Dehorning Jersey Calf

[cjc]

Well, I have my first Jersey calf as many of you know. He is about 2 months old now. I was given advice from the man I bought his dam from to use the paste to take off his horns when they started coming in. As soon as I saw the buds coming up I put the paste on. Now these horns seem to just be coming in bigger and bigger. Do I put the paste on again? I almost debate just letting his horns grow in but it would be my first cow with horns. I should mention he is not long for the world...1.5 years max, he's freezer meat. I thought I would just let his mother raise him but she is my nurse cow and this new jersey baby isn't the friendliest guy. Not aggressive at all but he wont let me grab him like my other calves. Because I have so many calves right now I am only keeping the calves that are not head shy from this season. What are your thoughts on this? Do I use the paste again? Do I try and get them off some other way? Do I let the horns grow in? Sorry if this is a stupid question but I've only ever owned polled breeds!

 

[Green Acres Farm]

I do not have cows or know really anything about cows, but dehorning paste is strongly discouraged in the goat world. If the paste gets onto his eyes, he can go blind, if it gets onto his mother, her udder can be burned, etc. In my Goat Medicine book, it shows neocropsy photos of a kid's brain that was burned and damaged from the paste.

Have you looked into an electric disbudder?

 

[Simpleterrier]

I leave the horns on all my animals. I haven't seen a reason to remove them. I just got a Holstein steer processed and he had horns. He was around 18 months old didn't have a problem with them. All my goats keep their horns. I had some Nubians dehorned years ago and the never did act right afterwards they were burnt off. I have helped dehorn slot of dairy calves but never with paste but they were gonna be milk cows. I know others have different ideas I just haven't seen the need to dehorn

 

[cjc]

@Green Acres Farm interesting I had not heard all of those facts. Our neighour has an electric disbudder but I don't want to buy one as this will likely be my only horned calf. Is he too old now for that? Now that his horns are already up a bit? I kept him away from the herd and his mother for 8 hours. He was not happy! But I needed to protect him and her and that was what was recommended on the packaging

@Simpleterrier I am leaning towards just leaving them on. He's not aggressive at all but I have heard Jersey steers can be pretty hard to handle. I did band him and I pat him a bit each day so hopefully he stays somewhat mellow.

 

[Simpleterrier]

Jerseys are jerseys they are rotten and nosey. The meat can also be different than what ur used to

 

[Green Acres Farm]

@Green Acres Farm interesting I had not heard all of those facts. Our neighour has an electric disbudder but I don't want to buy one as this will likely be my only horned calf. Is he too old now for that? Now that his horns are already up a bit? I kept him away from the herd and his mother for 8 hours. He was not happy! But I needed to protect him and her and that was what was recommended on the packaging

I have no idea. I saw a video of calf disbudding, and there was a little stub.

Maybe @farmerjan would know if you posted pics?

 

[farmerjan]

I am not a good one for dehorning. I won't use the paste and don't have the electric disbudder. I do have a retired vet friend that does my females. We put them in the chute, He gives them a novacaine type shot at the base of the horns. Then an old trick that he does it to tie a baling string around the base real tight to help cut the blood flow then we do it the old fashioned way with the cutters when they are about 6-8 months. Yes it is a little bloody. They don't feel it though if the shots are right. They basically just stand there with their head tied to the side to do one then switched to the other side to do the other. We leave the baling string tied tight for 24 hours or so, I put them back in the chute & then I take it off. We pack the hole with gauze. It keeps the dirt/hay etc. out. We only do this late in the fall after fly season, or early enough in the spring before it gets too warm, like march. I have never had any problem with infections, flys/maggots or anything. We also give them a penicillin shot as a preventative. Had a bad experience with the paste so don't use it. ALSO, ONLY do them when the sign is in the thighs or when the moon is in the last quarter going to the new moon. Blood flow is less when it is waning. Now I am breeding my jerseys to polled bulls AI so it is less of a concern. I don't usually do the steers since they are for my own use or sale. Did have a jersey/holstein cow that had horns and after about 3 years she started to use them on other cows so they got taken off. It was a bit of an ordeal, but it sure changed her attitude.
I think the electric disbudder has to be done when they are pretty small and soft but I don't have any experience with it.
Jersey steers are not any harder to handle than any other steers. It's the bull s that can get mean but not all do. I was raising 4-10 at a time and selling the meat (as halves) so have had quite a few. Got tired of people backing out so don't raise as many to sell direct but usually have one or two if anyone wants one. Several of them were actually more pets than the heifers. Don't get into any kind of head pushing/butting with them as they will get more aggressive. It's natures way of them playing and asserting dominance. If he doesn't seem to be pushing around with his head, leaving them is not a big deal. If he gets to using them, they can always be taken off when he is bigger. Since you tried the paste, they may not grow all that much past a certain point, but I can't say that for sure. If you do breed the cow back AI just ask ahead for the AI tech to get a polled jersey bull. There are several. If you have a choice also ask for an A2A2 bull. That type milk is supposed to be more digestible for humans, you can look it up on the internet and all the bull stud books with the available bulls now list the type milk they have the genetics for.

 

[greybeard]

You can also band the the horns if they aren't too big, tho I have been reading more and more people are banding much older cattle that have substantial horn growth--you just need bigger bands for them and probably will have to use duct tape to hold the bands in place.

The thing about the 'To dehorn or not dehorn' question, and the 'you can always take them off later if it's problematic" is that once something bad happens, it's too late, and that bad thing can happen dang quick. Once the buds start getting longer, it won't take him long to learn what those hookers are for, and at the very least, he will use them to get and keep any other animals out of the feed trough or hay rack.

I have only 2 horned cows now. They are gentle and have never given ME any trouble, but they get the best of the hay and more feed than any of the rest of my beefmasters.

Another problem is the horn sheath. If they get hung up in something by the horns, there is a very good possibility of the outer layer of that horn being pulled off, which will result in blood oozing out and attracting parasites. I had it happen to a bull I once owned. Eveidently, he pulled it off while scratching against an oak tree. I found blood on the tree trunk and for several weeks afterward, Every time he passed by there, he would paw the ground, snort and bellow, and you didn't want to be anywhere near him. He grew wheels when he injured his reproductive plumbing and when the 2 cows I have get replaced, they will be last horned ones I ever have. I use a polled bull to dehorn calves with now.




I really recommend you have him dehorned.
I have never used the paste, but back when we raised horned herefords, we dehorned lots of them the old way--with Keystone dehorners. Keystones are a bloody messy way to do it, and pretty painful to the animal, and our head gate ran red with blood. Most folks nowadays use the dehorn bands or a Barnes type tool. The Barnes tool cuts them off near the poll, but I have seen some real butcher jobs if ya get too deep with it--it kinda 'scoops' the horn out and some people get too far down into the sinus cavity.
If you can't do it yourself, get a vet to do it now while he's young. A vet will likely use ob saw wire or Barnes if the horns are small and lidocaine injections. (10% lido here requires a vet prescription) I've done both barnes and ob wire in the last few years--prefer the ob wire. (that saw wire is not as easy as it looks--your arms will get tired and the smell is unpleasant.)

There was at one time, a very good Farmer Kitty cattle dehorning tutorial here at BYH (maybe a sticky) but for some reason, the writer heavily redacted, edited it and I can no longer even find it. I think there were some complaints about it's very descriptive nature. Animal husbandry is often not very "emotionally digestable", but neccessary nonetheless.
Here's one on goats--might be applicable:
http://www.backyardherds.com/resources/horns-dis-bud-polled.31/
another on cattle:
http://calfology.com/library/wiki/dehorning-techniques-and-complications

 

[cjc]

Thanks you guys! I am going to have the guy I bought his dam from (a neighbor) come over and access this for me. I am sort of stuck between do I do it or not. The only reason I am thinking no is he is going to be beef in a years time, but he also loves head butting his mom when they play!

 

[jhm47]

Dehorn him! I've seen some mighty gruesome results from horned cattle. They don't need to be trying to hurt you, just playing, and can cause some awful damage in an instant. Believe me, as an EMT, I know what can happen.