Hard day for my doe

[mpete]

I have a no-horn policy on my place, so I banded my new black nubian doe shortly after getting her 3 weeks ago. I have banded several does, never had a problem, well, My new does name is Rosey, and she definetly has a thorn in my side... lol
Day started out well, until she decided to throw her head against the top and side of her pen and knock both of her horns off! I was not prepared, and my poor hubby thought the sky was falling!, but I got her isolated, not bleeding too bad, so I drove a 60 mile round trip to get a disbudding iron, my friend helped me hold/cauterize her, she is physically fine now, but she won't barely look at me... I feel bad, but I am glad its over. I gave her banamine to help with the pain. Keeping flies away from her, too. My other does all took 6 to 8 weeks and there was no discomfort look to any of them, so Rosey has changed my rules. The next time I am faced with this, I am going to do anesthetic at the vets....

[Alice In TX/MO]

Check the price. I waaaaay overpaid to have a buckling done that way.

By the way, peanut butter crackers will help her get over the bad attitude.

[Chaty]

It will just take time and she will come around...snacks work wonders...

[DairyGoatSlave]

oy! im sorry, that sounds super rough! but for sure give her some little treats

[mpete]

She is much better this morning. She is alert, active, eating, drinking, but still wants nothing to do with me. I have been leaving her treats for her because she is not eating from my hand anymore... however, she will eat from my friends... the little terd! lol I will try the peanut butter crackers, since the licorice treats and trail mix isn't working.

[Backfourty,MI.]

Mine all love Grapes & I cut up an apple for them sometimes too, those are there favorites I think but we do go through alot of animal crackers too.

[mayfinn farm]

Careful if you decide to give her peanut butter crackers...we found out the hard way our wether is allergic to peanuts.

[DairyGoatSlave]

I love to give my girls frozen "fruit salad" basicly when we have mellon I make everyone save the rinds and seeds, put in plastic bag then into the freezer. When its the afternoon I take it out, toss into a bucket and they go nutty

[kreddish]

Try cherry tomatoes... I swear my little Bella will roll over for me in order to get one

[Idahoe]

Raisins

[mpete]

Well, she WAS eating grapes, nuts, raisins, and grain from my hand UNTIL I sprayed her again with fly repellant... now she is BACK in the corner and almost FREAKS if I look in her direction... lol. I know she'll get over it, but it's almost comical now... Her wounds are healing wonderfully, no holes to worry about, just trying to keep flies away.

[betsy h.]

The thing of it is that 'she' doesn't think its' funny.......she is in pain.

IMO, banding is not fun at all thing for the goat. Those are nerve endings up there and they are still quite raw from being knocked off before their time, plus banding horns is not like castration banding, in which the pain is over in a matter of days. Banding horn pain is 24/7 for several weeks before they fall off, raw pain on the head which I certainly couldn't deal with for that long. Not to mention the possibility of tetanus and possible septic brain infections.

This is where I would walk in the goats' hoofprints if it were my goat...... disbudding, sawing, scooping, surgery....anything is better than banding and causes pain, but these do not last as long as banding.

Sorry to be a wet blanket.

[freedomfrom4]

Sorry don't know much about goats yet but I was wondering if banding would have a less risk for infecion then some of the other methods you stated above?

[betsy h.]

Personally, I would say more because it is what cannot be seen, rather than what can be seen- it is easy to see the scabbed areas around the head wounds caused by the other types, so they can be more easily ID'd, but with banding, it's up in there and very hard to detect. If the goat knocks a small spot open, etc. the horn could block it from being seen.

[mpete]

Im sorry, I must've written it wrong... I didn't think that her being hurt was funny at all. I thought it was comical that she will come up to me just fine until I get the fly spray. All the other does I have ever banded did not act like this one. They still butted each other for the 2 months it took for them to fall off. One of them didnt bleed at all when the horn came off, the other ones just a drabble. I did say in my original post that if this situation ever comes up again, I will be paying a vet to anethistize the animal before dehorning. I like this web site because we are here to post our experiences and that is how the others learn. I do totally agree with you, betsy. I also think you are right about the infection thing being unseen in horns. The only way to check for infection would be feel for heat, and that would be so hard to treat.