Horns

[Bubbas Boys]

We are getting 2 Dexer heifers in 1 month. They are horned, the breeder doesn't like to dehorn as it is not needed in her opinion. We always said we would have no horns on our animals. Is there an opinion that is not to cruel at these ages (4 months, 5 years old), do other worry about it? She says they have never had any issues with any of the cows or bulls. Can we use our goat dehorner for the calf that is on the way in older heifer? We have a X30 I think. Thanks

[nosqrls]

We have Highlands (long Horns) and we do not dehorn. I have been rapped on the hand by one it hurts, yes. Because I was not paying attention I put my hand on her side and she swatted it. We had a bull with a horn spread that required him in the trailer section by himself ~ 5 feet tip to tip. Horns aid in cooling on the cow.

[bja105]

I hope you meant "wrapped on the hand."

Our Dexter cow has horns. She certainly uses them to keep at the top of the pecking order, especially with the Jersey steer, who is much bigger than her. She has never injured any of the two other bovines or three horses she is pastured with. Her horns are small, which I think is common with Dexters. She has never touched us with her horns. We have only had her since September, and she is our first horned cow, so our experience is limited.

[bja105]

Here is a picture of her. Maybe someone more experienced could say if these little horns are typical. I am pretty new to cattle, but those horns don't scare me a bit. That is because of her laid back temperment. I worry much more about our dehorned steer, who is a bit frisky.

ImageUploadedByHomesteading Today1420165259.963267.jpg

[tab]

Dh's grandma was gored by a rather "docile" cow. She had surgery to fix what could be fixed. He doesn't want horns on the place.

If you search this forum there is info on pros and cons. Tends to bring out strong opinions.

Congrats on your cows. This is just one of many things you will have to decide,

[arabian knight]

I don't even want to raise ANY with horns. I dehorn them my self. I use both of these depending on how early I get at doing it. LOL



Also have used this one on very young calves, works great, just press down and turn 1/4 of a turn, and pry out the bud. Very little bleeding too.

[Awnry Abe]

You have lots of questions in there that I can't answer, with the exception of "do ... Worry about it?" I'll assume you meant "do I worry about the horns" vs. "do I worry about the cruelty of dehorning". Either way, the answer is the same for me. If I am worried about the horns, I'm not worried about the cruelty. I have both beef and dairy herds. In the beef herd, the spaces are wide open, the up-close human interaction is rare. I have zero concern about the horns on those animals. It's just one more moving part on an already dangerous animal. On the dairy herd, the exact opposite is true. Animal spacing is tight and human touch is high. I am very concerned about their horns. They use them on each other. They use them on me, albeit unintentionally. They snag them on my vacuum lines. "worry" is the proper word.

I would not, no matter the concern for animal cruelty, hesitate to remove the horns if the handling arrangements and frequency of up-close-and-personal touch-events put a handler in heightened danger above the already dangerous aspect of the event.

I would not, no matter how docile and hornless the cow, neglect to consider how powerful and unpredictable the creature to be.

The facilities, the purpose of the animal, and the animal itself all factor in to my keep-em or lose-em decision. It isn't a hard and fast rule for me.

[kycrawler]

I like the looks of horns on a cow. We use a callicrate handed to remove horns or burn them when young . The worst I have ever been roughed up by a cow was a 2 yo jersey heifer with no horns I got complacent as she was a halter broke show calf roughed me up pretty good would have been a lot worse had she had horns . Calved her out and she was pretty tasty no room here for cows with poor attitude . I had 20 head of long horn corriente cross roping cows I was breeding to an Angus bull all of them had big horns and I never had an issue in years with that herd . No more horns around here above yearling size and I can get a band on them

[Bubbas Boys]

Thanks for opinions folks. I have read a little about this banding. Can you point me in the right direction for info, equipment needed on this. It sonds like a good option for a 5 yr old and 4 month old. I don't have a squeeze shoot though??

[Carol K]

Save up for a chute, or make one. It's the one thing you need to have, you may not use it much but you will be thankful to have one. De horning is painful for the animal, it would be my suggestion you have a vet do it for you, but I doubt they will without being able to restrain the animal. Call your local vet and talk to them about it.
It really is important that you, the vet and the animal be safe, having the right equipment is a must.
If you don't want to dehorn in the future use a homozygous polled bull from the AI list on the ADCA web page and you will only get polled calves.

Carol K

[G. Seddon]

http://aabp.org/resources/AABP_Guide...03.17.2014.pdf

[Awnry Abe]

Originally Posted by Bubbas Boys

Thanks for opinions folks. I have read a little about this banding. Can you point me in the right direction for info, equipment needed on this. It sonds like a good option for a 5 yr old and 4 month old. I don't have a squeeze shoot though??

Most of our area vets either have portable chutes or excellent handling facilities at the clinic. For a non-emergency scheduled operation, loading her up and taking her in would not be a bad way to go until you get your own head gate. If you haven't picked her up yet, you could stop by the vets clinic on the way home. Get all of life's stress and trauma over with at once.

[1shotwade]

When I was a kid I had to help dehorn our herd. It was the bloodiest ,nastiest mess I have ever been involved it.50 times worse than butchering etc.Not a pretty sight and the animals didn't have a lot of fun that day. God put those horns there for a reason.

When my granddad was 79 he went out to do the chores and didn't come back so grandma went looking. She found him in the goat pen.A goat got him down and he had held it by the horns for 4 hours.Those horns is what saved his life. That ended his farming as he never fully recovered from it.He died two years later.


Wade

[Lazy J]

Originally Posted by Bubbas Boys

Thanks for opinions folks. I have read a little about this banding. Can you point me in the right direction for info, equipment needed on this. It sonds like a good option for a 5 yr old and 4 month old. I don't have a squeeze shoot though??

I won't have a cow on the farm with horns but I wouldn't plan to dehorn a 5 year old cow.

[G. Seddon]

Dehorning a mature animal with horns is traumatic and messy, not to mention very painful. If you don't have the proper equipment and an experienced vet, perhaps you should consider a different breed if horns are an issue?

[genebo]

Almost all my cattle have been horned. All fullblooded Dexters or Dexter crosses. I love the variety and beauty of the horns and use them to tell the Dexters apart from a distance.

I'm recovering from an accident and this morning I went out to walk among the Dexters for the first time in over 3 months. They were all glad to see me. I petted and scratched them one at a time. They were calm and gentle, just as their reputation says.

Cathy, the 8 day old calf, is the only one I didn't scratch. Her mama stood over Cathy, who was nestled between her front legs. I petted and scratched mama, who stood stock still until my dog got too close. Then she shook her head at the dog, who wisely left the area.
I really wanted to pet the young bull, McBrenn. He is 8 months old and hasn't been handled since he was 4 months old. It worked out as if I'd been petting him all along. He arched his back and swayed to the stroke of my hand. His horns are about 4" long at his age. I scratched the back of his head, just behind the horns. He loved it.

I have never dehorned any cattle nor have I deliberately dehorned a goat. Twice, a goat broke a horn in their head-butting for herd status. It was a terribly bloody mess. I though surely they would bleed to death.

Those two goats became the hardest ones to trim their hooves. We depend upon using the horns as a way of holding them still while trimming. I ended up straddling their neck while holding the single horn. I felt sure that I would get hurt doing that. I sure wished they had their horns back.

I certainly don't mean for what I say about my Dexters to apply to other breeds. Some breeds are outright dangerous, horns or no horns. Even some Dexter bulls can be mean. Bottle raised bulls are risky that way. Range bulls are bound to be spookier than family farm animals. You need to evaluate what you have before placing trust.

Last Monday hunting dogs were working the cutover behind us, and one of the dogs came here. She was outside the pasture fence, but walking back and forth, close to the calf. All my Dexters were at the fence with their horns facing the fence. The calf stayed behind them. There is no doubt that if the dog had gone through the fence, she would wish she hadn't.

I trapped the dog and called the owner to come get her. I may have saved the dog, for my Dexters seemed quite willing to use their horns for one of the purposes they are there for, defending themselves and the herd.

[wr]

I've raised horned cattle most of my life and I know exactly what getting rapped is. It's a gentle reminder with the curve of the horn that I've invaded somebody's space.

As stated previously, horns are there for a reason and in all the years I've raised horned cattle, I've never lost a calf to predators nor do I have a predator problem.

In my opinion bovine manners have more to do with training than horns.

[Bubbas Boys]

Well, the breeder does not dehorn because that is the way they are born she says, haha. I think with this info from you all, maybe we will just get use to the horns, Thanks everyone!

[sonofman]

I had a Jersey milk cow as a kid and she was queen of the herd (the rest were polled herefords) until one day one of my 4H steers got his head in between her horns and pushed her all over the pasture LOL. He straight wore her out. Once he was in the freezer she was back on top, but horns don't always make a cow queen LOL.

[Alaska]

Fairly new to the cattle business. We decided to go with angus lowline. Very gentle, on the small size and no horns. As a newbie I was intimidated enough by tonnage I did not want horns to deal with.