Disbudding goats - How'd I do?

[glenolam]

I'm excited and a little scared. I've watched it a few times before in person and also watched stuff on-line. I have dehorned my cow before, but that was my first and so far only time dehorning/disbudding anything. He turned out to have scurs, but I know it's because I didn't keep the iron on it long enough. I wanted to hit him again and for a longer period, but DH (who had to put all his weight on the calf to hold him still) didn't want me to. :/

Anyhoo - any tips or pointers? I know the standard stuff....count to eight, look for the copper ring, wear an ove glove or something like that...it's a buckling that was born 1/22/11 so we're already 2 weeks out. I'm not sure what his buds look like at this point (he's my friend's buckling) and she was debating on keeping his horns, but has since decided not to. He's either nubian/alpine or nigerian/nubian/alpine. The doe (nubian/alpine) was supposed to be bred to the nigerian, but the kid has floppy ears and I guess is a little bigger than what she thinks he should be. I said the floppy ears could've come from the nubian in the doe.

We're going to be using an X30.

Thanks!

Edited to update the thread title.

 

[Emmetts Dairy]

Good luck, hope it goes well!! I have no pointers cuz my husband does that!!! Im a chicken and I cant handle that part!!

Although I understand how important it is to get done cuz our new buck we bought was not done that good and we deal with his scurs all the time!!

Hope it goes well!! One of those necessary evils to me!!!

 

[poorboys]

Hope all goes well, I did my first disbudding last year, everyone had 1'' scurs, I know I did'nt hold the iron on long enough, and that is what caused it, I've done three this year and held for a count of about 15 seconds, the caps came off and i burn the top of the horn where the cap came off, I just hope for NO SCURS also you need to kinda rock the burner around, is that what I mean to say?????

 

[glenolam]

I believe so - with the calf I "rotated" or rocked the iron around in circles...I think that's what you're talking about.

 

[4hmama]

I don't think an 8 count is long enough...but that's just me. We use a 15 count and have never had scurs on doelings - some of them done as late as 2 weeks. Bucklings - 15 count may not be quite long enough, especially if they are 2 weeks old. We are doing nigi bucklings at just a few days now, and it is working better. Make SURE that the tip on your X30 is a standard tip and not a mini tip - or it won't be big enough for the horn buds. Our X30 mini tip wasn't big enough for our nigis, and my DH took and drill and make the hole larger.

As far as the age on this baby - if it looks like it's too late to burn - don't burn or you will just have a mess to deal with. Good luck!!!

 

[glenolam]

Luckily his buds hadn't even started to come to the surface. I went for a count of 8-10 on each side (depending on my counting ability), then went back again and reburned each side for probably a count of 5ish...

The hardest part was not being able to feel how hard I was pressing on his head. I mean, I took the iron, put it to his head and it started burning. I rocked it around for the 'counts' but couldn't really tell how much pressure I was putting on him.

He was fine afterwards - got a drink from mom and off he went.

She's going to let me know how he looks in a week or two and if he needs a touch up I get to go back and do it again. She has the x30 with the standard tip.

Her daughter helped me; she's seen it done before but has never done it herself (only been the attendant) so I left it up to her to decide if he needed a third burning. My friend thinks the right side (his left) will end up with scurs and I have no idea on either side. Practice makes perfect, though!

Here's a pic...be (sorta) nice - it was my first time and it's a cell phone pic!

PS - notice the brown spot on his ear....that's what you get when you jump as they wiggle! Live and learn!

 

[helmstead]

I guess no one mentioned the figure-8 burn for bucks?

Looks good tho! Congrats!!

I have to gasp at holding the iron on for 15 seconds. Eeps. Our doelings are done (both sides!) in 10 seconds, and bucks maybe 12 seconds total to get the figure-8 done. We hate to leave that iron there any longer than absolutely necessary.

 

[SDGsoap&dairy]

Way to jump in the deep end glenolam!

If you shave their heads first you won't get all the stinky smoke in your eyes, BTW.

 

[glenolam]

Thanks - I knew about the scent glands, but thought that if you burned the top-inner portion a little longer that would take care of that. However, if you didn't care about the scent glands a regular circle would suffice.

Does anyone else have any pics to share? I'd love to see them! I'm going to do the kids my goats have this year so I'm trying to expose myself as much as possible to it.

ETA - I knew about the shaving part, but her clippers were broken and to be honest, the smoke or "smell" really didn't bother me. I'm sick like that, though! I just blew the smoke away if it got too bad.

I must say the only thing I would have done differently is wait longer in between sides/burns. I took a little bit of time in between, but looking back I would have let the iron get super super hot again. I'm sure it was fine anyway.

 

[aggieterpkatie]

What do you mean scent glands? Are you referring to Kate's figure 8 comment? It's common to do a figure 8 burns to make sure you get the entire horn base. And I do 8 seconds each side first, then look and see if I need to touch up with few second intervals.

Just be sure to remember how you did these so you know what to do next time if there are scurs! I was nervous last year wanting to make sure I did them well enough so there would not be scurs. I did 4 kids last year and no scurs!