DISEASES OF CATTLE 459 



TREATMENT AFTER DEHORNING. 



It is not usual to apply any preparation after the operation of 

 dehorning to prevent bleeding, as the loss of blood is not sufficient, 

 as a rule, to be of consequence. Care should be taken, however, to 

 prevent substances from getting into the openings left after the horns 

 are removed. The horn cores are elongations of the frontal bones 

 of the skull, and are hollow. They communicate with the frontal 

 sinuses, or air spaces, of the head; therefore foreign substances or 

 fragments of horn which act as an irritant in these cavities are apt 

 to set up an inflammation, resulting in the formation of pus or an 

 abscess, which may prove quite serious. This trouble is of infre- 

 quent occurrence, but would appear more liable to happen when the 

 dehorning instruments are used, on account of their tendency to 

 crush, especially in the case of old animals, whereas the saw cuts 

 clean. If proper care is taken, however, such an occurrence fol- 

 lowing dehorning may, in almost every instance be avoided. 



Occasionally animals after being dehorned and turned out of 

 the stable will rub their heads against a dirt or gravel bank or the 

 rough bark of a tree, and foreign material may thus get into the 

 cavities, though usually the soreness of the parts is sufficient to pre- 

 vent this. 



If the animals are dehorned in warm weather, it is well to apply 

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

 operators do this in nearly all cases, thinking that it facilitates heal- 

 ing. The dehorning operation should always, when possible, be per- 

 formed in cool weather, and upon animals which have at least at- 

 tained the age of two years. 



DEHORNING ON THE RANGE. 



While the cattle ranchman of the West seems to be equal to 

 every requirement and emergency of his vocation, and is probably 

 informed with regard to the dehorning of his stock, this article 

 would be incomplete without a description of the dehorning opera- 

 tion as practiced in that part of the country. 



In the range country of the West dehorning has been exten- 

 sively practiced for a number of years, and various methods have 

 been used in restraining the animals, as well as in removing their 

 horns. In some instances the methods used are extremely crude, 

 consisting in simply roping and throwing the animal and cutting off 

 the horns with an ax. Most frequently, however, no matter what 

 may be the means of control, either the saw or the dehorning shears 

 are used. As a general thing the corral and chute which form a part 

 of the equipment of every well-appointed cattle ranch are used for 

 this purpose. Dehorning with an ax should never be attempted, as 

 no matter how keen the edge of the ax or how true the aim of the 

 axman, he is working on a living animal, and only a slight move- 

 ment of the head would result in a deviation of the stroke, and would 

 thus be liable to cause, if nothing more serious, the infliction of un- 

 necessary pain and suffering to the animal. 



It is the usual custom in the West to gather the cattle to be de- 

 horned in a corral, either during the early spring, before the fly 



