The American Reformed Cattle Doctor / Containing the necessary information for preserving the health and curing the diseases of oxen, cows, sheep, and swine, with a great variety of original recipes, and valuable information in reference to farm and dairy management

by George H. Dadd

Mr. Percival says, "No person hesitates to admit the advantages derivable from the castration of bulls and stallions. I do not hesitate to aver, that equal, if not double, advantages are to be derived from the same operation when performed on cows."

"It is to America we are indebted for this discovery. In 1832, an American traveller, a lover of milk, no doubt, asked for some of a farmer at whose house he was. Surprised at finding at this farm better milk than he had met with elsewhere, he wished to know the reason of it. After some hesitation, the farmer avowed, that he had been advised to perform on his cows the same operation as was practised on the bulls. The traveller was not long in spreading this information. The Veterinary Society of the country took up the discovery, when it got known in America. The English—those ardent admirers of beefsteaks and roast beef—profited by the new procedure, as they know how to turn every thing to account, and at once castrated their heifers, in order to obtain a more juicy meat.

"The Swiss, whose principal employment is agricultural, had the good fortune to possess a man distinguished in his art, who foresaw, and was anxious to realize, the advantages of castrating milch cows. M. Levrat, veterinary surgeon at Lausanne, found in the government of his country an enlightened assistant in his praiseworthy and useful designs, so that, at the present day, instructions in the operation of spaying enter into the requirements of the programme of the professors of agriculture, and the gelders of the country are not permitted to exercise their calling until they have proved their qualifications on the same point."—London Vet. p. 274, 1850.

For additional evidence in favor of spaying, see Albany Cultivator, p. 195, vol. vi.

We have conversed with several farmers in this section of the United States, and find, as a general thing, that they labor under the impression that spaying is chiefly resorted to with a view of fattening cattle for the market. We have, on all occasions, endeavored to correct this erroneous conclusion, and at the same time to point out the benefits to be derived from this practice. The quality of the milk is superior, and the quantity is augmented. Many thousands of the miserable specimens of cows, that the farmer, with all his care, and having, at the same time an abundance of the best kind of provender, is unable to fatten, might, after the operation of spaying, be easily fattened, and rendered fit for the market; or, if they shall have had calves, they may be made permanent, and, of course, profitable milkers.

If a cow be in a weak, debilitated state, or, in other words, "out of condition," she may turn out to be a source of great loss to the owner. In the first place, her offspring will be weak and inefficient; successive generations will deteriorate; and if the offspring be in a close degree of relationship, they will scarcely be worth the trouble of rearing. The spaying of such a cow, rather than she shall give birth to weak and worthless offspring, would be a great blessing; for then one of the first causes of degeneracy in live stock will have been removed.

Again, a cow in poor condition is a curse to the farmer; for she is often the medium through which epidemics, infectious diseases, puerperal fever, &c., are communicated to other stock. If there are such diseases in the vicinity, those in poor flesh are sure to be the first victims; and they, coming in contact with others laboring under a temporary indisposition, involve them in the general ruin. If prevention be cheaper than cure,—and who doubts it?—then the farmer should avail himself of the protection which spaying seems to hold out.

OPERATION OF SPAYING.

The first and most important object in the successful performance of this operation is to secure the cow, so that she shall not injure herself, nor lie down, nor be able to kick or injure the operator. The most convenient method of securing the cow is, to place her in the trevis;[15] the hind legs should then be securely tied in the usual manner: the band used for the purpose of raising the hind quarters when being shod must be passed under the belly, and tightened just sufficient to prevent the animal lying down. Having secured the band in this position, we proceed, with the aid of two or more assistants, in case the animal should be irritable, to perform the operation. And here, for the benefit of that portion of our readers who desire to perform the operation secundum artem, we detail the method recommended by Morin, a French veterinary surgeon; although it has been, and can again be, performed with a common knife, a curved needle, and a few silken threads to close the external wound. The author is acquainted with a farmer, now a resident of East Boston, who has performed this operation with remarkable success, both in this country and Scotland, with no other instruments than a common shoemaker's knife and a curved needle. The fact is, the ultimate success of the operation does not depend so much on the instruments as on the skill of the operator. If he is an experienced man, understands the anatomy of the parts, and is well acquainted, by actual experience, with the nature of the operation, then the instruments become a matter of taste. The best operators are those who devote themselves entirely to the occupation. (See Mr. Blane's account of his "first essay in firing," p. 85, note.) Morin advises us to secure the cow, by means of five rings, to the wall. (See Albany Cultivator, vol. vi. p. 244, 1850.) "The cow being conveniently disposed of, and the instruments and appliances,—such as curved scissors, upon a table, a convex-edged bistoury, a straight one, and one buttoned at the point, suture needle filled with double thread of desired length, pledgets of lint of appropriate size and length, a mass of tow (in pledgets) being collected in a shallow basket, held by an assistant,—we place ourselves opposite to the left flank, our back turned a little towards the head of the animal; we cut off the hair which covers the hide in the middle of the flanks, at an equal distance between the back and hip, for the space of thirteen or fourteen centimetres in circumference; this done, we take the convex bistoury, and place it open between our teeth, the edge out, the point to the left; then, with both hands, we seize the hide in the middle of the flank, and form of it a wrinkle of the requisite elevation, and running lengthwise of the body.

"We then direct an assistant to seize, with his right hand, the right side of this wrinkle. We then take the bistoury, and cut the wrinkle at one stroke through the middle, the wrinkle having been suffered to go down, a separation of the hide is presented of sufficient length to enable us to introduce the hand; thereupon we separate the edges of the hide with the thumb and fore finger of the left hand, and, in like manner, we cut through the abdominal muscles, the iliac, (rather obliquely,) and the lumbar, (cross,) for a distance of a centimetre from the lower extremity of the incision made in the hide: this done, armed with the straight bistoury, we make a puncture of the peritoneum, at the upper extremity of the wound; we then introduce the buttoned bistoury, and we move it obliquely from above to the lower part up to the termination of the incision made in the abdominal muscles. The flank being opened, we introduce the right hand into the abdomen, and direct it along the right side of the cavity of the pelvis, behind the paunch and underneath the rectum, where we find the horns of the uterus; after we have ascertained the position of these viscera, we search for the ovaries, which are at the extremity of the cornua, or horns, (fallopian tubes,) and when we have found them, we seize them between the thumb and fore finger, detach them completely from the ligaments that keep them in their place, pull lightly, separating the cord, and the vessels (uterine or fallopian tubes) at their place of union with the ovarium, by means of the nails of the thumb and fore finger, which presents itself at the point of touch; in fact, we break the cord, and bring away the ovarium.