302 DISEASES OF CATTLE. 



attained, to perform many of the minor operations which may become 

 necessary without having to Aveigh the question of possible cost against 

 the economical results to be attained by professional treatment. 



The intention is not by any means to supplant the veterinary prac- 

 titioner. It is, on the contrary, the matured result of a deep and earn- 

 est desire to benefit the farmer and stock-owner by directing aright his 

 well 'meaning but ofttimes mistaken efforts and those of his employes in 

 ministering to the necessities of their suffering charges in those emer- 

 gencies which are constantly liable to occur where competent assistance 

 is beyond reach. It is to enable him to perform in a rational and effect- 

 ive manner minor operations which AYOiild in any case be undertaken 

 with less intelligence and success than would be likely were the owner 

 armed with a certain knowledge of the correct principles on which they 

 ought to be conducted. If this work fulfills its mission, as who can 

 doubt it will, the efforts at self-help of its readers will be free from bung- 

 ling and simple guesswork, while the animals in their charge will be 

 material gainers by the change. 



There are, moreover, sundry operations hardly, perhaps, entitled to 

 rank as surgical, which are usually performed not always by any means 

 in the best possible manner, nor with invariable success by the ani- 

 mal's owner or his servants. It will be the writer's endeavor to attempt 

 to show how some of them can be performed in such a way as to obtain 

 the most favorable results while abridging the animal's pain and peril 

 and diverting danger and consequent loss. 



In the performance .of any operation upon an animal of the size and 

 strength of the ox the first consideration is to secure it in such a man- 

 ner as to preclude the possibility of its injuring either itself or those 

 taking any part in the operation, for two or more are invariably neces 

 sary. The nature and time likely to be occupied by an operation must 

 of course largely determine the method to be adopted. 



The majority of operations with which the present chapter is con- 

 cerned arc usually performed on the ox in a standing position. To 

 secure the animal in this position lay hold of one horn and with the 

 disengaged hand grasp the nose, the finger and thumb being intro- 

 duced into the nostrils, and press against the cartilage which makes a 

 division between them. If this is insufficient the animal should be 

 secured to a tree or a post. A very excellent method of restraint is to 

 tie a long rope in a slip noose over the horns, pass it around the chest 

 just behind the fore legs, taking a half hitch on itself, taking another 

 half hitch in front of the hind limbs, passing the free end under the 

 tail, bringing it forward and making it fast either to the head or one of 

 the hitches. The head should be raised to the level of the back before 

 the final knot is tied, so as to render it too serious and painful a mat- 

 ter for him to repeat the first attempt he makes to lower it. Should 

 the nature or extent of the operation be likely to take up a considerable 

 length of time it is invariably the best plan to throw the animal. In 



