# goat horn question



## cleo (Jan 27, 2010)

My Mom's goats, Molly and Mavis, were both dehorned as kids.  Mavis doesn't have any horn growth, but Molly has had one horn that has a tendency to curl towards her head.  It came off once before, but now it has grown back and Mom is wondering what it might do to her skull.  Before it came off, we were worried that it might press into her head and that we would have to remove it.  Now that it has grown back, it seems to be curling around her head instead of towards it.  Here is a picture of it now.  Will this hurt her if it keeps going?  Thanks!


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## cmjust0 (Jan 27, 2010)

Is it wiggly?  Like, if you pinch it between your fingers and wiggle it, does it move at the base?

If it's wiggly, it'll probably pop off, bleed a little, and start growing again.  We have one that does that, though hers doesn't lay back that way..

If it's stiff like bone, it's definitely gonna need to be dealt with.  To answer the question, yeah, they can grow and impact the skull...not good.  

You can trim scurs, though.  There are tons of articles online about the different methods of scur trimming (wire saws, dremels, hacksaws, nippers, etc).


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## Roll farms (Jan 27, 2010)

We had a boer x doe who's scur would grow into her head about 1x a year, we'd take some hoof nippers and trim it back about 3-4"...if you get too close to the head they'll bleed like stuck hogs.

I've been tempted to knock a scur off and be ready w/ a disbudding iron and see if I can kill it / keep it from coming back.  Only problem w/ that plan is the only scurred goats I have are all over 200# and I don't feel like riding them in an impromptu goat rodeo when they feel that hot iron.


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## mully (Jan 28, 2010)

I would remove the single horn for the safety and health of the goat.


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## freemotion (Jan 28, 2010)

You can just trim it every time you trim the hooves.  It is really easy, once you've done it once and get over the squeamishness, that is....


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## cleo (Jan 28, 2010)

When we do trim it, how much should we take off?  An inch at a time or the whole thing?  Also, how much will it bleed?


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## Roll farms (Jan 28, 2010)

It won't bleed if you only cut off an inch or two.

If you cut it off close to the head...it will bleed more than you can imagine...but they should be fine.

I'd start w/ taking off 2"...if it doesn't bleed, go for another 1"...if it still doesn't bleed, that's enough to keep it from being a risk anymore.  Just trim it back a bit whenever you do hooves, like was earlier suggested.

One of the best cures I've found for bleeding (horns and hooves) is a big honking gob of cobweb.  Press it to the bleeding spot and it's amazing how quickly it stops.  My vet told me about it.


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## kacie (Feb 28, 2010)

woah......weird......


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## kacie (Feb 28, 2010)

my goat just had her baby.....we have to keep it indoors ......moms not nursing....but im sooooo exited!


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## savingdogs (Feb 28, 2010)

I work for a large animal vet. I have watched him put a goat under that had these, remove them and treat the area so that it will not grow back. Later the anesthesia was reversed and the goat woke up, feeling no pain. 

The goat hated being put under but if I were a goat that is what I would want. This one was a goat someone wanted to milk and she didn't want it to have one horn like that (hers was hard).

I'm not sure what we charged for that but it wasn't a fortune.


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## helmstead (Mar 1, 2010)

I would just snip that little booger off with some hoof nippers.  I bet if you grabbed it and held on, and pulled at an angle, it would just pop off.  You can give a small dose of banamine first to buffer, and yes they yell when it pops off, but it's really no big deal.

Check out my buck Rider on my website.  His straight scur (the left side) popped right off when we were descurring him.  He yelped as it happened, and then was fine.  We reburned him with the disbudding iron and so far it's not grown back.  The curly side is a different story


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## dhansen (Mar 1, 2010)

Can't you use the band for castrating on the horn?  I've heard about that, but have never tried it.  It would be worth a try.


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## dogginfox (Jun 8, 2011)

You can use castration bands for scurs?


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