156 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 



the operation of spaying will furnisli incontestable advantages, particu- 

 larly in large cities, and their vicinity, where fodder is very dear, and 

 where milk always seLs well." 



A remark made by MM. Levret and Regere is, that some cows, al- 

 though they have been spayed, have had their heat, notwithstanding 

 the removal of their ovarium, and the incapacity for their reproduction. 

 These animals present, at the time of their heat, this difference from 

 what we remark during the same period in cows not spayed, that their 

 milk does not undergo any alteration in either quantity or quality. 



We may add, that the school of Alfort has, recently, practiced this 

 operation upon different cows, and that all the results obtained have 

 reached the point we have above stated. 



Leaving this, we arrive at the facts determined by M. Morin : 



"Young cows ought to receive that nourishment which favors the se- 

 cretion of milk, and which in consequence renders active their lactifer- 

 ous vessels. The cow is not usually in full production until after the 

 third or fourth calf; she continues to give the same return up to the 

 seventh or eighth ; from this time lactation diminishes after each new 

 calving. On the other hand, from the moment that the cow has re- 

 ceived the bull, and gradually as gestation advances, the quantity of 

 milk progressively diminishes in most breeds, until three or four months 

 before healthy parturition, the secretion of milk is almost nothing. It 

 is to guard against this loss, and other inconveniences, that we lay down 

 what we have obtained after some years' experience in spaying the cow, 

 and the happy results that we meet Avith daily. 



"Of the Spaying of the Cow, an I the Advantages of this Operation. — 



The operation of spaying in the cow is productive of great advantages. 



" 1. The cow spayed a short time after calving, that is to say, thirty 

 or forty days afterward, and at the time when she gives the largest 

 quantity of milk, continues to give the like quantity, if not during her 

 whole lifetime, at least during many years, and at the time when the 

 milk begins to dry up the animal fattens. We are able to add, more- 

 over, at this day, certain facts, the result of many years' experiment, 

 that the milk of the spayed cow, although as abundant, and sometimes 

 more so, than before the operation, is of a superior quality to that from 

 a cow not spayed; that it is uniform in its character, that it is richer, 

 consequently more buttery, and that the butter is always of a golden 

 color. 



" We believe that we ouglit to remark in passing, that if we feed the 

 spayed cow too abundantly, lactation diminishes, and that the beast 

 promptly fattens. It is therefore important that the feeding should not 

 be more than sufficient to enable us to obtain the desired result. 



" 2. The spayed cow fattens more easily ; its flesh, age considered, is 

 better than that of the ox ; it is more tender and more juicy. 



" Indeed, no one is ignorant of the fact that all domestic animals, 

 females as well as males, deprived of their procreative organs, fatten 

 more quickly than those which retain them; that the flesh of the 

 spayed lemales is more tender and more delicate than that of males. 

 The same phenomena take place among spayed cows that occur among 

 other females that have submitted to this operation ; so, besides the 



