138 FARM ANIMALS 



to give special care to these animals in order to 

 secure the necessary profit to repay the higher price 

 paid for the original stock. Thus where a man 

 has but a few cows and can buy a good grade bull 

 for $25 or $30 it would hardly seem advisable for 

 him to go to the expense of buying a thoroughbred 

 Angus, Hereford or Shorthorn at a cost of $200 to 

 $300. We do not hereby wish to discourage the 

 improvement of beef cattle. In order to prevent 

 the use of grade bulls it will probably be best for 

 several farmers to buy a thoroughbred sire in part- 

 nership provided any individual does not Keep 

 enough beef cows for the entire service of the bull. 



If polled breeds are not used it is desirable to 

 dehorn calves as soon as the horn button appears. 

 This is much more humane and causes less check 

 in the growth of the animal than to remove the 

 horns after the steers have become mature. In 

 calves three to four days old the hair may be clipped 

 away from the horn button and a stick of caustic 

 potash, wrapped in paper to protect the fingers, is 

 moistened on one end with water and rubbed over 

 the horn until it becomes sensitive. This process 

 may be repeated several times. Within a few days 

 a scab appears over the horn button and later falls 

 off leaving the poll hornless. Mature steers re- 

 quire about two weeks to recover from the process 

 of dehorning. Otherwise very little bad effect has 

 been noted. 



Throughout the range country branding is nec- 

 essary for the identification of ownership of cattle 

 This, as is well known, is almost universally done 

 by means of a hot branding iron. From time to 

 time various branding fluids have been proposed as 

 substitutes for the branding iron on the ground 

 that the process is less repulsive and more humane. 



