dehorning

magwa · #1 04/15/05, 09:46 PM

Ok,I need help on this subgect!

Sarah J · #2 04/16/05, 09:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by magwa

Ok,I need help on this subgect!

How old is your goat(s), horns or buds? Do you *want* to disbud or are you simply looking for information regarding pros and cons, etc?

I routinely disbud. Don't want horns in my herd. Too many problems with the one that *did* have horns (actually, she still has them, but is leaving my herd as soon as her kids are born this next week).

I use a Rheinhart X50 disbudder. Hold the tip down around the horn bud sturdy for a slow count of 15. It should burn all the way to the skull. Some people hold the tip right on top of the bud, too, afterwards, to be sure that part was "gotten". Spray with a burn spray and let it heat up again. Do the other one. It takes a week or two to heal up all the way and the hair grows up and around it within a month or two. If scurs grow back, you didn't get the full base...My Nubians do great with the regular goat tip, the Saanens needed the wider calf tip to get all of it.

Others will have different opinions and ideas, but that's what we do here. Does that help?

Sarah

Helena · #3 04/16/05, 10:34 PM

We have always dehorned our goats when they were less that a week old. At times our bucks have had the scurs..we take the horse nippers that we use on the horses and "clip" the horn if it is becoming a problem on the buck such as starting to dig into their heads. They usually just stand still for us without a problem when we need to do this. It has amazed me the few times we have had to that these big bucks just stand for us like babies. Suppose they realize that we are trying to help them. Just..Love My Goats !! even Bucks !!

magwa · #4 04/19/05, 09:06 PM

I watched my poor little buck get dehorned!
The smell!The screams!The horrer!!!!!

Sarah J · #5 04/19/05, 09:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by magwa

I watched my poor little buck get dehorned!
The smell!The screams!The horrer!!!!!

Yep - that's it. The hardest thing a goat ownder has to do. :waa: And yet they bounce right back again and the benefits (here anyway - I know others differ in opinion) outway the risks of keeping them on.

And I have three more does to kid, and all the kids will be disbudded.

Sarah

billooo2 · #6 04/19/05, 09:33 PM

This is my first year of doing my own disbudding. I tried using a buddex....either I did not do it right, or the Buddex does not work for goats. So, I took 4 to the vet today. She did them last year, and I never even had a scur on the bucks. She sedates them, then uses lidocaine around the base of the horn....then she takes a scalpel and makes an incision in the skin around the base of the horn. then she used a wire saw to cut the horn off. Then she burned just to cauterize. The kids are doing fine. Meanwhile, I will see if I can find another experienced goat person to help witht he next kids that I have to do.....and I will do the regular burning.

magwa · #7 04/20/05, 08:46 PM

I am sooooooo glad my neibors did it

magwa · #8 04/25/05, 03:47 PM

I had another buck to disbudd but wasnt so bad.

Mountain Mom · #9 04/26/05, 08:40 AM

We bring our kids back to goat farmer we got them from

(it's part of the service he includes with the price) when their horns are about 1/4" long. He gets all of his stuff ready - dehorning iron , rag & bucket of cold water and medical supplies. He then puts the kid into a small box (dehorning box?) holds them real still and burns the horn off. So very fast after he removes the iron he applies a cold compress on the spot to help relieve the heat and pain. AND they get their Tetnas shot at this time.

The spot will scab up and it is very sensitive for quiet some time. Keep blood stop handy, because if they loosen that scab and ultimately some will, it will bleed a lot! We had that happen, not a pretty sight, but nothing serious.

No this is not a sight (or sound)for the weak stomache folks. They do scream, but only briefly. It does smell, but only briefly. They are more anxious about being confined afterwards. Once he releases them from the box, they bee-bop around.

I know that some folks are real squeamish about this, but is it really any different than castrating males? Body part removal, brief pain, better pet later?

This said, I recently acquired 3 Cashmerer Goats that were not dehorned - I guess that's not what you do with Cashmeres. Anyway, we now have a Mom & Dad with full set of beautiful horns (that lay almost flat back) and a 7 wk old wether with his just starting. SO, we have to rethink many fencing and housing issues over. Ask me in a year what I think is better....

Milking Mom · #10 04/26/05, 09:09 AM

It depends on what kind of goats you have as to how long you can wait to disbud. I have a Rheinhart X50 disbudder also. I have Alpines and they have a large horn base that grows very rapidly. The bucks have to be dehorned between 2 -5 days old and the does no later than 8 - 9 days old in order to use the regular goat tip. I messed up some of my little bucks by waiting too long (2 weeks old) to disbud them and the goat tip just sat on top of the horn bud and it did not burn like it was suppose to. The 2 younger ones I did are perfect. From now on....all of them will be disbudded when they are about 5 days old. It takes some nerves of steel the first couple of kids you do, but then you are a pro

It is a lot safer for them and you to have them disbudded. I had a goat one time that had a big set of horns and she tore up everything, feeders, fences, beat up the other goats. I had to get rid of her. I also got a kid holding box from Hoeggers Supply I think, or Caprine supply, can't remember. But I have to do this stuff by myself and it was a life saver. If you vaccinate your dams 3-4 weeks before kidding with CD/T then the kids will have some protection from tetanus, but I always go ahead and give 1 1/2 cc of Tetanus antitoxin at the time of disbudding anyway. I also keep some epinephrine handy too just in case somebody falls out on me. Never had to use it, but better to have it there than not.

magwa · #11 09/25/05, 09:47 PM

Any advice on dehorning (NOT disbudding)?

HunterTed · #12 09/26/05, 01:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by magwa

Any advice on dehorning (NOT disbudding)?

IMO this is not something that you want to do. The horns are part of the skull and cutting them off properly means cutting into the skull a little. If you don't want the horns then disbud when they are a week or so old. I have Boers , but I leave the horns on them (Boers look strange to me without horns) , unless it is a wether I am going to sell as a show wether. I have them disbudded as babies.

**mygoat** · #13 09/26/05, 05:49 AM

there is no real good way to remove grown horns. there is an (expensive?) surgury that removes the horns, but it is risky, and if it gets infected it may take the life of the goat. And it is extremely painful. there are ways to cut off and band goat horns, but this is not permanent. and i belive also painful? banding the horns can be a bad idea if the horn gets broken off before it is ready by butting the fence or getting caught on something.
personally i dont disbud or dehorn because i belive that goats are aware of their horns at all times, and they are careful with them. they have to be trained to not butt you and to no try to get you with the tips of the horns. some people dehorn so that they wont hurt each other, but if there is room for the goats to get away from each other , then they are usually fine. goats dotn seem to ever get too rough with each other, unless they are new goats, in which case they need to establish thier pecking order.