DEHORNING DAIRY CATTLE.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 589, 30 July 1913, Page 3

DEHORNING DAIRY CATTLE.

A compilation of results of experiments in dehorning milch cows has been published by the Maryland, U.S.A. Experiment Sation, from which the following is quoted:— "At a number of the experiment station? exact records of the daily milk yield before and after dehorning have been kept. In a few instances the per cent, of butter fat has also been noted at each milking for a few days before and after dehorning, and from these we can maKe a pretty fair estimate of the effect of the dehorning on the dairy cow. "At the Wisconsin Experiment Station, a record of ten cows was kept for the four milkings before, dehorning and four milkings immediately following dehorning. The ten gave 289.0 pounds in the four milkingß before, and 243.6 pounds in the four milkings after dehorning, a loss of 45.7 pounds, or 16 per cent. Each cow was tested two milkings before dehorning and four milkings after dehorning. In every case but one the milk tested much lower the milking immediately after the dehorning than it had tested the two milkings before dehorning. But the test

gradually increased until it was much higher than it had been in the milk ings previous !o dehorning, and the actual amount of butter fat produced by the cows was as much more than it would have been hai the cows not been dehorned. At another time at the same station twelve cows were dehorned, with a 10-ia of five per cent, in '.he total yield of milk in six days after dehorning, and a gain of four per cent, in the total amount of fat produced in the same time. A record of the weights of the cows before and a iter showed practically no loss due to the operation. ''At the Minesota station, nine cows produced seven per cent, less milk in three miikirgs following dehorning than they had given in the three previous milkings, and produced three p2i" cent, less total butter fat in the same time, showing that the slight loss of the dehorned cows was due partially to excitement.

"At the Georgia station, nine cows made an actual gain in milk yield the day following dehorning.

"At the Tennessee station, nineteen cows were dehorned, and in ten days they lost only 34.2 pounds of milk from a total previous ten days' yield of 2874.8 pound?. "The New York sattion, at Cornell, found that five cow 3 lost an average of a pound a day for four days following dehorning. Seven ows not dehorned lost an average of one-half pound a day in the same time. One of the dehorned cows lo3t an average of four pounds per day in the record time.

"At the North Dakota station, fourteen cows were dehorned. Most of them fell off in their milk slightly, but gained in per cent, of butter fat, and at 'he fourth milking all were back to their normal flow The fourteen cows made about one pound leßs in the two days following dehorning than they had :nade in the two previous days. "From these reports, it appears that there is a small percentage of loss in the total amount of milk produced and very little if any loss in the total fat produced, in the first few milkings before dehorning. In the majority of recorded trials the cows came back to their natural flow of milk in lees than a week, often in two days. Judging from this there is no amount of pain "suffered by the co'v, and practically no loss in product resulting from the operation. It must be empjhasised that, as far as our knowledge of the dairy cow goes at the present day, we would be practically sure that any protracted pain, or any great physical shocK, wou'd lead to a material reduction in the amount of milk produced. It seems that the excitement of struggling with the cows operated on, and handling them in the manner to which they are not accustomed is almost as operative in reducing the milk flow as the dehorning itself."