# Disbudding our new goat * UPDATE AND NEW PICTURES*



## countrygirl911 (Aug 20, 2011)

well we have a new baby goat and i do not own the iron that is used to disbud her but my vet will do it for 10 dollars but he does not use the iron he said he uses the scoop and carterize method has anyone ever done this method and how bad will she look afterwards and will she be ok i do not know anybody else that has goats that could do it for me and i am worried that she will get severly hurt or worse i hate to see them in any kind of pain when we had our male goat castrated by the vet when he got home i swear he looked dead but a few hrs later he was to his old self. please any advice would be appreciated. should i just leave her horns in place


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## manybirds (Aug 20, 2011)

countrygirl911 said:
			
		

> well we have a new baby goat and i do not own the iron that is used to disbud her but my vet will do it for 10 dollars but he does not use the iron he said he uses the scoop and carterize method has anyone ever done this method and how bad will she look afterwards and will she be ok i do not know anybody else that has goats that could do it for me and i am worried that she will get severly hurt or worse i hate to see them in any kind of pain when we had our male goat castrated by the vet when he got home i swear he looked dead but a few hrs later he was to his old self. please any advice would be appreciated. should i just leave her horns in place


i would look a little for someone with an iron. if u cant find then have the vet do it


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## kstaven (Aug 21, 2011)

If you are doing this young enough the vets method isn't as traumatizing as it sounds. That is $10.00 well spent rather than risk doing real damage or not getting it all if you are inexperienced.


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## countrygirl911 (Aug 21, 2011)

kstaven said:
			
		

> If you are doing this young enough the vets method isn't as traumatizing as it sounds. That is $10.00 well spent rather than risk doing real damage or not getting it all if you are inexperienced.


she is only 2 weeks old we are wanting it done this week be we are going to wait till the end of the week so that way she can get use to us and really sart eating the bottle good she is eating 4 oz at a time but sometime we have to make her eat it i figure it is due to her being in new surroundings and being nervous and scared but she seems to be comming around and warming up to us. she is so tiny her mom is a pygmy and the man is not sure if the dad is a pygmy or a boer because one of his boer buck accidently got in the pen with the pygmys he had jumped the fence but if the dad is boer she is still going to be very tiny we have a 10 lbs chiuahuah and she only is an inch or two taller than him. i just want to make sure also that she will be ok if the vet does it if i can not find someone else that has done it several time do it. i am not sure of the scooping and carterizing the blood vessels technique i know he does it to the cows but i would think it is dangerous on baby goats since there skull is not the same as a cows and that it could cause brain damage if he goes down to far.


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## countrygirl911 (Aug 22, 2011)

she is barly eating takes about an ounce or 2 at a time how much should she eat she only weighs around 7 lbs. she refuses the bottle we litteraly have to force her to eat should i be worried


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## cmjust0 (Aug 22, 2011)

Are you heating the milk up to around 100 degrees?  Are you using the same type of nipple her previous owners used, or was she on her mama when you got her?  Once a baby goat gets used to the bottle, they usually pretty much want the bottle non-stop..  So, I wouldn't exactly call this _normal_ and I'd definitely keep an eye on her..


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## countrygirl911 (Aug 22, 2011)

cmjust0 said:
			
		

> Are you heating the milk up to around 100 degrees?  Are you using the same type of nipple her previous owners used, or was she on her mama when you got her?  Once a baby goat gets used to the bottle, they usually pretty much want the bottle non-stop..  So, I wouldn't exactly call this _normal_ and I'd definitely keep an eye on her..


i am warming the milk to 100 degrees and she was on the mama when i got her the man said it might take me a few days to get her to take the bottleand as long as she is getting something in her she should be fine i am new to goats so i believed him. she seems ok she is up and around jumping and running i will defentely keep an eye on her


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## cmjust0 (Aug 22, 2011)

Yeah, switching one from mama to a bottle is especially difficult, even after only a few days on mama..  When you start talking weeks, it can be really, really hard..  If she's 'refusing' the bottle as you say (I take that to mean fighting it tooth and nail at times) what I'd suggest are two things:

1 -- this nipple.  It's the only kind I'll use, not only because it's the only one I've found that works *really well* but also because it's the only one I've used that didn't result in *complete and utter failure.*

2 -- Feed her out of the heaviest, thickest old *glass* pop bottle you can get your hands on, and pre-heat the bottle by filling it with hot tap water before you put the milk in it..  You're going to drain the hot water back out before adding the milk, obviously, but the point is that the glass (glass being an insulator!) will get hot and *stay hot* instead of allowing all the heat to escape the milk before you can...ahem...convince the kid that it's GOING to drink..  I use glass bottles until they outgrow 12oz feedings, simply because most glass bottles are 12oz bottles..  And once they're past 12oz bottles at a time, they're way past fighting a bottle.

Try it..  Keep us posted.


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## countrygirl911 (Aug 22, 2011)

i just got her to take 2 1/2 oz to 3 oz not sure of the exaxt amount due to most of the bottle got on me and her i am trying to get her to take a little every 2 hrs so that way by the end of the day she is getting atleast 10 to 12 ounces. she fights me like i am trying to kill her i have tryed everything different nipples covering her head whild i holdthe nipple in her mouth to sweat talking her to making goat goinds when i make the goat sounds she seems to nibble at the bottle a little then fights me. we are fixing to start the beging if day 4 in a few hrs she seems curious when our 6 week old nubian is eating but she does not attempt to take it how long should i try to get her to take it willingly before calling the vet is 12 oz a day ok for her size and age. she seems to be doing ok and is very active. when i finished feeding her this time her tummy felt nice and tight and full and she did not have the big indents around her backside around her back and belly like little ones look before they really start to gain weight not sure what to call it looks like she is starving but once fed it fills out. there is still a little indent but not as bad i hope i explained that right. and she fell asleep after the milk which i hope indicated that she is full. thanks everyone on the advice i really appreciate it i just hope she takes to the bottle soon


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## jodief100 (Aug 22, 2011)

I copied this from one of Roll Farm's posts because she has raised like a gazillion bottle babies:

"When I have to switch a kid from mom to bottle, I usually wait 8 hrs from the time they left mom before I start to try and get them to take a bottle.  I've found a hungry kid is much more willing to take a bottle...if the kid's not really hungry, they usually just get annoyed.


I'm assuming right now you're squeezing a bit down her and she swallows, but isn't willingly sucking...Just be sure when you're done doing that that you sort of pound on her sides a bit to help her cough up any leftover milk in her trachea so she doesn't end up w/ pneumonia.

Once she gets the hang of it, I would think she'd need 4 oz per feeding, 3 x a day.  (I don't raise tiny goats, so small goat breeders, feel free to jump in and correct me...)

Just be careful not to let her eat too often, once she starts in...that can lead to more problems if they don't have time to digest the last feeding when they get another one."


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## countrygirl911 (Aug 23, 2011)

well to nights feeding went a little better we made 4 ounces i held her close placed the nipple to her mouth she kind of mouthed it and once it was in place she sucked down 2 oz on her own then did not want more so i gave her a little break about 5 min did the same thing again she sucked down an oz by herself then she acted like she was done i knew she needed to at least eat all 4 oz so i gave her a 10 min break but this time the last oz i had to make her eat it hopefully by tomorrow she will eat the whole bottle by herself and maybe even eat 6 oz at least if she does than that will be 18 oz a day then as she gets use to it we can up the amount. she is onlt 2 weeks old so how much should she eat in a day.


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## kstaven (Aug 23, 2011)

I have to agree with earlier posts. The nipple style can make a huge difference on wether a baby accepts feed easily or not.


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## countrygirl911 (Aug 23, 2011)

i know i got off on a different subject than disbudding her i have 2 places i am going to call tomorrow and see what pocedure they use to disbud if they use the same as my vet does then i will let my vet do it but if they use the hot iron then i will bring them to the other vet i am calling tomorrow. i am not to keen on the scoop method it seems dangerous and like torture.


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## countrygirl911 (Aug 23, 2011)

well talked to the vet they also use the scooping and was told i have to wait till she is 2 months old because if i do it now with her head small that half the skull would be removed plus we need to wait till it cools off so there is less bacteria. how do i care for her after this pocedure to make sure she is ok. they said when she is older and her head is bigger then there is more skull and thicker and stronger so less skull will be removed in the process. has anyone ever done this it sounds dangerous and that it could make her sick


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## cmjust0 (Aug 23, 2011)

That's not disbudding -- that's dehorning.  I'd never, ever, ever dehorn an animal.  Ever.  If it's too late to disbud (and at 2wks, it may be), I'd just resign myself to having a horned goat..  I have horned and disbudded goats living together, personally, and it's never been a problem.


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## manybirds (Aug 23, 2011)

cmjust0 said:
			
		

> That's not disbudding -- that's dehorning.  I'd never, ever, ever dehorn an animal.  Ever.  If it's too late to disbud (and at 2wks, it may be), I'd just resign myself to having a horned goat..  I have horned and disbudded goats living together, personally, and it's never been a problem.


Though i don't recomend it i dis budded (by burning) a 3 and a half week old boer buckling.


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## countrygirl911 (Aug 23, 2011)

she has to be done for my daughter to be able to show her i can not find anyone that does the burnning method she has very tiny nubs that have not came thru the skin yet and i can not do it becasue i do not know what i am doing and could do something wrong.  she also can not have horns i do not want her to get her horns stuck in the fence or worse hurt one of my kids. i will keep looking if i can not find someone to do the burning then not sure what to do


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## SuburbanFarmChic (Aug 23, 2011)

Post to your local craigslist.  When our disbudding iron died and TSC was out of them I did this and found someone with in a day that was willing to come do it.  You can also post your location here and you may be near someone who can do it.


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## cmjust0 (Aug 23, 2011)

countrygirl911 said:
			
		

> she has to be done for my daughter to be able to show her i can not find anyone that does the burnning method she has very tiny nubs that have not came thru the skin yet and i can not do it becasue i do not know what i am doing and could do something wrong.  she also can not have horns i do not want her to get her horns stuck in the fence or worse hurt one of my kids. i will keep looking if i can not find someone to do the burning then not sure what to do


I forget she's got some pygmy in her..  That might explain why she's little and why her horns haven't even broken the skin yet..  She may be burnable..  That's a good suggestion, to put out an SOS on craigslist.

Something else I'll mention is that if she seems ill -- and so far it just seems like she's ornery, not ill, but that's just what I'm gathering from reading -- but if she seems ill, I wouldn't do the disbudding.  It can be pretty stressful.


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## countrygirl911 (Aug 23, 2011)

cmjust0 said:
			
		

> countrygirl911 said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


she does not seem to be ill just having a hard time to get her to take a bottle the man i got her from said it would be easy he lied she will eat 3 ozs oh her own then stop now at first we were lucky to get an oz in her once she stops after 3oz we give her a break then try again and then she sucks another oz down by her self so 4 oz total by her self i have to make her eat another 2 oz at least to make sure she is getting enough how much should she be eating she weighs no more than 7 lbs at 3oz could she be getting full. i am thinking of letting her keep her horns i just do not like the idea of them taking part of her skull.nobody close to me disbuds using the iron people around me have cows and horses. the closest place is 3 hrs away from me that uses the iron. i will update later on whit i decide i have one more place to call


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## redtailgal (Aug 23, 2011)

z


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## countrygirl911 (Aug 24, 2011)

i have found a vet that uses the iron i will be bringing her tomorrow morning at 11am to have her disbudded. he also said to feed her around 3 ounces four to six tomes a day for her size he will be able to tell me more once we get there and he can see her. i am so glad i found someone who can do it the way i want to and not the scooping method that method scared me


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## aggieterpkatie (Aug 24, 2011)

Where are you located, countrygirl?


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## countrygirl911 (Aug 24, 2011)

i am in mississippi the vet 45 min away uses the iron


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## aggieterpkatie (Aug 25, 2011)

I was hoping maybe you were close to someone on here that could do it for you!  I'm not sure if anyone else is from Mississippi though.  :/


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## countrygirl911 (Aug 25, 2011)

it is going to cost me 30 dollars to have it done that includes the disbuding and an ointment to put on it to make sure it heals right and to keep infections and bugs off of it


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## elevan (Aug 25, 2011)

countrygirl911 said:
			
		

> it is going to cost me 30 dollars to have it done that includes the disbuding and an ointment to put on it to make sure it heals right and to keep infections and bugs off of it


That's not a bad price for a vet to do something like that...as long as they don't charge an office fee on top of it...


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## countrygirl911 (Aug 25, 2011)

well it is done it cost me 30 dollars to dis bud and for the cream she has started to grow her horns but they were still small enough of nubs to still be able to use the iron he said the little nubs will fall off in a few days either while we are putting cream on the spots twice a day or whilr rubbing her head on things one is already trying to come off and it looks red under it is that normal here is a few pictures of her does this look normal and when will i know if it was done right and that she will not have scurs.























here is our now 7 week old nubian wether boy well he will be 7 weeks tomorrow lol the lady said he is polled what do you think he does not have horns comming thru the skin but he has sone nice size knots they are not round they are long and kind of skinnt almost looks like a hip bone






in this picture i love it he looks like he is smiling and being devious and thinking of what can i get into next


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## Okie Amazon (Aug 25, 2011)

Your doelings disbudding looks classic. I'm glad you paid the extra to get that done; that "scooping" method sounded dangerously barbaric to me.  Those are some ears on your boy! They look a yard long!     I have never heard of a polled Nubian, maybe someone with more knowledge than me will chime in.


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## crazyland (Aug 25, 2011)

She looks good to me.  I paid $25 to have my girls done so $30 plus cream sounds fine to me. Will he reburn if scurs develop?
My wether had horns at 7 weeks of age. I know some are late bloomers but he should have something by now.


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## countrygirl911 (Aug 25, 2011)

i did not ask when would i see scurs he said he did it a littlw further around to make sure he got all he needed to makse sure no scurs. he said around 90 percent do not get scurs. he said it takes a month to heal and in about 10 days the nubs will fall off. he also said 2 hrs after the pocedure to put the cream on so i did did he tell me the right thing to do. how long will it take for me to know it was done right and no scurs


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## crazyland (Aug 25, 2011)

It took me a while to feel any scurs on my girls. They were done at 9 days old so June 14th and I just had them reburned Monday. Even now you could barely feel something "different". They were just a tip. Now this new boy I have, his scurs are horrible. He has a ton of tiny tips, which is a discussion for another thread cause I don't know what to do about that.


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## countrygirl911 (Aug 25, 2011)

HI THE CREAM HE HAD ME PUT ON HER HAS CHANGED COLORS 3 TIMSES AFTER APPLYIING WHEN IT WENT ON IT WAS YELLOW AFTER A WHILE ORANGE NOW PINK IS THAT NORMAL DO NOT KNOW THE NAME OF THE CREAM HE JUST PUT SOME IN A BIG BOTTLE WITH NO LABEL. ALSO HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE FOR THE KNOTS/LITTLE HORNS TO FALL OFF


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## cmjust0 (Aug 26, 2011)

Sounds like he gave you furazone..  I dunno why it's changing colors, but I don't personally like to put any kind of ointment on disbudding rings anyway..  I like for them to get dry, and furazone seems to keep things wet.  Personal preference, I guess, and I'm certainly not telling you to go *against* your vet's advice.  

The color change is odd, though..


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## countrygirl911 (Aug 26, 2011)

the pink is actually her skin i was able to get a good look late last night when she settled down it goes on yellow looking but i now think the orange could be from it mixing with the color of her hair is is white and black. when will the little knots fall off he said in 7 to 10 days yesterday the tip of one came off but i think that was the skin that was covering the knots not sure will her head be flat after it heal or will she have tiny knots this is my first time for this but just wanted to know if the knots will come off. one side is still pointy and the other is not but there is still a knot there. i am hoping it was done right. 

here is a picture of her head 24 hrs after the pocedure does this look normal


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## countrygirl911 (Aug 27, 2011)

hi the knots are still there when will they fall off it looks kind of weird and i am worried that it might not have been done right and she could get scurs


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## DonnaBelle (Aug 27, 2011)

We haven't put anything on our goats after disbudding.  It shouldn't be a problem as long as they stay clean and dry.

The job looks good to me.  A nice copper ring all the way round.  What you don't want to see is white bone showing where someone went too deep.  

DonnaBelle


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## countrygirl911 (Aug 27, 2011)

ty when should the nubs come off the vet said 7 to 10 days and 30 days to heal completely will her head be nice and smooth and no bumps when it is healed. just want to prepare the kids ahead of time before the knots fallf off which is her little horns so they do not freak out.


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## DonnaBelle (Aug 27, 2011)

I bet your kids handle it better than you do. LOL!!  

Really, it all happens and it's not really that noticible.  Children seem to take things in stride. We have a five year old here at the ranch and she doesn't seem phased by much.

DonnaBelle


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## countrygirl911 (Aug 27, 2011)

DonnaBelle said:
			
		

> I bet your kids handle it better than you do. LOL!!
> 
> Really, it all happens and it's not really that noticible.  Children seem to take things in stride. We have a five year old here at the ranch and she doesn't seem phased by much.
> 
> DonnaBelle


they most likely will lol. so once they fall off in 7 to 10 days the spot will be flat and no sign of the buds correct this is my first time for this my other goat is polled and i just want to make sure i know what to look for as it looking ok ang doing good


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## countrygirl911 (Sep 1, 2011)

well it has been 7 days since the disbudding pocedure and the little nubs/knots/buds have not fallen off yet one of her scabs looks like it is tring to come off a little but it is barly noticable. when will the buds fall off i am starting to worry that it was not done right


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## DonnaBelle (Sep 1, 2011)

You remind me of me. LOL

I think all will be well, sometimes goat stuff has it's own timetable.  The photos you posted looked good.  Different goats shed the nips at different time.

Give it a few more days.

DonnaBelle


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## countrygirl911 (Sep 1, 2011)

ty so once they fall off will her head be smooth there or will there still be a bump. the tips came off but there is still a good nub there here is a picture of her head now 7 days post pocedure and sorry for all the questions and worrying this is my first time dealing with this and goats.


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## kstaven (Sep 1, 2011)

Job looks like it was done well. Patience is the key here.

You always see some indication of where horns belong. Even more so if they develop horn scurs.


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