THE SPAYIM OF CO¥S. 



TRANSLATED FOR THE WORKINQ FAKMER, 

 FROM *'LA NORMANDIE AGRICOLE JOURNAL D'AGRICULTURE PRATIQUE," &c., &c. 



STATEMENT OF M. r. A. MORIN, VETERINARY SURGEON AT THE ROYAL DEPOT AT LANGONNET. 



A LAND owner in the United States, Mr. Winn,' seems to have had the first practice in spaying 

 cows. The object of the operation was to maintain in the cow, without interruption, a supply of 

 the same quantity of milk that she gave at the time of spaying. Notwithstanding the favorable 

 results that Mr. W inn claimed to have obtained, the operation remained almost uulmown in France 

 until a veterinary surgeon of Lausanne {a Swiss), M. Levrat made known the experiments prac- 

 tised by him, and their effects. The Treatise of M. Levrat ends with the following conclusions : — 



" The effect of spaying seems to me to cause a more abundant and constant secretion of milk, 

 which possesses also superior qualities, whence the following advantages result to the proprietor : 



" I. An increase of one third in the (Quantity of milk. 



'* 2. The certainty of having almost constantly the same quantity of milk. 



" 3. Exemption from accidents which may happen during the period of heat, when the cows 

 mount each other, or are covered by too lai-ge bulls. 



" 4. Exemption from the risk of accidents which sometimes accompany or follow gestation and 

 calving, 



"5. Ease in fatting cows, when their milk begins to dry up.' 



" 6. In iine, spaying is the only means of preventing onerous expenses, occasiooed by cows be- 

 coming ' taurelieres,' which is so frequently the case in some countries, that it is rare to see cows 

 kept more than two or three years without R:etting in this state: as for example, in the environs 

 of Lausanne and Lavaux, where they are obliged for this reason to change all their cows every two 

 or three years, which is quite ruinous." 



M. Levrat confirmed, after a year's observations, this fact, that the quantity of milk was con- 

 stantly kept the same after the time of spaying. 



M. K^gere, veterinary surgeon at Bordenux, inserted in the Recuel de MidecineVH'hrinaire, a 

 series of facts upon the spaying of cows, that had been acted upon by various proprieto»'S. 



It appears from these facts, which be recounts with many details, and whose authenticity is fixed, , 

 that the spayed cows have given without interruption after the operation, a quantity of milk at i 

 least double the average of what they gave daring the preceding years. *' After the researches 

 that I have made since I commenced all these experiments, to the present time," says M. Rggdi*e, ' 

 " this calculation is very exact, and if the cows continue to give milk during their whole life, in 

 like manner, the operation of spaying will furnish incontestable advantages, particularly in large 

 cities, and their vicinity, where fodder is very dear, and where milk always sells well.' 



A remark made by MM. Levret and Rfig^re,is thatsome cows, although they have been spayed, 

 have had their heat, notwithstanding the removal of their ovarium, and the incapacity for their re- 

 production. These animals present, at the time of their heat, this difference from w^hat we remark 

 during the same period incowsnot sp?iyed, that their miD? does not undergo any alteration in either 

 quantity or quality. 



We may add, that the school of Altbrt has, recently, practised this operation upon different cows, 

 and that all the results obtained have reached the point we have above stated. 



Leaving this, we arrive at the facts determined by M. Morin. 



*' Young cows ought to receive that nourishment which favors the secretion of milk, and which 

 in consequence renders active their lactiferous vessels. The cow is not usually in full production 

 until after the third or fourth calf; she continues to give the same return up to the seventh or ' 

 eighth ; from this time lactation diminishes after each new calving. _ On the other hand, from the ' 

 moment that the cow has received the bull, and gradually as gestation advances, the quantity of ' 

 milk progressively diminishes in most breeds, until three or four months before healthy parturition, 

 J the secretion of milk is almost nothing. It is to guard against this loss, and other inconveniences, 

 - that we lay down what we have obtained after some years' experience in spaying the cow, and 

 the happy results that we meet with daily. 



OF THE SPAYING OF THE COW AND THE ADVANTAGES OF THIS OPERATION. 



*' The Operation of spaying in the cow is productive of gi'eat advantages* 



* 1. The cow spayed a short time after calving, that is to say, thirty or fdrty days afterward, and 



