310 



HISTORY OF H E E E F R D CATTLE 



sents, the vacuities between them will be almost 

 equal to the width of the teeth. The faces of 

 the teeth also, such faces as remain, will be 

 lengthened; the triangular mark will diminish, 

 principally in the central teeth, while a line, 

 more or less deeply shaded, will begin to appear 

 around the original mark. 



" 'All this, while the second set of teeth, the 

 permanent ones, have been growing in their 

 sockets and approaching towards the gums, but 

 not, as is said to be generally the case with 

 other animals and with the human being in 

 particular, pressing upon the roots of the milk 

 teeth, and causing them to be absorbed, until 

 at length, losing all hold in the socket, they 

 fall out. The process of absorption commences 

 here in the whole milk tooth, and as much in 

 the crown or body of it as at its root. 



" 'The process of general diminution seems 

 now for a while retarded; it is confined to the 



<ir221 



FIG. 18. TEETH OF "KING OF THE WEST." 

 " (Exhibited as 3 years 7 months 15 days.) 



central teeth, and they gradually waste away 

 until they are no larger in the body than crow 

 quills. About the expiration of the second year, 

 or a little before, the milk teeth are pushed 

 out, or give way, and the two central perma- 

 nent teeth appear.' I have here given Prof. 

 Youatt on the growth and absorption of 

 the teeth generally termed calf teeth up 

 to the time that the animal reaches two 

 years old. Prof. Youatt says : 'It will be 

 seen here that about the expiration of the 

 second year the milk teeth are pushed out 

 and the central permanent teeth appear.' We 

 wish our readers to note the process of teeth 

 formation for the first two years of calf life. 

 I have now reached a point wdiere I begin to 

 touch upon the teeth indications as to the age 

 of cattle entitled to enter for exhibition at the 

 Fat Stock Shows. 



"The illustration (Fig. 11) gives the mouth 

 of a two-year-old. 'The two permanent central 

 incisors are coming up, and the other six milk 

 teeth remain. The bone front of the lower jaw 

 is taken away in order that the alveoli, or cells 

 for the teeth, may be exposed. The second pair 

 of, incisors have almost attained their proper 

 form. The third pair are getting ready, but the 

 jaw is not yet sufficiently widened for the de- 

 velopment of the fourth pair. The process of 

 absorption will still be suspended with regard 

 to the two outside pairs of teeth, but will be 

 rapid with regard to the second pair, and a 

 little before the commencement of the third 

 year they will disappear.' 



"The illustration (Fig. 13) represents a 

 four-year-old beast with four permanent in- 

 cisors and four milk teeth. Now the remaining 

 milk teeth will diminish very fast, but they 

 show no disposition to give way, and at four 

 years old there will be six permanent incisors, 

 and often apparently no milk teeth, but if the 

 mouth is examined the tooth that should have 

 disappeared and the tooth that is to remain 

 until the next year are huddled close together 

 and concealed behind the new permanent tooth. 

 They often are a source of annoyance to the 

 animal, and the tooth whose turn it was to go 

 must be drawn. 



"It is proper here to state that a four-year- 

 old mouth is as represented (in Fig. 14). It 

 contains six permanent incisors and two milk 

 teeth. Now this latter engraving (Fig. 14) 

 corresponds with the mouth of Mr. Moninger's 

 steer called 'Champion of Iowa,' entered as a 

 yearling, or 715 days old. At the commence- 

 ment of the fifth year the eight permanent in- 

 cisors will be up, but the corner ones will be 

 small. 



"Another illustration (Fig. 15) gives a five- 

 year-old mouth, or perhaps one a month or two 

 over five years ; so that the beast cannot be 

 called full-mouthed, namely all the incisors, 

 until it is six years old. 'It will be seen, how- 

 ever, in this mouth of five years, that the two 

 central pairs are beginning to be worn down at 

 the edges, and that m a flat direction or some- 

 what inclining inside.' 



"I will not follow Mr. Y'ouatt further, as I 

 reach the full limit in which cattle should be 

 exhibited for premiums at this show, and the 

 further age is exhibited by absorption and teeth 

 growing longer and having the appearance of 

 being longer with spaces between ; that is, there 

 commences from this time on a gradual absorp- 

 tion and wearing away of the teeth. 



"Referring to the December, 1882, 'Breeders' 



