1006. 
857 
THE AGE OF A COW. 
Can It Be Guaranteed? 
In your judgment is (hero any sure way 
of telling the age of a cow? Suppose a vet¬ 
erinarian examined a cow and pronounced 
her five years old by the appearance of her 
teeth. She was sold for a two-year-old. The 
breeder claims that the young cow was kept 
in the barn and forced during the first year 
of her life, s'o that the teeth were abnormally 
developed. Will you tell us if this would be 
likely to happen so as to make an apparent 
difference of two years in the cow's age? Is 
there any sure way by means of which such 
age could be guaranteed? 
I do not know of any absolute way of 
telling the exact age of a young cow. 
There is an individual variation that 
might, under certain conditions, be more 
or less modified, but 1 should not expect 
any great variation to occur under the 
conditions. v. A. moore. 
N. Y. State Veterinary College. 
There is no possibility of a two-year 
discrepancy in age of cow as evidenced 
by eruption of teeth. Forcing may cause 
not over six months’ difference in normal 
cutting of teeth. One can closely approx¬ 
imate age of cattle from teeth, but it is 
scarcely safe to guarantee age on that 
score. a. s. Alexander, v. s. 
Veterinarian, Wisconsin Agricultural 
Experiment Station. 
You can tell the age of the heifer either 
by the horns or by the teeth. At two 
years old she will not have a fully-de¬ 
veloped mouth even if she had been other¬ 
wise developed early. I have shown cat¬ 
tle at fairs in the yearling class that 
looked like two-year-olds, but as soon as 
I showed the mouth my opponent gave it 
up, for 1 proved by the teeth the age. You 
may develop a heifer in size and in milk 
development, but the teeth are a thing 
you cannot force. c. e. hatch, v. s. 
North Carolina State Veterinarian. 
The age of cattle is best indicated by 
the teeth, the incisors having, as in the 
horse, certain periods at which they ap¬ 
pear and are replaced. There is more 
variability, however, than in the horse, 
and early maturing stock are also pre¬ 
cocious in their dentition, but not to 
such an extent as to lead to confusion 
between a two-year and a five-year-old. 
Within a few months the age of cows up 
to five years old can be certified to. 
R. R. DINWIDD1E. 
Arkansas Experiment Station. 
I think extra care and inherited early 
maturity might give the heifer an appear¬ 
ance of being older than she really was, 
so that she might be taken for a year 
older, but I do not think it probable that 
it would make a two-year difference. Such 
cases come up sometimes in the show 
ring, and it makes a difficult matter to 
settle, with the statement of the owner on 
the one side and the expert examination 
on the other. I have never felt like dis¬ 
crediting the statement of the owner in 
regard to a year’s difference in age where 
the animal showed previous forcing. I 
should explain a two-year difference in 
some other way, by saying there must be 
a mistake somewhere, c. m. winslow. 
Vermont. 
The age of a cow is something which is 
rather difficult to determine. This is es¬ 
pecially true after they are about five 
years old. Up to this age there should 
not be very much difficulty. I think there 
should be no difficulty whatever in dis¬ 
tinguishing between a two-year-old heifer 
and a five-year-old cow. A two-year-old 
heifer should not have more than one set 
of the permanent incisors. A five-year- 
old cow will have a full mouth of the per¬ 
manent incisors. This is something which 
any veterinarian with average common 
sense should be able to determine. There 
can be no mistake between the perma¬ 
nent incisors and the temporary ones. 
1 lie latter are much smaller and whiter 
in color than the permanent ones. 
W. J. KENNEDY. 
Iowa Experiment Station. 
The age of a cow can be very closely 
approximated by the teeth by anyone fa¬ 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
miliar with the periods at which the tem¬ 
porary, or milk incisor, teeth, arc re¬ 
placed by the permanent incisors, and as 
a rule, the variations are slight. The two 
center permanent incisors are up and in 
opposition with the dental pad above, at 
two years of age. The next two on cither 
side, known as the first intermediates or 
dividers, are up and developed at three; 
the next two, or second intermediates or 
dividers at four, and the corners at five; 
therefore at five the cow has a full mouth 
of permanent incisors, which are eight in 
number, all in the lower jaw; the cow has 
no upper incisors. Even after the age of 
five, the age of the bovine animal can be 
quite closely approximated by those ex¬ 
perienced in estimating their ages by the 
wear of the teeth. r. w. hickman. 
Chief, Quarantine Division, U. S. De¬ 
partment of Agriculture. 
The age of cattle can be told with a 
fair degree of accuracy until they are 
between four and five years; after that 
there is more or less guessing. Of course 
one could tell a 12-year-old from a six- 
year-old. There is no need of mistaking 
a two-year-old for a four or five-year-old. 
'1'he age is judged by the eruption of the 
permanent incisors and the dropping out 
of the milk incisors. The central inejsors 
change at from l y 2 to two years; the 
first laterals (first tooth on each side of 
centrals), change between two and three; 
the second laterals between three and 
four and the corner teeth change be¬ 
tween four and five, sometimes soon after 
four, at other times not until nearly five. 
I do not believe that the care would have 
any marked effect upon the eruption ox 
the teeth. Especially good care, produc¬ 
ing early maturity, might cause them to 
change a little earlier, but not enough to 
make any practical difference. 
GEORGE A. WATERMAN, M. D. C. 
Michigan Agricultural College. 
In my opinion it should be possible 
readily and positively to distinguish be¬ 
tween a heifer two years old and a cow 
five years old by an examination of the 
teeth. It seems to me so nearly impos¬ 
sible that a two-year-old heifer should 
have a fully developed full set of per¬ 
manent incisors that I am quite willing 
to give it as my opinion that such does not 
occur. It is not probable that a heifer 
two years old would have more than iour 
permanent incisors, for the second pair 
of permanent incisors are not usually 
fully developed until a later date; while 
at five years old a cow will have a full 
mouth of eight fully-developed permanent 
incisors. Of course, early maturity, the 
result of inheritance and forcing on an 
abundance of rich feeds will affect the 
development of the teeth, but I do not be¬ 
lieve that these will cause a heifer two 
years old to have grown a full set of 
fully-developed permanent incisors such 
as a cow five years old will have. In re¬ 
plying to this question I have assumed 
that “a two-year-old heifer” means one 
actually two years old and not one two 
years and eleven months, as she might be 
and still technically be classed as a two- 
year-old. TAIT BUTLER. 
WANT TO KNOW. 
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Ulster Park, N. Y. 
Poisoning Sparrows. —Can some one tel! 
me (he best method of poisoning English 
sparrows? I have found them a serious pest 
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oats as a cover crop. w. d. 
Ohio. _ 
Cleaning a Water Pipe. —Let H. M. G „ 
page 679, take a piece of No. 7 wire, put 
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