Need to disbud a calf

Livinzoo

Songster
13 Years
Mar 2, 2008
987
9
234
Statham, GA
crossposted from backyard herds

Anyone in Ga willing to show me how to disbud a calf?

I'm a visual learner and need to be shown how to disbud a calf. I could pay the vet to do it, but I don't think he will we willing to teach me how to. Or even a deatailed video would probablly do it. I searched all the you tube videos. Nothing explains clearly how it all happens. I want to use pain killers to numb her beforehand.

My calf is a 6 week old jersey heifer.

Thanks
 
first question, do you have a dehorner, hot iron used at base of horn. if so, clip hair from around each horn, place preheated iron around each horn individually, rotate slowly for 15-20 seconds, lift off dehorner, look for copper colored ring around horn base. when you have the copper colored ring all around base, you have sucessfully killed the horn bud, thus no horn growth. if this is the only one you will disbud, go ahead and take to vet, they have the proper meds to sedate and give pain killers.
 
I dehorn a LOT of dairy calves every year as I run a calf nursery. What I like to do is to use dehorning paste at about 4 weeks old. It is a caustic paste that you put on the head where the horn bumps are. I shave the area first & I don't tie them as I find they rub it when I do.
 
We raise Horned Herefords and we de-horn them at birth.

Restrain the calf first off. Find the horn buds and clip the hair from around the bud. We use the paste. Using a popsicle stick we put the paste directly onto the bud and spread it all over the bud and around the base of the bud. Now some guys i have talked to will put duct tape over the buds to keep the calf or cow wiping it off. They wrap the tape completely around the head. The tape wears off over time and the paste does it job. We don't do that though.
Sorry we do not start calving til the start of March or I would shoot some video for you.

DO NOT GET THE PASTE ON YOUR SKIN!!! If you do wash it off with white vinegar immediately.
 
If you use dehorning paste, be careful that the calf does not knock the dried paste into its milk bucket when it eats. We lost a couple of calves that way
 

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