disbudding and mishaps

I have a question regarding goat tips. We lost our large animal vet less tahn two weeks ago. His assistant was the one who did all of our disbudding (goats and calves) and I don't know if he will be available in less than a month when our kids start arriving. I *know* that I do not want the other large animal vets that are available to try and disbud our kids. The young guy doesn't even have a tip for disbudding calves and so he either scoops out the horn or uses the iron without a tip and basically burns the tops of their heads. So now I need to learn how to do all this, just in case. I was looking at getting RhineheartX50 but was wondering about what tips people use for their goats?
Emily, do you use the same tip for your Jersey calves as well?

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Roseanna
Morning Mist Herd
Journey's End Jerseys
Jerseys, Jersey/Norwegian Reds, Beef, Boers, Nubians & crossbreeds

I too burn the top of the bud with the flat part of the iron. I do this inbetween the first and second burnings. The longer I've done this the more I've learned to take it slow. I initially burn about seven seconds then look at the job. Then burn a few more. Just seeing a copper ring doesn't ensure you'll get a clean head. Also, although this might just be necessary with the wider based breeds, I burn a second circle by placing the iron closer to the horn bud to make sure I reach the outer edges of the base. That has been very helpful for nigerians. And if you see any scur growth make sure you reburn ASAP because those darn things grow fast and can quickly get out of hand.

[QUOTE=Also, although this might just be necessary with the wider based breeds, I burn a second circle by placing the iron closer to the horn bud to make sure I reach the outer edges of the base. That has been very helpful for nigerians.[/QUOTE]

I'm not sure I understand what you are saying here. Are you saying that you do one circle with the horn bud centered in the middle of the tip of the iron, and then another circle off-centered so as to make two linking circles?

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Shae in Arkansas

Hi there,
if you buy your rhineheart X50 from Hoeggers or Caprine Supply(or other places I can't think of right now....)it comes with a goat tip and a calf tip. The goat tip goes on top of the calf tip. The goat tip can be removed to do the calves. But its just enough of a pain to take on and off correctly that its worth it if you can pick up a secondhand iron a little cheaper to do so, just to have one set up for calves and one for goats.

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Emily Dixon
Ozark Jewels
Nubians & Lamanchas
www.ozarkjewels.net

"Remember, no man is a failure, who has friends" -Clarence

Well, here's the thing: even if you do count seconds, you still need to be able to tell if it's burned long enough. I just burn until all the horn tissue has been covered and burned thoroughly. For buck kids who have gone longer than I'd have liked and have a wide horn base, this will be longer. For 2-3 day old kids, the simple copper ring is enough. I highly recommend doing them at a week old or two weeks old at the very most, no older.

Just thinking about burning right down to the skull makes my hair stand on end...that is horrible...

Shae, yes, the linking circles is known as the "Figure Eight" burn. I wouldn't do a burn without that now. It really does catch that outer horn growth. I think Liz mentioned you can roll the tip around the edge of the base too to get the entire base.