29 



HORNS IN RELATION TO AGE. 



An argument strongly urged against dehorning was that the removal of the 

 horns encouraged fraud as to the age of the animal. With the revolving years 

 the horns of cows and steers acquire a succession of rings, which, after the 

 second year, become permanent and serve as a means of estimating the age. The 

 growth of a new coat of hair is contemporary with the development of an extra 

 thickness of horn, while the cold season corresponds to a period of comparatively 

 interrupted growth. Hence the alternations of rings and grooves that mark the 

 age on the horns from the third year onward. 



The removal of the horns, it was claimed, removed all indications of age* 

 and also tended to conceal the natural coarseness of the animal, thus enabling un- 

 scrupulous parties to practice deception in disposing ,of their stock. In answer 

 to this objection, the farmers and cattlemen favoring dehorning, said that while 

 possibly a man buying a few head of cattle each year might be deceived, those 

 accustomed to handling cattle could readily calculate the age by the condition of 

 the teeth and the general appearance. The following might be referred to as- 

 representative opinions on this point : 



Benjamin Hopkins, dairyman, Oxford county : "I would not think there was any danger 

 from fraud owing to the removal of the horns. In judging an animal I would look at its mouth ; 

 it might nut be possible to tell its age exactly, but the condition of the teeth is a good indica- 

 tion. " 



Enoch B. Brown, farmer, Brownsville, Ont. : " There is no danger of fraud ; the teeth are 

 marked like a horse's and you can judge from the general appearance. It is true that the teeth 

 are sometimes affected Ly the nature of the soil on which the animal pastures, but if the teeth 

 are gone she would not be much use anyway." 



Daniel T. Smith, farmer, Dereham, Oxford county : "Anyone accustomed to cattle would 

 not be deceived in the age of an animal that had no horns." 



Joshua Ingham, cattle buyer, Toronto : " There would not be much danger from fraud, be- 

 cause if the tee h are good the cow is all right." 



Cornelius Flanagan, cattle buyer, Toronto: "I don't think a man who knew his business could 

 be taken in. If you were to take any beast and put its head in a bag, I could tell you about its, 

 age from its general appeara c i " 



DEHORNING AS A CUSTOM. 



The practice of dehorning cattle seems to have first originated in Ireland 

 about twenty- three years ago, and to have spread from there to Scotland. In 

 both these countries it is extensively carried on at present. In England a 

 number of farmers in the county of Norfolk adopted the practice about the year 

 1885, and it was carried ^on there until a decision was given in May, 1889, 

 pronouncing the practice illegal. In the United States it was introduced about 

 ten years ago, and owing to the publications and lectures of H. H. Haaf of 

 Chicago, Prof. Henry of Wisconsin, and the endorsation of a number of the 

 agricultural experiment stations, it has spread with great rapidity during the past 



