ON THE SPAYING OF MILCH COWS. 
453 
tober that had been got from her with considerable difficulty, and 
she was accustomed to yield, on the average, about eight quarts 
of milk. She was operated upon, on the 18th of November, 
thirty-three days after calving, and she was then yielding twelve 
quarts of milk. After the operation she yielded only nine quarts 
of milk ; but it is right to say, that she had a purulent discharge 
from the vulva, and that she did not eat with the appetite she 
was accustomed to do. 
Writers on the spaying of the cow have not described the 
manner of performing the operation ; and it is well known that the 
ovaries do not retain the same situation in ail animals. Dau- 
benton was the first who described the spaying of the sheep ; but 
the method which would be pursued with regard to the sheep 
would not be applicable to the cow. It is on this account that 
I feel disposed to relate the method which I pursued in spaying 
these animals. 
The operation ought to be performed between thirty and thir¬ 
ty-eight days after calving, and on a cow that had just had her 
second or third calf, because that is the age and time w'hen she 
yields the greatest quantity of milk, and retains if during the 
longest period. No preparation is necessary, except the refrain¬ 
ing from feeding her so plentifully as usual on the night before 
the spaying, and to operate in the morning before she was fed. 
The necessary implements are ropes, a plank or bar of wood, two 
bistouries (one convex and very sharp, the other probe-pointed 
and straight), two curved needles, some strong thread well 
waxed, and a plank or bar of wood, about eight inches wide 
and three in thickness. 
In order to operate safely and well the cow must be properly 
secured. To effect this, she must be placed against a wall with 
her left side towards the operator. Three strong rings should be 
fixed in the wall with straps and buckles attached to them; one 
for a cord to confine the head, the two others should be placed 
lower, the one on a level with the lower part of the right shoul¬ 
der, the other at the point of the hock. A cord should 
be passed in front of the chest, brought along the left side of 
the body of the cow, passed behind the thighs, and fixed to 
the buckle which is on a level with the hock, or rather an assis¬ 
tant should hold the end of the rope passed once around the 
ring. The head is to be fixed by a turn of the cord, which is 
to be held by a strong man. Then the plank or bar of wood 
must be placed obliquely under the teats and in front of the 
hind limbs : an assistant holds this so that the operator may be 
safe from the kicking of the animal: finally some one holds 
the tail, or it is tied to the rope that goes round the patient, in 
VOL. VIII. ,3 g 
