disbudding goats

[hollyk]

After his horns have grown out few inches, you can use castrating bands to take them off. We do this to wethers that we are showing in 4H. We disbudd any males born on our place, but sometimes when we get a wether from another farm, they have horns. To do this: I use a dremmel tool to cut a groove at the base of the horn. Then, using the elastrator I put a castrating band around the horn setting it in the groove. It takes a couple of weeks, but the band cuts through the layers little by little. None of the goats has seemed to be in discomfort. We have removed horns several different ways and this has been the easiest for everyone. The horns will grow and will have to be done again. Our vet does it surgically and they don't grow back. It costs $48.00 to have this done here. If you are keeping this little fellow forever- I would have a vet do it. For us, the wethers are for meat and the horns won't have time to grow back.

 

[Granolamom]

I'm new to having goats, as well, but I do have first hand experience with the disbudding paste: the guy I bought my goats from used it on the babies, and the result is that one of them has horns, that are malformed, and the other one has one normal horn, and one malformed little melted-looking stump, that will most likely cause problems, when and if it gets longer.
What kind of goat do you have? If it's a miniature, I would not worry about the horns (most people don't disbud Pygmy's, because there are hardly any issues with them). Also, do you have only one goat? They're herd animals, and if kept all by themselves, develop behaviour problems.

 

[cutiepieacres]

As far as the paste goes I am helping a friend with a paste disaster. He bought an Alpine buck at 6 months old that had been paste done, the horns were a mess. Disfigured but still growing. They must have done it wrong?
We banded the first and then I used the disbudding iron to finish it and it looks nice, its stopped gowing he just has a flat scur. The other horn has been much more stubborn and the bands have come off, the arent nice rounded horns like normal, they are wide with odd angles and its just hard to get the band even on. The horn was curled and he got an abcess where the horn was growing back into his head. We got two bands on in a good spot this time so hopefulley this horn will fall off and I can burn it too.

I have always disbudded my babies with the iron and havent had any huge issues this is my only experience with a paste done goat....

With my pygmies I dont disbudd until 3-5weeks since they are so delicate, I like them to get a bit of body size first, as long as the iron with fit onto the horn bud it can be done just fine.

 

[tls759]

I agree with the person who said to contact your local 4-h extension office, they will direct you to someone who will know how to do it. When i was in 4-h my leader had an iron and would do it for $5 charge. I still take kids to her to have it done, usually around 2 weeks old.

 

[hobbyfarmer]

Your vet can use the calf tip on the iron to disbud a kid as old as 6 weeks. I know this because when we first got our goats, my vet didn't even know you could get a goat tip so she made me wait until the kids were 6 weeks old and their little heads were big enough to handle the larger tip. After I bought my own iron (with the goat tip) I still took my kids into the vet for disbudding for a while and I just took my iron with me for her to use.

I've been disbudding my own for several years now and even though I try to always get my bucks within the first week, some are later and some are disbudded early but get nasty scurs and have to be re-done weeks or even months later. If your kid is not less than a week old, you can still have it done. I would avoid the paste at all costs. Too many disaster stories about that stuff.

 

[pipermark]

The only thing I will add is I purchased 2 disbudded goats, they both about a year old now and the horns grew back weird looking. I have decided that I am not going to burn the babies , when the horns can grow back any way.

 

[KotaDVM]

What did your vet end up suggesting Taraann? I just learned how to perform nerve blocks on livestock horns a few weeks ago and am interested to hear what vets do for younger animals.

 

[realmofthewoodsranch]

It's not too late, it's never too late, it's just a more difficult process once they have a good sized horn. They reccommend them to be younger because that's when it's easiest to stop the gorwth completely. I just had a doe kid disbudded/ dehorned two weeks ago that is 3 1/2 months old. It's not that big of a deal. We used a diluted cortisone shot to numb the area (a nerve block) and then used a hoof trimmer to nip the ends off and then burnt around the horn until the outer shell came off. Once that happened, then we burned it until there was a gold ring all the way around the horn. She protested to being held, but didn't seem to care so much about the dehorning, if anything bothered her, it was probably the smoke or the smell.
She still has the nubs, but they will fall off eventually.

 

[sanctuaryworker]

another option would be to put tennis balls on the end of his horns. We have 19 goats and sheep and some of them have very large horns, they have never had a problem, but then again we only have does and wethers. So we dont deal to much with the aggression. But I have heard of people putting tennis balls on their horns so even if they try and get you they can't.

 

[bdavidson]

Is there a difference between polled, dibudded, and dehorned or is it just a bunch of different ways to say the same thing?