290 DISEASES OF CATTLE. 



as to be placed in pasture. It should, however, be alone for a time, so 

 as not to take any chance of injury from fighting or other accidents 

 that associations with other animals might involve. 



Special fractures. Of the special fractures liable to occur that of the 

 horn is perhaps the most common. It is always the result of violent 

 mechanical means, such as blows, injury occurring while fighting, or 

 from the animal getting its head locked in some manner while feeding 

 from a rack. ' When it occurs there are two ways in which the injury 

 is likely to affect the animal. First and most common, the horny crust 

 is likely to be stripped from the bony projection which it covers. Sec- 

 ond, the crust and bone may both be broken or bent down, the fracture 

 occurring in that case at the root of the horn and involving part of the 

 bones of the head in the immediate vicinity. In the first case, where 

 the horny covering is knocked off, little attention is necessary. The 

 animal may be relieved from suffering by smearing the stump with pine 

 tar and wrapping it in cloth. If the core is much lacerated perhaps it 

 would be better to amputate. The necessity for such an operation must 

 be determined by the condition of the injury, influenced to some exteiffc 

 by the ideas of the owner on the subject. When the operation is per- 

 formed it should be done with a sharp, fine-toothed saw, and by sawing 

 the horn off close enough to include a little of the skin and hair around 

 its base. The practice of dehorning has grown popular in many parts 

 of the country. It is a simple operation, and, although attended with 

 considerable immediate suffering, does not produce serious constitu- 

 tional disturbance. The advisability of performing the operation on 

 all cattle is a question of expediency and must be justified by the ex- 

 pectation of benefit on the part of the feeder. If the horn should be 

 broken so that the core and crust are bent out of shape without the 

 detachment of one from the other, it may be restored to its normal 

 position and retained there by means of a splint made to fit across the 

 back of the head, so as to be laced to both horns, the sound horn serv- 

 ing to hold the broken one in position. Such a splint may be fastened 

 on by means of either wire or cord and allowed to remain six weeks or 

 two months. 



Fractures of the bones of the face. These occasionally occur, and when 

 over the cavities of the nose produce depression, disfigurement, and 

 impeded respiration, owing to the lessening of the caliber of the nasal 

 passages. When such an accident occurs the depressed bone should be 

 gently forced back to place by introducing the finger in the nostril, or 

 if the fracture be too far up for this, a probe may be passed and the 

 parts retained by placing a plaster of thin leather or strong canvas 

 smeared with tar immediately over it, extending out to the sound sur- 

 roundings, taking care to imbed the hair over the fractured portion in 

 the tar of the plaster so it will be firmly held and prevented from again 

 becoming depressed. If only one nostril should be involved the 

 depressed portion may be held in position by packing the nostril on 



