THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
December 28 
866 
Live Stock Matters. 
THE PRIZE AWARDED. 
Three months a go, The R. N.-Y. 
offered a prize for the best essay on Dis¬ 
horning Cattle. A number of manu¬ 
scripts were submitted, and after care¬ 
ful examination, the judges have 
awarded the prize—a Keystone Clipper 
given by A. C. Brosius, of Cochranville, 
Pa.—to Geo. W .Rogers, Oswego County, 
N. Y. 
How and Why to Dishorn. 
GEO. W. ROGERS. 
For a number of years, we have been 
wishing that we could do away with 
horns in our herd. During that time, 
we have had two cows with ribs broken 
by being hooked, and have had a num¬ 
ber of bad gashes to dress. These have 
caused us many times to wish that horns 
would not grow on dairy cows. Still 
we were afraid that dishorning was 
very painful (never having seen it done) 
and determined to breed the horns off. 
So for several years we bred to mulley 
sires, and secured a number of cows 
without horns. You may imagine our 
disgust when they came into milk, to 
find that there was not a good one 
among them. After trying for some 
time, we bought a Holstein bull and 
raised good cows; but they all had 
horns. Yet our experience with mulleys 
was not all thrown away, for we found 
them so much safer and less breachy, 
that we were even more anxious to own 
a good herd without horns. 
A number of farmers near here felt as 
we did; so we engaged a man who 
owned a pair of clippers, to come and 
take off the horns. He agreed, if we 
would furnish 50 or 100 cattle, to take 
them off for 10 cents per head. I was 
wondering what kind of place to build 
to hold the cows while being dishorned, 
w T hen the man and his assistant drove 
up to the barn. He inquired whether 
I had any old-fashioned, stiff stanchions; 
when shown some, he said that they 
were just the thing, and told us to put 
the cows in them. His assistant stepped 
into the manger, took a cow by the nose 
with his right hand, her right horn in 
his left, turning her head a little to 
one side. The other man slipped on the 
clippers ; his assistant let go of the horn 
below the clippers, and took hold above. 
The handles were brought together and 
the horn was off. The assistant at once 
stepped to the other side, took the cow’s 
nose in his left hand and her left horn 
in his right. The operation was re¬ 
peated, and the cow was let loose. 
I did not know what day the dishorner 
would come, and had not watered my 
cows. I let them go at once to the tub, 
and they all drank as usual. To see 
whether they were in pain, I put them 
back in the barn, and fed them, and 
they all ate as though nothing had hap¬ 
pened. I have never been able, from 
that day to this, to tell whether they 
were in pain. I was weighing the milk 
from each cow at the time, and there 
was no change in the number of pounds, 
except with one cow. It Was not quite 
a week after she had calved, and I was 
slowly adding to her grain ration. She 
gave, the day before dishorning, 31 
pounds, that day 33, and for the next 
few r days 35, 37, 38, 40 and 42 pounds re¬ 
spectively, and in the next 30 days, on 
dry feed, gave 1,189 pounds. 
Before dishorning, I had intended, 
when I selected a calf for raising, to 
dishorn with caustic potash ; but I have 
changed my mind for this reason : Two 
of the animals operated on, were but 
little over one year of age, and they can 
butt and fight like mulleys. I don’t like 
this; for although mulleys are better 
than cows with horns, a dishorned cow is 
much better than a mulley. I would 
advise that a cow be, at least, two years 
old before being dishorned. By that 
time, they have learned to use their 
horns, and will never use their heads 
like mulleys. Our cows do not seem to 
know that their horns are off, and try 
to hook as in “ ye olden time but as 
they allow for the length of their horns, 
they entirely miss, and only make a 
polite bow. 
Another thing I have learned is that 
clippers can make a clean, smooth cut 
on a horn. I had an idea that they 
might splinter the horn, and so make a 
bad job of it, and that the saw, though 
slower, would, perhaps, be the most 
humane in the end. I examined each 
horn as it was taken off, and they were 
all cut smooth and clean. We dishorned 
in February ; I think that any time in 
cold weather will do, if there is time to 
heal before flies come. Our barn is 
warm or, perhaps, I would have hesi¬ 
tated about dishorning in so cold a time; 
but some of our neighbors who let their 
cows stand in cold stables, or run around 
a straw stack, had just as good success 
as we did, and the cold did not seem to 
make any difference. 
An Amateur’s Experience. 
I dishorned my first, a bull, seven 
years ago ; my last, a cow in milk, some 
months since, and several in the mean¬ 
time. I never dishorn for fashion or 
pleasure, but for cause, and have always 
had good results with one exception. 
Some years ago, I dishorned a Jersey 
bull and, when the sore had nearly 
healed, he got in a lot with another bull 
and knocked the scab off, thus irritating 
the already sore place, and in a few 
months, died from the effects. But for 
the results of the fight with the other 
bull, I am sure that he would have done 
as well as any that I have dishorned, 
and they seemed to suffer no ill effects 
whatever from the operation. I make 
it a rule to offer feed as soon as they are 
dishorned, and have never had one re¬ 
fuse to eat. 
I dishorn to cure the following evils, 
and always with the desired results : 
Viciousness towards people or cattle, 
especially cattle. The last cow I dis¬ 
horned seemed to take great pleasure in 
hooking other cattle, and I have known 
her to injure the udder and otherwise 
disfigure cows and heifers that were 
afraid of her. She took a delight in 
stopping at gateways, or at a bridge, to 
hook the other cattle, till shorn of her 
horns. Since then, she has been as kind 
as any cow I have. 1 have also taken 
off their horns because they lifted gates, 
tore down fences, etc. This is the only 
cure of which I know for these evils. 
Like everything else, a person should 
use judgment and discretion in dishorn¬ 
ing. My methods have been crude, but 
I will give them for the benefit of those 
who are situated as I am. I fasten the 
head in any way I can—sometimes in a 
stanchion, or to a post or tree, and again 
I have thrown the cow, turned her on 
her back so as to get the feet off the 
ground, held the head, and with a fine¬ 
toothed, sharp saw (a butcher’s saw pre¬ 
ferred), sawed off the horns quickly, as 
near the skin as possible. I have at 
hand some cotton and fine tar ; I take a 
wisp of cotton the size of my finger, dip 
it into the tar and insert it into the holes 
in the stubs, just tight enough to ex¬ 
clude dirt, flies, etc. I then smear tar 
on the stubs and let the cow go. I have 
dishorned in winter and summer, when 
fresh in milk, and at nearly all periods. 
I do not look at it as cruel, though pain¬ 
ful ; and I very much dislike to take the 
horns off on that account. 
North Carolina. T. b. parker. 
Why / Dishorned My Herd. 
Early in the spring of 1890, two as 
fine young cows as I had, were so badly 
injured by fighting and getting hooked, 
that I nearly lost them both at the time, 
and as a result, I lost them both to the 
dairy. About a year after, as fine a cow 
as I had, came into the stable on three 
legs as a result of being hooked. I then 
decided that I must stop the loss in some 
way, and the only way of which I 
knew, was to deprive the cattle of their 
weapons. 
At first I operated upon two of the 
worst ones, and the results were so 
entirely satisfactory, that I soon after 
operated upon every animal I had. At 
this time, so far as I know, there was 
not a dishorned herd in Otsego County, 
and no one here who did that kind of 
work. It made considerable stir, and 
so far as I could learn, I was called 
about everything except a gentleman. 
But it is a significant fact that those 
who were most opposed to the practice 
at that time, have since dishorned their 
herds. 
There are few things for which too 
much cannot be claimed, and dishorning 
is no exception. Some of its advocates 
claim that it takes away all disposition 
of those operated upon, to fight or in¬ 
jure each other; this has not been 
proved in my experience. Dishorning 
deprives the cattle of their weapons and, 
therefore, renders them harmless. That 
the disposition to continue their former 
practices remains, is often demonstrated. 
That they can do no damage or even 
drive their mates around, is demon¬ 
strated equally often. In my herd, the 
attempts to hook and fight were much 
more frequent during the first year than 
at any time since. In a word, the loss 
from that source stopped entirely and 
immediately. They drive like sheep, 
handle better and are better in every 
respect. 
At the time I dishorned my herd, I 
was milking several of them, and I pre¬ 
viously weighed their milk for several 
days, also for several days after the 
operation. The first day there was a 
falling off of four pounds ; the second, 
one-half the loss was made up, and the 
third day there was a gain of three 
pounds. More slight gains were made 
for several days, which were sustained 
as long as I tested the matter, and with 
no change of treatment or feed. The 
disturbance of the operation to the sys¬ 
tem must be very slight, or there would 
have been a much greater loss of milk. 
I attribute the permanent gain to the 
fact that the weaker cows soon ceased 
to fear the stronger members of the 
herd, so were able to do their best. 
Fear is one of the w r orst foes to milk pro¬ 
duction, whether it comes from within 
the herd itself, or from those who care 
for the cows. 
Some writers have argued that dis¬ 
horning would affect unfavorably the 
milking qualities of the offspring, and 
also impair the prepotency of bulls. 
While, perhaps, it is too early to decide, 
so far I see no indications of any such 
result. I certainly never had better 
heifers than those that came to the pail 
this season. j. a. m. 
Gilbertsville, N. Y. 
WHY / CHOOSE GUERNSEYS. 
In a recent R. N.-Y. a writer states he 
is tired of scrub stock and inquires which 
of the two breeds—the Jersey or Guern¬ 
sey— will the more nearly meet his re¬ 
quirements. He says that he wishes a 
cow absolutely for butter ; he evidently 
means more than he says—it must be 
evident that he wishes a cow that can¬ 
not only make butter, but one that can 
make a profit on the butter, and thereby 
pay for the time and labor necessary to 
convert the cream into butter. I was 
just about in this position ; I disposed of 
the scrubs, and after considering the 
matter, as I thought, carefully, selected 
the Guernseys. Why? Because, so far 
as I could learn, they were larger, hard¬ 
ier, better feeders, produced the richest 
colored butter, in season and out, and 
(Continued on next page.) 
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