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I consider that the best time to perform the operation is in the fall, after fly time and before the 

 cold sets in. Cattle recently dehorned should be'kept in the stable during cold weather. It is a 

 justifiable practice from the point of benefit to the animals. I have tried putting knobs on the 

 horns of twenty or thirty cows ; it prevents them tearing, but did not prevent them from butting 

 or hooking. My son-in-law, Mr. Freeman, tri< d tipping as a preventive of hooking, but it was 

 not successful, and he had another piece of the horn taken off. In the end he had to have the 

 whole horn off. There was less bleeding when the horn was taken off' close to the head than 

 farther up. There is more pain in losing a horn accidently than in being dehorned. 



Frank E. Stover, dairyman and stockbreeder, township of North Norwich, Oxford 

 county, sworn, said : I keep about 40 head of cattle. I dehorned 11 head early in February 

 this year, two weeks after dehorned three, and the remainder of the herd during the latter part 

 of April. My reason for doing this was that the horns were useless to the animal as well &s 

 dangerous to man, and I judged from the experience of farmers in the neighborhood and in 

 Illinois that the practice was a beneficial one. 1 have suffered considerably from hooking. 

 There were two abortions in my herd during the past two months caused I believe from 

 hooking. Quarters of the bag have been injured and destroyed, and I lost one sheep from 

 hooking. Quietness in a herd is very desirable ; the introduction of strange animals or worrying 

 by dogs is very injurious. I think animals often suffer more from the horns of each other than 

 they would in having the horns removed. I have seen them lie down and bellow with pain 

 from hooking, and they would not do that after the operation. The only evil effects of 

 dehorning I have noticed was in the case of a cow that was dehorned the day after she had 

 aborted her calf. Her systerrr was irr a deranged condition and she did not stand it well. 

 From my experience 1 would say that the benefit to the animal and to the owner would compen- 

 sate for the pain inflicted. I do not think the operation is any worse than pulling a tooth. In 

 one case the animal bled a good deal, and owing to an injury the bleeding started again next 

 day. I stopped this by searing with a hot iron. I have bought cows with wooden knobs on. 

 Of course they could not do as much harm, but I do not think the disposition was in any way 

 changed. I do rrot consider there would be much fraud in selling dehorned animals, aB a 

 practical dairyman would judge by the teeth and the general appearance. An old animal 

 generally has an old look that would be noticed by a buyer of any experierrce. I believe the 

 amount of good justifies the operation. I intend to dehorn the remainder of my herd, and 1 would 

 not do this unless satisfied that it was a benefit. The animals dehorned three weeks ago are not 

 yet cpuite healed over. There is no discharge of pus ; after the operation they took their food 

 as before, and except in the one case I saw no signs of pain. Th^re was a slight falling off in 

 the milk yield, but this did not last long. The dehorning of thoroughbred stock would be a 

 matter of fancy with the owner. If a prize depended upon the looks of the animal it would not 

 pay to take the horns off. If a thoroughbred Durham were dehorned it would not sell for as 

 much as before. 



William Shepherd, farmer, township of Middleton, Norfolk county, sworn, said : I keep 

 16 head of cattle, 7 or 8 of them being dairy cows. I only commenced the practice of dehorning 

 a short time ago. Bad a two-year old cow that pitched into a colt, and I decided to take her 

 horns off. This was abont a month ago. She showed no signs of illness, there was very little 

 bleeding, and the wound is now healed over completely. One heifer I recently traded had a 

 sharp horn, and this morning I cut about an inch of it off. It bled a good deal, but there did 

 not seem to be suffering to any great extent. One of my cows got loose in the .stable and nearly 

 killed another cow In the yard and at the watering trough there is a good deal of trouble with the 

 horns, and some of the underlings will not go over to the water at all. I agree with the previous 

 witnesses and I intend having the horns taken off all my cattle. I knew a man who had all 

 muleys and who got one cow with horns. They could not agree together, and he had to have 

 the cow's horns taken off. If only the vicious animal were dehorned another would soon come 

 forward and take its place. The age of the animal could be judged from her teeth and 

 appearance. I would prefer dehorned animals for milking purposes. 



WlLLOUGHBY Rosehart, farmer, South Norwich, Oxford county, sworn, said : I am 

 engaged in dairying and keep 23 cows. I am in favour of dehorning. I had nine cowa 

 dehorned about the end of February last. I bought one afterwards, she seemed to boss the 

 others, and I decided to ta^e her horns off. I saw no bad results. Next day I took some ttr 

 and plastered over the ends of the horns, and put on a piece of cotton to cover the cavity. I 

 did this with all of rhein. 1 did not see the nine dehorned but they did well. The one I 

 dehorned I stayed for an hour watching the effect, and I could not see the least indication of 

 pain I had two patches of tar ready, after the cow bled a few minutes I applied one of the 

 patches. 1 believe it is a good thing to use the cotton and tar to prevent the action of the air 



