Goat phot bomb!

Squeaky McMurdo · #1 01/14/13, 06:49 PM

I just wanted to show you my successful banding of Cocoa's horns. She was a little too friendly with them, likes to walk under my legs and toss her head--ouch!-- so the horns had to go. I waited until it was cold enough that the flies wouldn't be a problem and so if she knocked them off early there wouldn't be a lot of bleeding. I banded them right after Thanksgiving and the first one fell off right after Christmas and the other fell off last Sunday. I didn't use an Elastrator too, I just filed a groove at the bottom of her horn in the front and rolled the band down. I decided to do Lily too last week since she likes to nuzzle people's cheeks and I prefer to keep my eyes. Her horns are more conical so I had to file deeper grooves on the front and the back. She was MAAAAD but forgave me when I gave her a pineapple rind.

Anyone reading this and thinking that it would be easier to wait and band horns instead of disbudding. No. Disbudding only takes a few minutes. It took me at least 30 minutes to file with wiggly goat heads in a stanchion. It took even longer with Lily because the bands wouldn't stay put so I had to roll the band back off and file some more several times.

Cocoa's scabs are healing up nice
Goat phot bomb! - Goats

Where's the food?
Goat phot bomb! - Goats

There still isn't food!
Goat phot bomb! - Goats

Lily's horn banded
Goat phot bomb! - Goats

I'm not going to look at you
Goat phot bomb! - Goats

I'm still not going to look at you!
Goat phot bomb! - Goats

Ok fine, I'll look at you
Goat phot bomb! - Goats

lordoftheweeds · #2 01/14/13, 06:53 PM

The water noodles for little goats is a great idea

dbarjacres · #3 01/14/13, 07:01 PM

Isn't it great tho today we can take that little disk outta the camera and see the pics instantly vs waiting for 35mm film only to discover 1 of 30 pics turned out and you just wasted $10? Lol

Squeaky McMurdo · #4 01/14/13, 07:09 PM

Yep, these are from my ipad that I took a few minutes before putting them here

The noodles, lol. My nephew left these on the floor and my puppy chewed up half of it and then I thought Ohhh I'll bet Lily wouldn't be able to wiggle out of that! I had previously been tying her to the stand. She still a little short for it, if you look closely, she's using the piece of wood across the bottom as a step. I was about to make her a stool. Lol

harvestmoonfarm · #5 01/14/13, 07:27 PM

I know it's a hot topic, but I've never understood people wanting goats with horns. It's so easy to just disbud and be done with it when they're little. I just work around my goats too much, and don't want to have to worry about an accidental goring. Looks like you did a great job and had really nice results - congrats!

Minelson · #6 01/14/13, 07:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by harvestmoonfarm

I know it's a hot topic, but I've never understood people wanting goats with horns. It's so easy to just disbud and be done with it when they're little. I just work around my goats too much, and don't want to have to worry about an accidental goring. Looks like you did a great job and had really nice results - congrats!

Some like em .... ~~~~ ....Some don't!

Squeaky, your goats are adorable! I had to show hubby the pics

Thank you!

Backfourty,MI. · #7 01/14/13, 08:35 PM

Adorable little goats & look like the banding worked great on Cocoa & will probably be fine on Lilly too.

Frosted Mini's · #8 01/14/13, 10:24 PM

Fuzzy-wuzzy faces!! So cute. I wonder if this would work for a buck with bad scurs? They'd probably come back, but maybe not?

Blue Run Farm · #9 01/15/13, 09:48 AM

How cute are they!?! Love it and they look totally happy.

"SPIKE" · #10 01/15/13, 09:52 AM

Looks like you did a great job! I do not even see a scab on Cocoa in the picture. I do not see a nub or bump. How long was the horn?

Did you just do Lily's?

SPIKE

Squeaky McMurdo · #11 01/15/13, 12:44 PM

I did Lily's on Thursday I think. I tried to do it back when I did Cocoa but she was too small for the stand and I was having trouble holding her still.

Here's a picture of Cocoa in October. Her horns weren't very big, the base was a little bigger around than a milk jug cap
Goat phot bomb! - Goats

I love her heart shaped head spot

There's blood dried onto it right now so you can't see it in the new pictures. And yes, there was blood. She wasn't bleeding profusely but there was blood running down her face the day her first horn came loose (I think she was trying to beat the gate open) and it bled a little until it came off completely 2 days later. The other horn came off by itself...she threw it at me while I had her in the stand. It bled too and there was once again blood running down her face that day, but it stopped by bedtime and had scabbed over the next day. There was no hole into her sinus cavity though and I made sure to keep antibacterial spray on it.

Nancy, I have heard banding works on scurs, you would need to file any sharp edges that could break the band. And if it's a big scur it would probably be a good idea to use multiple bands in case one breaks.

Frosted Mini's · #12 01/15/13, 02:12 PM

Hmm, interesting. Now I have to decide if wrestling a buck is worth it. Seems my bucks, and just about every buck I've seen, has had scurring...

Squeaky McMurdo · #13 01/15/13, 02:32 PM

If you can get someone to help you it might not be so bad. If you have a goat halter AND a helper it would probably go fairly quickly. My halter got put on a toy horse and wandered off from there. I put my girls in the milk stand, got up there and straddled them locking my knees behind their elbows, then held their chin up with one hand while using a round file. If I had a halter to keep their heads where I wanted them and a helper to hold them still I think I could have done it fairly fast. Besides if you have a helper THEY can get stinky buck smell all over their clothes while you just get your hands dirty.