disbudding and casterating a goat

[d1]

well i guess for his sake and mine I need to to it.

who all has done it and how how hard will these tasks be for a beginner?

 

[shadowpaints]

castrating is rather easy.. wait till he is 8 weeks old you can buy a elasicator and the green cheerios at a farm supply store for under 20$ real easy!

disbudding tho, even i dont do it my self, i take my kids to the local dairy and one of the workers do it for me! call around, its rather hard and easy to mess up!!

good luck!

 

[PotterWatch]

I agree. I was certainly willing to give banding a try as a newbie to goats, but I left the disbudding to the more experienced people.

 

[SarahFair]

I banded my boy at 5 months old and havent had a problem
Both my goats were about 5 months old when I got them and both still had their horns.
I decided to leave them on and as of yet they havent been a problem..

 

[dutchhollow]

How old is he? Horns have to come off very early, as soon as they are through, find a local goat person to burn them for you, some large animal vets will also do it. The banding is easy, get him a tetenus shot now though. If you are planning on keeping him a pet wait as long as you can to band (some early banded wethers have problems later with blockage, if you wait the urethra gets larger).

 

[Skyesrocket]

Finding a local goat person would be your best bet. You can watch how they do it. I was amazed when I took a buckling to a goat farm to get him disbudded. The woman asked if I wanted him fixed while I was there. I was planning on banding as I have in the past. She had me hold the little guy in my lap with his belly up. Poured some bentadine on him and in a couple of seconds she had made an insision and pulled his testies out. He didn't even cry or struggle. No infection, no fuss, no muss. He was only a few days old and that had a lot to do with how easy it was. She had done it hundreds of times.
The disbudding looks pretty barbaric and isn't something I would want to do myself. It's important to do it right. Make sure he gets a tetnus shot.

 

[hollyk]

I disbud my kids with a dibudding iron. I must say, it was nerve racking the first time. I use a kid box (wooden box built to hold a kid for different reasons, Hoegers goat supply has pictures and plans) and my teenage daughters help me. I would reccomend watching someone the first time, but it really is much worse than it sounds. The kids cry more from being confined than they do about the hot iron. However, you must disbud when the horn buds just appear. On my boer goats this can be in the first 24 hours. If the horns are visible, I say get a professional involved.

On the castrating- banding is the simplest. There is a lot of debate over the issue of swelling and urinary calculi with the banding method. Some believe that urinary calculi is more frequent when the band is used. Some believe that the castrating done with a knife is better. I have done the castrating surgically, but I did not care for that. Our vet only charges $20.00 for castrating with the knife, including the tetnus shot. So, as with all things livestock, there are a ton of opinions. I would use the bands. The little guy will need a tetnus when you do the castrating.

 

[Cindiloohoo]

I don't disbud. They have never been a problem. Castrating I agree about the banding.