disbudding goats

[christie]

I have 2 2wk old kids that need to be dis budded. The man I bought my does from said he woul do them for me.. But now he is mia!! Great, and the bucklings are growing everyday!

Anyhow another goat lady told me she uses a vet. I call him up, and he says that no one should do them at home!! And to do it w/ out anesthesia is in humane! I told him most do it that way and he disagreed!!
I didn't want to argue....But
I thought anethesia was dangerous for goats?
I am trying to raise my goats as natural/ organic as poss.... Not sure if we'll be eatting the buckling or not but don't want that in him. Hes charging $85 for both of them to be disbudded. I don't know what to do. I am going to keep calling the breeder... But not sure if I should bring him to the vets or not??What your advice?

Ps I asked if he would do it w/out anethisia and he said No.

Oh and he wants me to drop off in Mourning and p/u later.... The guy is almost an hour away!!! pia
I asked him to do it while I was there. So he can, but I have to bring them tomorrow!

[billooo2]

At 2 weeks of age the vet is probably your best bet, IMO. (Just because buck kids' horns grown so much faster than doe kids.) My vet gives them a sedative and then a local anethesia. Then she uses a wire saw to cut them off at the base and she uses the iron to cauterize as needed. She does a great job, and the 2 buck kids that I had her do a couple years ago never even had scurs. I have no idea what technique your vet may use.
From my experience, burning the buck kids horns at 4-7 days is a lot easier on the kids They scream for a few seconds, and then they act like nothing happened. When the vet did them there was some swelling and they were "groggy" for a little while after the procedure, due to the sedatives.
I find that burning the horns when they are a few days old is more traumatic for me than for the kids.

[GoldenSeal]

You know, when I was first doing the disbudding myself I burnt the heck outa my thumb. It really only does hurt for abit and then it's numb.

[Vicki McGaugh TX Nubians]

It depends on the breed, I don't even disbud my nubain kids until the 2nd weekend after they are born. My Mini LaManchas are done the first weekend they are born.

It's not only unnecessary to have a vet do this for you, think about larger herds, who could absorb the expense. Not only if you learn to do this from someone, can you do a better job than any vet, you also won't put your kids through anesthetic or locals which is much more about pet mentality vets than a livestock vet....shoot if you took a kid to my vet, before she watched me disbud a herd of goats at her office for her, she would have scooped the head like a calf, pulled bleeders and you would go home with gaping holes in the head, a little banamine for pain and a tetanus shot

You eventually will have a goat not come out of anesthetic. Vicki

[emanuelcs34]

My vet just used a local around the goats horns, it worked great and they didn't even cry for the burning. I am glad I finally found one that knows about goats.

[deetu]

I had one vet use local and the kid screamed more for that and still screamed during process.

Another vet put them under but didn't wait for it to totally take so they screamed anyway, then I had to watch them to make sure they didn't fall over and wake up.

I do it myself now. Hold them between my knees while sitting on them. Hot iron, cold ice pack, tetnus shot, done. (Like not taking novicaine for a small cavity.) It's not as hard as it looks but you really should see someone do it the first time.

If you are planning on selling these boys for meat, you really don't need to dehorn. Alot of ethnic groups like them to be intact with horns. They will be gone before they start to do damage unless you are afraid they will get stuck in the fence, in which case, a strand of electric on bottom will keep that from happening.