Horn Question

[tduerson]

I have a set of Pygmy Twin Does. They are about 5 months old. They are both doing great except the growth of their horns. Salty, the one who has always been just a tad bigger than her sister, Pepper, has horns that are growing very well. You can almost see them get bigger from day to day. Pepper on the other hand has not made any progress in this department. Her horns do not look like they have grown since I got them when they where 2 months old. There is a BIG difference in thier horns. Is this normal or could there be something wrong.
Thanks for any help
Tina

[geminigoats]

Sounds from what I read that perhaps the one with the smaller horn may have been unsuccessfully disbudded and had scurs grow back, they can grow pretty big, several inches, believe me, I know from past experiences. In the case of the smaller set, how long would you say they are?..........you can snip the ends and reburn, but you must be agressive about clipping them back, use a pair of nippers, then every few weks snip and burn. On the other one, sounds like it was never disbudded, just grew real horns, and they will continue to grow. You can have the vet come out to surgically dehorn the one and also, the other as well. Also, pugmies know how to use those horns for some reason too, or at least my experience from having 2 pygmy or nigerians show up at the farm here the day before Halloween, they were dumped off. They were both does and they both knew how to use them on my dairy does who were pregnant and about 2 months from kidding. So.......after we couldn't find a owner and then them getting agressive with our Alpines, they went to a neighbor who wanted a few goats for pets.

Bernice

[Lt. Wombat]

Tine we sucessfully used bands to disbud a boer cross (small-medium sized horns) and a pure Saanen (huge horns).

The smaller ones were gone within 6 weeks, the Saanen took several months. You can not tell either ever had horns now except that the Saanen will still flip her head down at the kids trying to hook them (she hasn't figured it out yet).

[elly_may]

Hi Tina,
The horn growth is indicative of how each one utilizes their vitamins, minerals, etc. from their feed. Do you find that Salty is a big eater, chasing Pepper away from the food ? Usually one doe is more dominant and that could be the case here. Salty probably is voting herself the queen over her sister. (Sibling rivaly exists even in the animal kingdom !!! lol )

I have one doe (herd queen) that thinks all food products are hers !!! Her sister has to sneak up on the hay to get her share.

You might want to sneak Pepper some extra grain and minerals. Protein and minerals is essential to the growth process and she may only be getting enough for maintenance and needs a boost for growing phase.

[tduerson]

Neither one of my Does have been Dehorned. Heck, they had not even been vaccinated, wormed or anything when I got them. I was just wondering if their was a problem with the horns that is not growing.
Tina