dehorning a steer

janeren · #1 09/19/07, 12:37 PM

We have a steer that was born the begining of July. It is starting to have just the buds of horns coming through the fur. I think we should have him dehorned but my husband and father don't think we should. I worked for 4yrs as a vet assistent but mostly small domestic animals or goats/sheep, not lg animals so I don't have alot of experience. Should we have him dehorned or will he be ok keeping them? Also I have heard about dehorning paste, Is it too late to use it? Where can I find it? I looked at TSC and they don't have it? I have found it on line but I would rather get it local if I knew where to get it.

The calf is a Jersey/Holstine

topside1 · #2 09/19/07, 03:08 PM

Jane, that question would have been a lot easier to answer a month ago. My answer would have been, why not? Horns are dangerous depending upon what type of farm set up you have, and what types of other animals you raise. A Holstein is big enough on his own and has little need for horns. Without being there I could only guess that it's to late to burn the horn buds. I usually burn @ one month old. I would let the horns grow before I would experiement with caustic paste....

ksfarmer · #3 09/19/07, 05:04 PM

Definately dehorn. Anytime now, they should be big enough to nip out and he won't take long to heal up. I think it is too late to use dehorn paste. I am assuming he will be fed out for beef, and he will be a lot less trouble without horns.

janeren · #4 09/20/07, 10:21 AM

I figured it would be too late for the paste but I stopped in at the vets today and made an appt for him to get dehorned next week. We have pigs and few chickens here but the steer is being raised at my mother in laws because she has more room for him and was already had a fence up because she used to have a donkey. So he is being raised alone. Now I have heard that we should of had 2 steer becaues they grow better. Oh well we will know for next year.

Up North · #5 09/20/07, 10:56 PM

Janeren - Please call vet's office and clarify how he will dehorn steer. If he will burn a ring and knock horn buttons off, that's probably ok. If he will snip them off using dehorning shears, I would suggest that you reschedule dehorning until after a hard killing frost comes.
Other wise flies may lay eggs in the horn sockets. Then the eggs become maggots, and crawl inwards into the animals brain tissue.
Then you will have a dead steer.

Other than burning horns off at a young age, cattle should be dehorned at some point in the year *other* than the fly season.

I suppose if done just right the paste is ok, but we had generally poor results with it.

kgchis · #6 09/21/07, 11:55 AM

I will not buy a cow/bull with horns. They are just too dangerous.

If this steer is very tame, it has been my experience that this makes them even more dangerous. The animals that have no fear of people get much more pushy when you have to do things they don't like (worming, shots, penning, etc.). We had one cow named Pet because she had been raised by someone as a pet. They did not dehorn her. She hated a pen. I had quite a few close calls with those horns. I finally got tired of her trying to hook me and sold her.

Also, if you trailer an animal a lot, horns can be an issue. We once had a cow knock her horn off by getting it caught in the side slats of the trailer. Very nasty

matt_man · #7 09/22/07, 05:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kgchis

Also, if you trailer an animal a lot, horns can be an issue. We once had a cow knock her horn off by getting it caught in the side slats of the trailer. Very nasty

There was a man in MO that was killed this week loading a bull into a trailer. It had horns and used them on him.

Rachel