CHAPTER XXV. 



COMMON 

 SURGERY 

 ON THE 



FARM 



COMMON FAEM SURGERY. 



The Secret of Success in Surgery is Cleanliness. 



There is a certain amount of surgery neces- 

 sary on the farm that can be done by the farmer 

 himself or one of his men who chances to be 

 handy at such things. 



DEHORNING If the ranchman raises a breed of cattle that 



grows horns, he must amputate the horns. Horns 

 may be useful on the open range, where bulls 

 must fight and the survival of the fittest makes 

 it important that the strongest gains ascendency, 

 . but they are useless and worse than useless in the 



home field or in the feed lot. 



There are three ways of getting rid of the 

 horns. One is to make a circle around the but- 

 ton, when the calf is a week old, with a sharp 

 knife and remove the horn core entirely. This 

 method is to be recommended on the farm, but 

 is not useful under range conditions, because the 

 calves are not at hand when the operation should 

 be performed. 



Another method of dehorning is to use the 

 dehorning shears, of which there are several dif- 

 ferent kinds on the market. The important 

 thing is to have them sharp and to have your 



