THE DEHORNING OF CATTLE. 1359 



If the animals are dehorned when flies are about, it is well to apply 

 some pine tar with a view to keeping flies from the wounds. Some oper- 

 ators do this in nearly all cases, thinking that it facilitates healing. The 

 dehorning operation should always, when possible, be performed in cool 

 weather, and upon animals which have at least attained the age of two 

 years. 



Another method of restraint is to throw the animal and hold it stretched 

 flat on the ground by means of a rope around its neck, held by a man on 

 horseback with a turn around the saddle pommel, a second rope around 

 the hind feet, similarly held by another man on horseback. 



In the absence of horses these ropes can be secured by taking a turn 

 around a post. After the animal is thus secured an assistant grasps the 

 nose and upper horn, turning the head so that the lower horn can be 

 removed first. This obviates the danger of fracturing the lower horn, 

 and allows the blood to flow directly on the ground and the head to be 

 held flat for the removal of the upper horn. Whether a saw or the shears 

 be used, the cut must be made uniformly at a line sufficiently below where 

 the skin joins the horn, in order to get satisfactory results from the opera- 

 tion. If the cut is made too high an irregular, gnarly growth of horn is 

 very apt to follow. It will be seen that the point of union of the skin and 

 horn varies in different cattle; hence there can be no rule of measure- 

 ment, except as the eye becomes trained to see the point or line at which 

 the cut should be made, which can soon be easily and accurately approxi- 

 mated by carefully noticing the variation referred to in different animals, 

 which variation is largely influenced by breed, together with the texture, 

 quality, and setting of the horns. In the beef breeds fully one-half inch 

 of skin, all around, is usually taken off with the horn. 



Figure 50 illustrates the difference between a proper and an improper 

 cutting, and figures 51 and 52 show the appearance of animals' heads 

 after proper and improper dehorning. 



III. To Prevent Horns Growing on Young Calves. 



When circumstances are favorable, as in the case of farmers who build 

 up their herds by raising the progeny, the horns may be prevented from 

 growing by a simple and practically painless method, and the custom of 

 preventing the growth of the horns rather than deferring the rnatter 

 with the necessity of removing them from the grown animal is becom- 

 ing more popular and more generally practiced under all conditions ex- 

 cept in the case of calves dropped on the open range. To do this suc- 

 cessfully it is necessary that the calf should be treated not later than one 

 week after its birth, preferably when it is from three to five days old. The 

 agent to be used may be either caustic soda or caustic potash, both of which 

 may be procured in the drug stores in the form of sticks about the thick- 



