KICKING COWS 



171 



with tar, to form a temporary scab, and to repel flies. It, o£ 

 course, is preferable to apply the tarred cotton as a precaution 

 rather than as a remedy. 



Cows without horns live together so much more peaceably, 

 crowding about the water tank like so many sheep, that the prac- 

 tice of permitting the horns to remain on the working dairy herd 

 should be considered an extravagance, at best a luxury. 



As a working practice it is preferable to prevent the horn 

 from gTOwing on the calf by means of caustic. 



Sucking cows are liable to develop if calves are permitted 

 to suckle each other after drinking. They often thus learn the 



Fig. 59. — Comfort is also economy in the dairy cow stable. 



taste of milk from some member of the herd and finally discover 

 that they themselves may be the source of that satisfaction. 

 Various means have been suggested, but the one which most 

 nearly always works is to put into the cow's nose an ordinaiy 

 bull ring and into this ring a second ring, forming thus a two- 

 linked chain. This so interferes with the process of sucking as 

 to finally discourage it altogether. 



It is often a hard habit to break, however, and should be 

 averted by so handling the calves that they do not learn the trick. 



Kicking cows are usually developed from rough handling. 

 The more intelligent and sensitive the animal the more likely it 

 is to resent unjust treatment. The heifer with first calf is 



