Who disbuds their kids?

[Southern28Chick]

I'm so freaked out about this part of raising goats. Who here disbuds their kids? Is it a terrible experience?

http://fiascofarm.com/goats/disbudding.htm

 

[greyfields]

Yes. They sceram, it smells and it makes your heart sink a bit.

The upside is that they foget about it in roughly 5 seconds after you're finished.

The worst thing is that we had one of our disbudded bucklings get scurs and had to get those removed. That was farm more traumatic on him, it's like a fullblown surgery and the chances for infection are very high.

So, disbud early and take the extra time to make sure you get it right. 10 seconds per bud, then verify a perfect circle around each blood of tan skin which looks like leather.

 

[Crunchie]

I haven't done it myself, someone else did....but I really recommend doing it. Helmstead/Kate will be along to disagree!

I think that there are two very valid sides to the argument; you just have to do the research, ask around, and make the decision for yourself! I agree it's not the most pleasant of things to think about! I should have kids this fall, and I'm going to have suck it up and get someone to teach me how to do it properly. Thankfully, I do have a very experienced friend who will help me out!

 

[dangerouschicken]

Another reason for me not to get a goat

 

[Wolf-Kim]

I agree. They scream murder, struggle, and the smell is bad in itself, but they really do forget about it the moment you set them back in the pen with mamma. I watched it for the first time just a couple weeks ago and I think it was more upsetting for the owner than the goats. LOL

We did six of them and after each one I though "Surely we are going to put it back and they'll never come near us again and they'll just cry all day". Boy, was I wrong. We did it and they screamed because they were away from mom and then screamed louder because of the disbudding, but the moment we were done. They stopped, we picked them up and put them back in the nursery pen and off they went running and playing with the others. They would play, like the whole thing never happened. They even came up to us and begged for petting or treats once we were done with everyone.

I really do think it's more traumatic for the owner/operator than the goats themselves.

-Kim

 

[greyfields]

Their are polled breeds of sheep. Maybe that's a good and tastier way to go.

 

[Southern28Chick]

Quote:
Tastier? I'm not going to raise meat goats, I'm getting dairy goats. I don't want them to have horns for many reasons, the biggest reason is I don't want them hurting themselves or each other with them.

 

[Wolf-Kim]

If I ever get goats again, they will be disbudded. The goats we had before were not and I hated(!!!!!) going out there 5+ times a day to pull heads back through the field fence. I know we didn't have the "appropiate" fencing, but we used what we already had(fencing is expensive!). My friend raises Nigerian Dwarfs for show and milking, so in order to show her goats, they must be disbudded. She also uses fence that they can get their heads through to help save on hay(by putting hay on one side and goats on other) so horned goats would be bad.

Another goat I knew actually pulled one of her horns off(!) after getting it stuck in a fence. The vet had to come out. I don't know the rest of the story, I was younger when I heard it.

-Kim

 

[Southern28Chick]

Quote:
I'm hoping to breed my girls with bucks from good blood lines so people who buy the kids can show them if they choose to so disbudding is important because you can't show horned goats, I think the only exception to that are Pygmies.

 

[chicks for better health]

I debudded several goats when I was younger. It wasn't easy to do metally, but you get used to it. But physically it was easy, and the goats really don't mind after a few seconds.