1 Jan., 1902.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 31 
It is estimated that a good Angora buck would cost £60, which would 
include insurance, freight, and attendance with feed on the voyage. This is 
the approximate cost, if imported from Port Elizabeth, South Africa. The 
best recognised breeder of Angora goats (of late years) in South Africa is 
Mr. Holmes, of Pearston, Cape Colony, who has written much to the Press on 
the subject, and is considered an expert in the matter. 
In conclusion, we may state that Mr. P. R. Gordon, Chief Inspector of 
Stock in Queensland, is keenly interested in this matter, and has, at the request 
of Mr. Jenkinson, M.L.A., prepared a Bill to make the term “sheep” include 
goats in legislation, as is the case in South Africa. 
DISHORNING CATTLE. 
By C. B. Lanse, New Jersey Exp. Station. 
Dishorning has rapidly grown in favour during the past few years, and at 
the present time it is commonly practised in many sections. The prejudice and 
exaggerated ideas as to the severity of the practice are gradually giving way as 
instruments for doing the work improve, and farmers and dairymen become 
better acquainted with the operation. 
In our own experience we have found it to be practical, rendering the 
animals, especially bulls, more quiet, and making them less capable of injuring 
each other or their attendants. During our first experience in dishorning, the 
horns were removed with a saw. While the operation was successful, and no 
serious results followed, it required considerable time, and was evidently quite 
painful to the animal. 
Later, a pair of Keystone clippers were secured, and three cows and one 
bull were dishorned. It required but a second to remove a horn after the 
clippers were placed over it, and the whole time required for operating on a 
single animal did not exceed more than four or five minutes, except in the case 
of the bull, where greater precaution was taken to make the animal secure. 
All the wounds bled at the time of the operation, but not to such an extent 
as to cause the animals to show signs of weakness. ‘They did not appear to be 
in much pain except at the moment’ the clipper was in process of closing. 
When taken to the stalls after the operation, two of the cows ate as though 
nothing had happened, while the third refused a part of her food for a day, 
but her usual appetite soon returned. The operation had a marked effect on the 
three-year-old bull. Previous to dishorning he was inclined to be ugly, but 
after the removal of his horns he was comparatively quiet and docile. 
Complete records were kept of the yield of milk from the three dishorned 
cows for twenty days previous to the operation, also for twenty days following, 
and it is interesting to note that the decrease in the yield of milk from these 
cows was 3'3 per cent. greater than for three other cows not dishorned and 
giving practically the same yield at the time of the operation, showing that the 
milk flow was but slightly affected. This difference might have been due, in. 
part, at least, to some other cause. 
The simplest and most humane way of destroying the horns seems to be 
to prevent them from developing when the animals are young. This may be 
done by the use of caustic potash (in the form of sticks), which rapidly destroys 
the skin and other tissues when kept in contact with them. The method of 
applying the potash is very simple. The hair is clipped away from the young 
horn, so that the potash may come in immediate contact with the parts to be 
treated. The stick of potash is rolled up in a piece of paper, so as to leave one 
end exposed. The exposed end is moistened slightly and rubbed on the 
embryo horn for a few seconds, or until the skin begins to start, care being 
taken that the whole of the border is included in the treatment. A surface 
about three-fourths of an inch in diameter will cover the parts in calves a few 
days old. In our experiments, six calves have been treated; their ages ranged 
from three to eighteen days. Healing soon followed the operation, and smooth 
polls have resulted in every case. The best time to apply the potash is between the 
fifth and tenth days, although it has proved effectual even on the eighteenth day. 
