Horns or no horns?

[20kidsonhill]

I like horns. It helps the goats keep cool and provides a convenient handle.

x2

x3

 

[HankTheTank]

I like the way they look, especially the ones that curl or twist! But since I've never had a horned goat (while I was old enough to really remember it) I can't really say whether or not I like them.

 

[Godsgrl]

After getting attacked by a horned goat, have to say I don't like them one bit.

 

[Tmaxson]

I'm new to goats, only had them for one year but all my goats have horns and I'm also a bit of a naturalist. I like them to be the way God made them. Although I can understand why people would want to remove them from the larger goats because they do hurt if they decide to use them on you. All my goats are small and I can handle them but a 200lb big boy coming at you with those things could get pretty scarry.

 

[larryj57]

I like horns, we have Boer goats and to me a Boer without horns, just doesn't look like a Boer.

 

[boothcreek]

I like horns, not just good handles but also good for fending them off since you got something solid to grab onto and steer the head into a different direction(or twist and lay them down all together- had to do that with my wethers a few times cause they kept trying to climb up me and kneeing them in the gut didnt work at all, laid them down a few times and the lesson finally stuck).

Got one of my knees busted against a wall by a dehorned goat since I had nothin to grab to keep it off me, ears are just too slippery to pull a mean goat off of you and keep at arms lenght.

You dont get hurt by horns if you are smart about it(or common sense I guess, its like people around you better use common sense if you have a board on your shoulder so they dont get knocked outta their socks when you turn unexpectedly) - like dont stand over a goat with horns that point up, if it gets spooked or throws its head up for any other reason you getting stabbed is your own stupidity for not paying attention and thinking ahead. When I have to forcibly carry my wethers somewhere I make sure no part of me is in the line of fire at any given time in case he jerks his head up or back(usually for balance, not agression but hurts all the same no matter which).

Same goes for my sheep, if I carry a ram lamb and he is struggeling and just throwing his head every which way(at that age horns point up usually) I just handle them with their head either crushed to me or at an angle where he wont accidentally hit me.
The big boys the horns are great to move them over, since they dont like them touched other then their headbashing, so they step out of my personal space really easily.

 

[Stacykins]

I don't like horns because a combination of a horned goat and my error (leaving on a collar) resulted in the death of another goat

So no more horns, no more collars.

 

[Roving Jacobs]

I started with Jacob sheep, the more horns the better

I have some polled sheep now and they are so much harder to catch and handle. None of the Angora goats I have (or the sheep) have ever seemed to find being handled by the horns painful. They don't like it if you are taking them some place they don't want to go but it really doesn't seem to hurt them at all.

 

[LadyIsabelle2011]

Horns or without horns, as long as it's a good goat and an even temper I don't really mind ...Of course if your talking about a mean ol' goat who would try to hook you or hurt you there is where I draw the line :/

 

[ragdollcatlady]

No Horns!

The neighbors goat...most of our first real interactions with goats were with the neighbors nubian with horns....she is rotten! She slams her owners leg when she is in heat or mad, or just for fun. And she leaves huge bruises! She also threatens the old horses she lives with sometimes, by rearing up and almost slamming their legs! And she got stuck in the fence by her horns in the heat one day and was likely there for hours.......we do get over 100 sometimes.

Our goats are dehorned and I really prefer it that way. My baby buckling had his scurs starting to grow back in, one especially bad. I think they didn't let the iron reheat enough between burns because the one side was really wide but the other not so much. I just re dehorned him and pray that I got it all good this time. He would move his head back to try and give me kisses on the nose, but his scurs were coming strait out of the top of his head and they were starting to catch me on the chin. I know I won't really be wanting smelly peeface kisses once he's full grown, but I love them now!