Disbudding goats - How'd I do?

[helmstead]

Give it time, I bet EVENTUALLY you'll start disbudding. I started with a horned herd - and was actually STAUNCHLY against disbudding. I thought it was cruel and unusual.

Until:
1) I got my first peri puncture wound on one of my goats delivered by an alpha doe (poor LG!)
2) I started having trouble selling horned kids
3) My DH took a horn to the eye while trimming hooves
4) My children took horns to various body parts (not being butted, just accidentally) and became scared of the horned goats
5) I got my nose broken! Total accident, I bent over, doe stood up.
6) We spent over $1000 replacing fences that those horns easily tore holes through

So, when we finally broke down and went to get disbudding lessons...I was amazed how fast it was, how the kid acted like nothing had happened...and compared to deHORNING my adults (which I was in the process of doing and have now dehorned well over 20 adults) it was MUCH better to disbud.

I think horned goats are beautiful. I DO see both sides of the fence here...but for most dairy producers, especially...horns usually have to go.

 

[mossyStone]

I am a wimp i can NOT do the deed..... But i have a no horn policy here, just not worth the risk to me, my family or our fences..... One day i may have to learn to do it, but as long as i have friends who can ( i do pay a small fee) worth every penny to me thats how i'll do it.....

 

[glenolam]

and the fact that my 3yr old does have horns.

As I was reading this the first thing that popped into my head was the terrible toddler stage and your human kid running around like the devil.....



I do agree with helm - and to each his own.

 

[Livinwright Farm]

and the fact that my 3yr old does have horns.

As I was reading this the first thing that popped into my head was the terrible toddler stage and your human kid running around like the devil.....



I do agree with helm - and to each his own.

his... or her own...

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

and the fact that my 3yr old does have horns.

As I was reading this the first thing that popped into my head was the terrible toddler stage and your human kid running around like the devil.....



I do agree with helm - and to each his own.

i had to think about that one for a second also... kids with horns.. hum...

last year we did not disbud. this year we will with our keeper doeling.

our doeling from last year figured out that if i grabbed her up by the collar she could quickly twist her head, catching my wrist between her horns. that ended the discussion for me. and as Helms said, i think its easier to sell a "horn-free" goat.

but to be fair, my earless (lamancha), hornless goat got stuck in the fence. that was a head scratcher for sure.

and yes, everyone to their own

 

[Dreaming Of Goats]

I really don't think it was that bad, but I just watched a friend do it..... and I'm a pre-teen! It just smelled REALLY bad, since he didn't shave his heads.

 

[glenolam]

His/Her S/He......you all knew what I meant!

Dreaming.....the first goat I disbudded I did not shave his head. Stunk to high heaven forever. I didn't mind it, but it got a little annoying.

I cut the hair around my two doeling's buds (I didn't have any shavers that held up to their hair) and it was a dramatic difference. Blades or scissors I'll always be trimming up their heads prior to disbudding.

 

[TheSheepGirl]

I'm glad and amazed at how civilized you guys are about this conversation. I mentioned Dubbing combs once and it started a debate that got the thread shut down.

Thank you all for being so calm and kind about your advice and opinions and for all the helpful information.

Mom and I may be disbudding later. We had twin bucklings born last night. We know someone with an iron.

I'm certain it looks and sounds worse than it actually is. I've only seen disbudding scabs that were a week old and they looked like just regular scabs.

Mom had a hard enough time with castrating pigs, so I'm not sure how the pair of us will do with disbudding. More out of pity than anything else I suppose.

 

[Chickenfever]

I appreciate all this input on disbudding. We (and when I say we I mean DH) will be disbudding our first goat kids this week. Not looking forward to it but realize it will be much easier to do it ourselves if we have several goats having kids every year. We at least got to watch it done to our triplets last year and no scurs on our doe that we retained. He got a good copper ring, scraped the bud off with the tip of the iron and then burned an X where the horn bud was.
I did want to add to the debate on the topic of whether or not to disbud that we did keep one of the bucklings from last year to slaughter as a meat goat. We did not disbud him since we knew he would well...become dinner. Big mistake. He bullies with his horns. He has hurt our buck that is almost twice his size and really I don't even think he would try to butt if he didn't have horns, they know when they have a nice set of weapons on their head. He will be gone soon

 

[Livinwright Farm]

Yeah, NEVER keep a horned goat(or goats) with the dehorned or naturally poled.. they WILL injure those without!

I will add, that having a herd with horns makes it a LOT easier to grab them and lead them! when you have one of their horns(instead of their collar) they are more than obliged to follow your lead. They will dip their heads, so horns are going first, and walk along right behind you!
Whether or not to disbud is a personal choice, and every goat's temperment is different. Having two 3yr old does, two 7 month old bucklings, and one 7 month doeling all with horns... I am not going to waste the money now with the vet, more than likely leaving my herd with open/bleeding sinus cavities... If at some point we have another area fenced in and obtain a small herd of dairy breed does, then if they are poled or disbudded it would be okay. Right now, it is not do-able