allow the
application to spread to the surrounding skin. After treatment keep the
calf protected from rain, as water on the head after application of the
caustic will cause it to run down over the face.

Dehorning of adult animals is usually performed after the age of 2 years,
as after that age there is less probability of the horns again growing. The
horns should be severed from the head from a quarter to a half-inch below
where the skin joins the base of the horn, cutting from the back toward the
front if a saw is used. If the horn is not cut close enough to the head, an
irregular, gnarly growth of horn is liable to follow.

Before attempting to dehorn the animal, it should be securely controlled by
ropes in a stanchion or by casting. Upon the range the cattle are usually
controlled by casting or by placing them in a "squeezer" connected with a
corral. A clean, sharp meat saw or a miter saw with a rigid back may be
used. Various types of dehorning shears or clippers are in general use. One
type of dehorner has a stationary knife edge with its cutting edge shaped
like a very wide V, and opposing this, another knife of similar shape
moving in a slide, so that the cutting edges act upon the horn from all
four sides at once, all the edges passing the center at the same time.
Another type has a movable knife, with one oblique or one curved edge, and
the cutting is done in one direction only. The power for cutting with these
instruments is supplied by pulling together two long handles which, in
order to transmit a greater force, are generally so constructed that they
act through the medium of a series of cogs. In dehorning with these
instruments the cutting edges should be slipped down over the horn and the
knives closed, so that their edges set firmly against the horn in such
position that the cut will be made in the right place and in the right
direction. The handles should then be drawn together with a quick, firm,
strong pull so that the horn will be completely severed by the first act
and without twisting.

Dehorning should, when possible, be performed in cool weather when the
flies are not plentiful. The loss of blood from the operation is not
sufficient, as a rule, to be of consequence, and after care being taken to
prevent substances from getting into the openings left after the removal of
the horns it is not usual to apply any dressing. Pine tar or a mixture of
pine tar and tannic acid may be applied, particularly