38 THE SPAYING OF COWS. 



' at the time when she gives the largest quantity of milk, continues to give the like quantity, if not 

 during her whole lifetime, at least during many years, and at the time when the mil& begins to diy 

 up the animal fattens- We are able to add, moreover, at this day, certain facts, the result of many 

 years' experiment, that' the milk of the spayed cow, although as abundant, and sometimes more so, 

 than before the operation, is of a superior quality to tliat from a cow not spayed ; that it is uniform 

 in its character, that it is richer, consequently more buttery, and. that the bntter is always of & 

 golden color. 



. " Wo believe that we ought to remark in passing, that if we feed the spap^ed cow too abundantly, 

 lactntiou diminishes, and that the beast promptly fattens. It is therefore important that tbe feed- 

 ing should not be more than sufficient to enable us to obtain the desired result. 



" 2. The spayed cow fattens more easily ; its fiesh, age considered, is better than that of the ox ; 

 it is more tender and more jnicy. 



" Indeed, no one is ignorant of the fact that all domestic animals, females as well as males, de- 

 prived of their procreative organs, fatten more quickly than those which retain them ; that the 

 nesh of the spayed females is more tender and more delicate tba i that of males. The same 

 phenomena take place among spayed cows that occur among other females that have submitted to 

 this operation ; so. besides tbe advantage of famishing a lon^-continued supply, before commencing 

 a course of fattening, of abundant milk, and butter of a superior quality, the cow fattens easDy and 

 completely, and a certain benefit follows this course. 



" 3. In spaying decrepit cows, that is to say, of the age of from six to seven years, puny, small 

 oues ; those which, though fine in appearance bear badly ; those which are subject to miscarriage ; 

 those which frequently experience difficult calving, or delivery ; those difficult to keep ; and finaUy, 

 all those that are taurelieres, that is to say, constantly in heat — we have in addition to an abun- 

 dant production of milk and butter, and a facility of fattening, the advantage of preventing a de- 

 generation of tbe species, and moreover of avoiding a crowd of accidents or maladies which fre- 

 quently take place during or after gestation, and of diminishing those which happen daring the period 

 of heat, such as that of heavy cows mounting others, or being jumped upon by too heavy bulls. 



" Except under peculiar circumstances, we should take care in spaying the cow, that its teats 

 have acquired their complete development, and that the milk has the proper qualities. The most 

 suitable time is after the third or fourth calving. 



" Many societies of agriculture, impressed with the important results that this operation eflects, 

 fix yearly at their agricultural meetings, premiums for tbe encouragement of the spaying tk old 

 cows. We doubt not that other societies who have not yet adopted this plan — not being convinced 

 of its importance — when they are, will imitate their example. By this means they bestow upon 

 the country a new source of products. 



" We have been engaged for four years in researches upon this valuable discovery, we believe 

 that it is incumbent upon us to state the results rhat we have obtained up to tbe. present time. In 

 tbe number of twenty-seven cows, aged from six to fifteen years, that we have actually spayed, 

 we have had the following results : I. Increase of milk in cows of six years ; 3. Constant prooLuc- 

 tion in those that have passed that age ; 3. Milk richer than that of the cow not spayed, conse- 

 quently more buttery, and the butter both of a uniformly golden color, and having an aroma and 

 taste far superior to ^at of a cow that has not undergone this operation. 



" Early in Jnly, 1843, we obtained as a subject ^ experiment, a cow from Brittany, of the small 

 kind, twelve years old, calved about two months before, and which gave when we obtaiQed her, 

 about six quarts of milk daily. The next day after we performed the operation of spaying, indeed 

 the first eight days after that, the secretion of milk sendbly diminished, in consequence of the light 

 diet on which she had been put; but, on the ninth day, the time at which tjie cure was complete 

 and the cow put on her ordinary food, the milk promptly returned as to its former quantity, and she 

 at the same time assumed a plumpness that she had not had previously. Customarily bringing 

 together, the yield of three days for butter-making being eighteen quarts, it produced constanthr 

 two kilograms of butter of the best quality. From the month of December to the following Mar(£, 

 the quantity of milk diminished about one third, and the butter proportionally, the cow during that 

 lime having been put on dry fodder. But so soon as we were able to turn her into pasture — about 

 the beginning of April — the milk, after eight days of this new food, resumed its former course, and 

 the animal continued daily to furnish the same relative amounts of milk and bntter aa before. 



" Three cows, two of which were fourteen 3-ears old, and the other fifteen, have dried up two 

 years after the operation, and at the same time promptly fattened, wilhont increase or change of food. 



" One cow eight years old, plentifully supplied with trefoil and cabbage, gave, a short time Eiter 

 tbe operation, a quautity of milk nearly double that which she gave before, although i^e was kept 

 on the same kind of food. She has during a year continued to furnish the same amonnt, and baa 

 in addition fattened so rapidly, that the owner has been obliged, seeing her fatness, to sell her to the 

 batcher, although she was still very good for milk. 



" Another fact, no less worthy of remark, we must not pass over in silence; and which goes to 

 prove the superior and' unchanging quality of the milk of a spayed cow. It is, that a proprietor 

 Imving spayed a cow five years old, recently calved, with the speraal intention of feeding with her 

 milk a newly -bom iniant, the infant arriving at the a^e of six months, of a robust constitution, re- ' 

 fused its pap since it had been accidentally prepared witli milk different firom that of the spayed cow. . : 



" The -other cows which had been spayed continued to give entire satisfaction to their owners, j 

 fls well in respect to the quantity and quality of the milk, as also by their good condition. j 



'■ Six cows manifested, shortly after the operation, and on divers occasions, the desire for copu- S 

 ' latijii; but we have not remarked this peculiarity except among tbe younger ones. In other j 

 j respects, as my colleagues, MM. Levrat end Rfeg^re, have stated, ine milk has not indicated the ( 

 I lertst alteration in quanti^ or quality. - \ 



I *' Indeed, the happy results that are daily attained from this important discovery, are so conclasive, 1 

 ( and BO well known at this time in our part of the country, that as we write, many proprietom bring 1 



