Banding Horns?

cricket · #1 06/03/05, 06:53 AM

I've heard you can band horns when it's too late to disbud. Is this true? How do you do it? How successful is it? He's 2 mos old and his horns are about 3" long now. Thanks for any assistance. She really doesn't want horns and that's the only thing I could think of doing.

saddlebutt · #2 06/03/05, 08:49 AM

Banding horns is very painful for the poor animal. I had the vet saw one off a show goat once and I will never do that again either. The horn cavity is connected to the sinuses and you can see a hole about 4 inches deep. Poor animal I will never do that again. If the horn grows it stays there. The goat parent should take care of them when they are small. Theres a reason you can't register a goat with horns. The are many reasons not to but if you do be prepared for a very painful animal and don't ever do it in fly season. Just take my advice and don't do it.
Saddle

Emily Anne · #3 06/03/05, 09:15 AM

I agree, I banded a goat's horns once and will never do it again. It takes a long time for the horn to fall off and in the meantime, every time the goat touches anything with their head they will run away and scream in pain. Also you have to wait for the horn to stop growing or it will grow back. Not fun, I'd rather just leave him with horns.

cricket · #4 06/03/05, 08:34 PM

Ewwwww....No, I don't think I'll do that. I didn't realize you couldn't register them either. Wow. He's a very pretty boy and so sweet, I don't want to cause any unneccessary pain to him. The person I got him from run purebreds but none of them are registered and he couldn't care less about horns. By the time I got him, he was about 2 weeks and already had horns. Oh well. Thanks for the advice.

Wendy · #5 06/03/05, 10:39 PM

I have banded a number of goats & have had great luck with it. I never had any running around screaming in pain.

Misty · #6 06/03/05, 11:07 PM

go to Robin Walter's website. I think it is www.barnoneboers.com
She has pictures on how to do it. She does it all the time. If it is a wether you plan on showing, they will need tipped at a minimum for a market class. If you are going to use it for breeding in pasture, leave them. I would wonder what purpose the goat is going to serve before I decided wether or not I was going to band or not band.

manygoatsnmore · #7 06/05/05, 06:53 AM

I've banded with mixed results. I would rather take them to the vet and have the horns removed. It is not THAT big of a deal. Some vets wrap the head and have you take off the dressings in a few days, some leave it open. If you must have an animal de-horned in warm weather, make sure you have a fly proof dressing on the area (a round band cut from a nylon stocking works, maybe with some 4x4 fluffs under it if there is still drainage).

Of course, the most logical thing to do is to disbud, but if it's an animal you want to add to your herd and it comes with horns, dehorning is more dependable and quicker than banding.

The one thing that is NOT an option on my place is to leave the horns on. Those sharp points can hurt or maim you (seriously, you could lose an eye) and they tend to be used as pry bars to take apart the equipment. The horns can get caught in fences and the goat can and will find a way to hang itself! For smart animals, sometimes they can be incredibly DUMB!!!

cricket · #8 06/06/05, 06:05 PM

I actually prefer horns on mine. I have a variety of breeds right now and the 2 dairy breed does are the only ones that don't have horns. If I was running all dairy breed herd, I wouldn't have them but since I started with the intention of having meat goats, I didn't care and now prefer them. The friend that is thinking about taking him wants him for breeding purposes. If I keep him, I'll probably use him for breeding too with my 2 dairy does. I couldn't bring myself to band him since he's a beautiful buckling and will make sweet, gorgeous babies. I'm not sure what I'm going to do. I guess this is one of those things that has people very opinionated. I do know that I don't want to cause long term pain and problems. Thanks for the help though.

Vicki McGaugh TX Nubians · #9 06/07/05, 12:57 PM

http://www.greatgoats.com/articles/dehorning_text.html

Read the shear number of goats these folks have done...

I have dehorned like this two adult does and a buck with horrible scurs. It worked very well. I did not put the bands down into the meat of the head, but instead right at the base of the horn. They still have horn but it is flush with the head.

For a kid this young I would have my vet scoop them out and then burn all the way around. If you do a kid, you will have to redo again because the horns grow. But it is the only way to do adult animals.

It is not against ADGA rules to register or breed horned animals. It is against the rules to show them. And how many shows have you been to that scurs, were nearly horns and certainly not within the guidlines for length that a scur is allowed.

But yes disbud in a timely manner, and you don't have to have this conversation. Vicki