Goat question

[xke4]

My friend would like to glue small black Kongs (dog chew toys) on the horns of her adult mini-goat as he has taken to butting and injuring the mini-horses that he lives with. I said that before she did that, I would ask people-in-the-know if goats' horns are porous or not. That would have a bearing on what kind of glue she would use. Wouldn't want any harmful chemicals to enter his system. Thank you , Carolyn

 

[Teach97]

Don't think there is anyway for there to be a transmission issue there...You did say adult animals...they do make some special tips and I assume they come with a way to stick them on...I have never used anything like that though...how about just trimming off the ends?

 

[twotmama]

It will be a little more painfull; but they can be dehorned to fix the problem. How old is the goat? Some are just more aggressive; are they useing the goat for breeding ? If not have it cut or fixed and it will change the personality considerably.

 

[enola]

That is what goats do, God gave them horns and so they use them.

Even if he was dehorned, he would still butt the horses, that is what they do when they don't have horns.

Separating them seems like the best solution to me.

 

[helmstead]

You can safely use liquid nails or caulking to attach tennis balls (cut open with an x) over the ends of the horns. Hoeggers Supply also sells rubber tips.

 

[twotmama]

The tennis balls is a different idea. Maybe they need more to enter tain themselves or maybe you'll just have to separate the animals, but usually if there is a male goat or more goats they won't even give the horse the time of day the enclosure might be to cramped.

 

[mekasmom]

I have always just heard using tennis balls with super glue works fine. You can also dull the horns with a file, but they still butt. Once they are use to the horses, it shouldn't be a problem. You can also duct tape a rod to the horns to keep them from sticking their heads through the fence and kind of pad them.

I don't disbud, not even dairy nannies that I plan to raise and keep. It is just so cruel. If you have ever seen it done, you probably wouldn't choose to do it. It's just cruel.

 

[griffin45]

Kongs are a bad idea. They are too heavy! Use tennis balls or check some of the goat suppliers for rubber tips. Dehorning is very traumatic for the goats... disbudding when a goat is less than a week old is more traumatic for us than for the goats. I am surprised that the mini's don't kick the daylights out of the goat. Our mini donkeys don't play like that, they know what the rear hooves are for! and so do the goats!

Chris

 

[ksacres]

Quote:
Disbudding is not cruel. It takes less than a minute to actually disbud them, less than five for them to resume normal activities.

Now, if you mean dehorning-I'm with you on that. For an adult goat with horns, I would say tennis balls

I have ONE goat with horns. She is constantly getting herself stuck in my fencing. I'm not home during the day, so there have been times she's spent the day stuck in my fence. Horns don't have a place in every herd. Especially any herd that shows. ADGA rules prevent dairy goats from having horns.

 

[PotterWatch]

Quote:
I have seen it done and helped to do it (will probably be doing it on my own with the next kids), and I still choose to do it. It's a choice everyone has to make for their goats, and I choose to disbud as the safest thing for my family and my goats (not to mention selling disbudded babies is much easier for me).