Objective To study the effect of hemilaminectomy, total laminectomyand recapping laminoplasty on the stability of the cervical spine. Methods 14 fresh adult sheep cervical spine specimens were divided into two groups. There were 7 cases in each group. Each specimen was applied a pure moment load of 3Nm in 6 different directions, including flexion/extension, left/right lateral bending, and left/right axial rotation. And the range of motion (ROM) and neutral zone (NZ) of specimen was measured. In the first group, the ROMs and NZs of the specimens were measured and compared under the intact state, C5 hemilaminectomy state and C4-C6 hemilaminectomy state respectively. In the second group, the ROMs and NZs of specimens under the intact state, C4-C6 total laminectomy state and C4-C6 recapping laminoplasty state were measured and compared. Results There was no significant difference in the ROMs and NZs between C5 hemilaminectomy state and C4-C6 hemilaminectomy state compared with the intact state (P < 0.05). Compared with the intact state, the ROMs of the specimens were significantly increased in the direction of flexion and extension under the condition of C4-C6 laminectomy state and C4-C6 recapping laminoplasty state（P<0.05）. In addition, Compared with the C4-C6 laminectomy state, the ROMs of the specimen were significant decreased only in the direction of extension under the condition of C4-C6 recapping laminoplasty state（P<0.05）. There was no significant difference for the ROMs between total laminectomy and laminoplasty under other loads. Conclusions After hemilaminectomy, the ROMs and NZs of the cervical spine did not increase significantly, which did not affect the stability of the cervical spine. After C4-C6 total laminectomy, the ROMs and NZs in the direction of flexion and extension increased significantly, and the stability of cervical spine was affected. Recapping laminoplasty does not significantly improve the stability of cervical spine after total laminectomy.