# Soft horns



## mama24 (Jul 19, 2012)

I got 2 twin doelings about 3 weeks ago. They are 10 weeks old now. My dh noticed when we first got them that their horns were soft and flexible. I thought that was weird, but since we only had one baby here this spring, our first year with goats, I wasn't sure if it was normal or not. The doeling that was born here has very hard horns, like the grown does. I thought, well, maybe they'll harden up after a couple weeks. They are still sort of soft and flexible. Not really soft, but they are flexible enough that if you try to grab them by their horns, the horns move! They're more like stiff rubber with some give than the hard horns my other goats have! Wth? Any ideas what's going on? My best milker adopted them, btw, so they're still nursing and getting plenty of milk. I have free choice loose minerals out. I had been giving all of them grain twice daily, but they all started getting fat, so I cut back on that. Now they just have free choice hay and some grass to eat, and a little grain as a treat once in a while. They are Saanen/Alpine mixes.


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## Roll farms (Jul 19, 2012)

Maybe someone attempted to disbud them and it went really bad....??


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## Goatherd (Jul 19, 2012)

My thought would be a calcium/mineral deficiency.  Since their diet has improved and you offer minerals, I would think in time you will see a hardening and improvement in their horns.  Because hair and horn growth is on a nutritional delay, meaning it doesn't happen overnight, it will take weeks to months to see this happen.


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## mama24 (Jul 19, 2012)

No sign of any attempted disbudding. They had other kids that had been disbudded for sale as well, and they were older and looked like they had been done right. I was also thinking maybe a mineral deficiency. Their mom hadn't been very interested in them. She nursed them, but wasn't happy about it, and the woman I got them from didn't think she was letting them nurse enough. She bought the mom from a big goat dairy, probably generations of being bottlefed. I've read after a few generations does can lose their motherly instincts. Might have played a part. Anyway, my doe lets them nurse whenever. I had been told by everyone that it was VERY unlikely that a goat doe would adopt babies that weren't hers, but I have no milking does at all right now, b/c my good milker adopted these twins and treats them like her own (her baby died in May) and my other girl I just bought last month after she was weaned off her twins just adopted a piglet!!! I still can't get over that one. I thought maybe the piglet was sneaking in to nurse once in a while when my dh said she was nursing. But my doe even licks the piglet while she's nursing, so there's no sneaking involved, she's definitely adopted her! What weird and wonderful does I ended up with! LOL

Anyway, so maybe their mom wasn't nursing them enough and they have some minerals to catch up on. Thanks for your thoughts. I hope you're right and they get harder. Otherwise, I may have to take them to a vet to have their horns removed. It doesn't seem like it would be safe for them to have soft horns when they get bigger. I would really hate to have to do that. Most of my goats have horns and I prefer horned goats!


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## 20kidsonhill (Jul 19, 2012)

some of the show feeds with contain things like Biotin( a B vitamin) for harder hooves.  

Copper also can help with hoof hardness. 

So maybe just getting them on some good minerals and starting them on some good qualithy goat feed will help.


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## Valley Ranch (Jul 22, 2012)

Bizarre, I posted to this and it vanished!! 
one of our new goats (young doe) came with soft horns, infact one had snapped off. We put her back on milk and bottle feed her 20oz twice a day. IT has made an incredible difference. We also had a young doe we adopted who had been weened at 2 months. She was unstable on her feet, funny shape and  soft horns. We put her back on milk and it made a huge difference with her too. So I would think probably a calcium difficency with yours.  Try it and see. It  will take a month at least to see a difference.


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