Do You Disbud Your Kids?

[Pearce Pastures]

Nope, they were tight. Stayed on until freezer camp. He was really mad though but it at least blunted those spears he had going on.

 

[Valais]

I did a little reading on this, and I guess it is common practice for some folks to tape tennis balls up there:

I'm undecided, but these kids might be even cuter with tennis balls on their horns.

Another alternative I read about, was to use Kong dog toys:
https://www.google.com.ph/search?q=...GzmAXx8oHwBA&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ&biw=1366&bih=643

 

[TAH]

I know this is a old post but I thought I would share on why we don't dis-bud. Here are all my reasons,
There horns cool them off during the summer.
There horns are part of them.
Almost all goats have some brain damage even if it is not something you can tell.
If I ever end up showing my goats, all the does I would show are dis-buded. But I prefer to have them with horns.
If we have someone that wants the goat that they buy from us dis-buded I would be happy to do so.

 

[Goat Whisperer]

Almost all goats have some brain damage even if it is not something you can tell.

Do you have an article on this? Never heard of that one before. If it is something you cannot tell, how do you know there is brain damage?

I haven't noticed a difference between horned and disbudded goats when it comes to the heat, I still need to clip down the horned goats to keep them cool…

 

[TAH]

I am not sure how they came to that conclusion on brain damage but i have heard it from many people. I will find the website.

 

[Goat Whisperer]

That would be good info. Honestly, unless there is real documentation (IOW not someone with a blog stating silly claims as facts) I am very skeptical.

A lot also has to do with the iron used, tip used, burn time, etc.

 

[TAH]

I can't find anything actually stating that it is brain damage. They say it is because after de-horn the goat they never act the same.

 

[Goat Whisperer]

Something must be wrong in the way they do it. We have disbudded many many kids and after about 2 minutes they are back to their puppy-dog self. Coming when I call them, chugging down a bottle, bouncing off anything they can.

Generally when you have goat that never act the same, something went wrong.

Do you know the protocol they use?

 

[TAH]

Here is the website. I have found several others that say the same thing.
http://ourmountainhearth.com/why-we-dont-dehorn-our-goats/

 

[babsbag]

I agree with @Goat Whisperer that I don't see any difference between a kid that is disbudded and one that isn't; and I have both. They don't seem to even notice it if it is done right.