EEPOKT OF THE BTJKEAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY. 397 



ber of the winter-butter dairymen are in the great central dairy re- 



tion and raise large quantities of corn, and being close to the large 

 ouring mills of the West, depend largely upon wheat bran and corn 

 meal for their grain ration. These, with corn fodder, ensilage, and 

 clover and timothy hay, are the great staple fodders, and it would in- 

 deed be hard to find better foundations for economical rations for 

 butter production. 



It is in attention to what are often called minor matters of detail 

 that our better dairymen obtain much of their success. Thus, all 

 good dairymen are extremely particular that the water supplied to 

 their cows shall be convenient, abundant, and pure, and are careful 

 that it shall be supplied from either wells, springs, or running 

 streams. 



The importance of an abundant and regular supply of salt is not 

 understood by so many; but a well-known and painstaking professor 

 in one of the best of our agricultural colleges has shown as the result 

 of an experiment that when the cows are not salted regularly there 

 is a loss of 14^- per cent, in the quantity of the milk; that the milk 

 when set at 60 F. becomes sour twenty-four hours sooner, and that 

 the cream takes one-third longer time in churning. 



The bad effects of all kinds of excitement on the cow so far as the 

 milk and butter product is concerned, it is to be feared are well under- 

 stood by many more dairymen than are careful to see that their cows 

 are kept as free as possible from all disturbing influences. However, 

 no self-respecting dairyman will allow his cows to be driven by dogs, 

 or will allow cursing and blows in the stable and yards. 



Within the last year or two the practice of cutting off the horns, 

 not only of cows but of all classes of cattle, has begun to be exten- 

 sively practiced. The custom has been a fruitful source of discus- 

 sion in meetings of stock-breeders and dairymen and in the agricult- 

 ural press, ancf may still be considered an open question. A speaker 

 in a late meeting of cattlemen has so well summed up the arguments 

 on both sides that they are here given entire: 



On the affirmative side we are told by professional dehorners " that it will surely 

 save (1), one-fourth the hay in feeding store animals; (2), 10 per cent, of the corn in 

 fattening; (3), one-half the shed-room; (4), all loss in shipping cattle; (5), most 

 cases of abortion; (6), hundreds of human lives; (7), thousands of brute lives; (8), 

 the blue streak of profanity from ocean to ocean." 



The main objections raised are: 



(1) " It is painful and cruel, and disfigures the animal." 



(2) " It does no permanent good. A dehorned cow will, when her head gets well, 

 be the same old cow, but she is now armed with a battering-ram instead of spears. 

 It is merely a change of weapons." 



(3) " It changes the disposition; it prevents bulls from goring, but you have got a 

 homely, deformed, meek, listless, mild-eyed bull, with a disposition that would dis- 

 grace a two-year-old heifer." 



(4) " Dehorning decreases the flow of milk, and particularly the production of but- 

 ter fat, and impairs the ' butter potency' of the bull." 



(5) " The horn contains a marrow and a red, gluey substance which feed and 

 nourish the spine, and the spine helps feed the brain, and the branching nerves feed 

 the heart, liver, and kidneys. In dehorning we take away the life-giving power 

 and cut off the nutriment which helps supply the most important part of the system. 

 It also imparts a weakness to the offspring, causing a weak spine and deformity.'' 



The operation is performed as follows: The animal is confined by 

 throwing or secured in a chute and the horns are quickly sawed off 

 close to the skull with a sharp, stiff -backed saw. Whatever the 

 arguments, there is no question that the operation can be easily, 



