withou
horns. A Virginia farmer writing t,
the Country Gentleman, recently esti
mated that there is a saving of from
five to ten dollars annually in the cos
of keeping polled cattle over cattl
with horns, as he can turn the forme
together loose in pens, letting then
feed from long trough, thus dispens
ing with all stancheons or fastenings Q
any kind which is an argument tina
would have much more force in tina
mild climate where. cattle barns ar
mere sheCs, than with us who kee
our cattle in their stalls so man
months in the year, and who mus
keep our cows clean with the leas
possible amount of bedding. W
would prefer to breed the horns o
from herd Of horned COWS by crossin
with polled bulls, but if not convt
nient to do so we would Try the expo
riment of cutting out the horns froI
the calves while young. A SHARP
strong pocket knife, and little scrape
leather or powdered alum for checkin
the flow of blood are all the tools neeC
ed. 1t should be done as soon as tn
horns can be plainly felt. There ca
be no more danger of the animal ST
king cold" from it then taking col
from a scratch on the skin from
la... n o,,k F.o,,, n eboo IN II