Help! Horned goat butting fence down to get to other herd

WolfSoul · #1 09/13/04, 09:26 PM

Ok, it's me, the newbie again and I'm embarrassed to ask this dumb question...but....I have two nubians with horns that were given to me (that says it all right there, doesn it, LOL.) One of these leads the other, of course. I keep them in a separate field from my dairy herd of registered Nubians and a few registered Alpines (all does.) The horned goat (Cleo) keeps trying to take on the leader of the Nubians (a LaMancha named Nacho, the only LaMancha doe I have, but she leads them......anyway......). None of the registered ones have horns. Today Cleo took down a new fence we had finished and we got to her just in time to keep her from getting through to the Nubians, a few of which are bred. She was backing up, rearing on her hind legs and hitting the stock panels for all she was worth while the LaMancha butted (without horns..geesh!) at her from the other side. They look like they mean business!!! Luckily the dairy herd was in the field where the fencing is stronger! This is getting to be a huge problem. When I was even greener to goats (as if I could be, haha

) I thought maybe we could combine the two little herds, horned with debudded, but guess that won't work. Any suggestions ya'all?

Thanks to all of you who are patiently teaching me. Karen

Lt. Wombat · #2 09/13/04, 09:34 PM

Karen, I would recommend banding the horns to disbud them. It’s super easy but it does take time. We have pictures of a large Saanen and a medium Nubian we banded, with great results, on our website in the signature line below.

If you need any additional information don’t hesitate to ask.

Kevin

WolfSoul · #3 09/13/04, 09:43 PM

Ok, dumber follow up question.........if I try banding them and I do it wrong, what are the consequences? Is the goat going to be in terrible pain during this and is it as gory as the Goat book I'm reading says it is? I know I have to get the horns off, so you don't have to convince me of that. The younger one has those super sharp ones......deadly to my Golden puppy if he accidentally gets out there. I'll check out your website. thank you! Karen

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lt. Wombat

Karen, I would recommend banding the horns to disbud them. It’s super easy but it does take time. We have pictures of a large Saanen and a medium Nubian we banded, with great results, on our website in the signature line below.

If you need any additional information don’t hesitate to ask.

Kevin

Lt. Wombat · #4 09/13/04, 10:21 PM

Here's the way ours went:

We locked their heads into the milk stand

Put the band onto the horn then rolled them down to the hair line

Wrapped duct tape around them several times

Removed the old bands about every 3 weeks or when they were broken

Yes the goats were in slight pain, at first, but it really stopped the butting. The Saanen decided to butt heads with the other in process dehorning but knocked one horn off. Because it wasn’t ready it did bleed a bit but some blue coat and she was fine. The skin is now 100% grown over and you can not tell she was not disbudded as a baby.

As far as doing it wrong: If the band goes to low, cut it off and try again. Some say to notch the horn so it has a groove to ride in. This may be 100% correct but we didn't need to as they both had a natural groove.

GoatTalkr9 · #5 09/14/04, 12:22 PM

Is it an option at all to advertise these two goats? I have one that I'm trying to convince myself to sell.He's horned (has head gear on),but regardless he is being mean constantly to all of the goats except one. He's a wether and a brush goat. I keep asking myself why I'm keeping him here! Only thing really holding me back is worry over what will happen to him once sold.Anyone need a brush goat in Wv?? He CAN be nice...just won't make up to you.He'll let you give him shots,meds,trim hooves..but then turn him loose.

He wants to browse,and be left alone with his pal,rofl. I suppose some people like goats like that..ones that do their job,let you tend them when needed,otherwise..feed them and leave them alone. :haha:

hmschlmama2four · #6 09/15/04, 11:09 PM

We had that same problem with our Nubian buck. He is 4 yo and has a huge set of horns. He kept butting the fence and gate to get out or just to annoy me I am sure lol But my hubby just ran a single string of electrical wire along the fence line and on the gate, right at head butting height, and problem solved. He only butted it once, got shocked, and has never done it again. Boy was he mad when he got shocked LOL!