178 RURAL VETERINARY SECRETS 



pigs. The knife or docking shears may be used for taking off the piece 

 of the scrotum, which may be left any length desired. 



Rams are castrated similarly to bulls, or by turning. (With the 

 ram, you have him turned upon his haunches, clip the wool off the 

 scrotum to get it out of the way. Have someone hold the ram and hold 

 the hind feet up pretty close to the body, unless you wish to go to the 

 trouble of tying. Take the end of the scrotum in one hand and with 

 the other press the testicles well up into the body so as to tear them 

 loose from the end of the pounch, you can usually feel them give way, 

 now bring them down and taking them one at a time invert them and 

 revolve them three times around the cord or until it is twisted tight. 

 This you will find is not the easiest job until you get on to it. You can 

 tell when the cord is twisted tightly by passing the linger along and 

 feeling the spiral condition and the hardness. When you get one 

 twisted let it draw up into the socket so it will not turn back right end 

 up, while you operate on the other. Having them both done, tie the 

 sac close up with a soft cord. Tie tight enough to prevent them com- 

 ing down and turning back. Cut the strings off after 24 to 36 hours." — 

 Curtis and Edgerton, Iowa Agricultural College). In this method 

 germ infection, so much dreaded in rams, is avoided. Another method 

 lauded by some, and which has been tried at the Station (\V. E. S.) 

 is to tie a strong cord around the sac or cod as close to the body and 

 as tight as possible. Three days later the sac and stones are cut away 

 about an inch below the cord and an antiseptic applied to the cut end. 



Caponizing is the operation performed in removing the testicles 

 of poultry. 



SPAYING OR CASTRATION of female may be performed in 

 the sow, bitch and cow, rarely in the mare, unless a bad (vicious) actor 

 (e. g., switcher and kicker) in harness. The surgeon should be called 

 to operate on mares, and unless the stockman is expert, on the heifers 

 also. Females thus operated on, fatten more readily and are not sub- 

 ject to the periods of heat ; if a sow it is placed on its right side and 

 secured, the upper hind leg being stretched backwards, an incision 

 made vertically just below the region of the loin and the hand passed 

 in up towards the back and the ovary felt for. When found it is drawn 

 towards the opening, thus drawing the horn of the uterus also, render- 

 ing the other ovary easy to get in }oung sows. Both ovaries are drawn 

 out and snipped oft" at once. In old sows, only one is exposed at a 

 time and its ovary removed. The operation may be performed on the 

 cow or heifer in the standing position, the incision being made through 

 the upper left flank at the spot selected for tapping a cow, a strong 

 scantling being slung parallel to the cow at a level a little above the 



