Rensselaer Republican, Volume 20, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 November 1887 — The Horns are Going [ARTICLE]

The Horns are Going

The Reitdlk an office isadorned with two large, heavy and very strong horns which lately' projecj- j etl from the head of A. McCoy a i biggest and ugliest Hereford bull, the one which, with characteristic! irrelevancy ho calls the “Methodist Elder.” The old fellow (the I hull, not McCoy) -was -erstwhile about as ornery and ill-tempered as could well be, now he as gentle and docile as a nursing dove. One ■ dnj- last week his horns were sawed off, close to his head, according , to the most approved methods.' The work was done by Win. Ken- ’ ton, who has general charge of McCoy <t Cos.’ stock farms in Hanging Grove. The dehorning work did not stop with the old j bull, in fact, hardly began. Not less than 150 cowsTielonging to the parties mentioned have also been deprived of their weapons of, warfare. None of them seemed to’! suffer very great pain, bled verymuch, nor show any symptoms of injurious results afterwards; while i all are much more docile, peacea-, ble and. on the whole, thriving. ■ Sharp horned and evil disposed old brutes, which formerly kept the whole barnyard terrorized, bovine Amer Greens, of the female sex, that occupied both sides of a sixteen foot feed rack at eating time, now huddle together, with their former victims, like so many sheep. The Republican devoted considerable space a year or so ago to explaining and advocating the dehorning policy, and is glad to note that this wise and humane oractice has been adopted by such progressive and influential cattle raisers as McCoy <t Co. We use the term “humane" advisably, because although there is probably some considerable pain connected with the dehorning process, this pain is exceeded, a thousand fold, in the aggregate, by what the animals inflict upon each other bymeans of their horns.