32 THE COW 



York law specifically declares that it is not cruelty 

 to animals within the meaning of the statute. De- 

 homed cattle, either milch cows or steers, herd 

 together much more closely, and it practically does 

 away with the danger of injury to the udder from 

 hooking, an ever-present source of loss in the 

 homed herd. Hornless animals may also be se- 

 cured by applying a little caustic potash to the 

 embryonic "horn button" of the three-day-old calf. 

 Of course the logical plan would be to use hornless 

 breeds and this is easy among beef cattle because 

 there are already three well-known polled breeds, 

 but unfortunately all our most highly developed 

 dairy types are homed. 



In size the cow ranges all the way from the 

 little Kerry cattle of Ireland, which are the pig- 

 mies of the race, up to the great Shorthorns which 

 are probably a little the largest of the breeds. The 

 Kerry cow Red Eose was a famous prize winner of 

 the breed but she is said to have stood only 38 

 inches tall at the withers. Some mature Kerry 

 bulls have weighed only 400 pounds as compared 

 with weights of 2500 to 2600 pounds — not at all 

 uncommon in fat show bulls and steers of the beef 

 breeds. Indeed there is at least the story of a 

 Shorthorn ox reaching the almost incredible weight 

 of 4300 pounds. The males are always much 

 heavier and when mature should weigh about one- 

 half more than a female of the same relative devel- 

 opment. 



