Horns or no horns?

[allanimals21]

I could go either way...I've decided I myself will not be dehorning or having anything de-horned anymore. We have a polled doe right now that gives us the option of polled kids. I've had some issues with scurs with my alpine wether and what he went through isn't fair. He ended up having to go in on a saturday to have one surgically removed because it had broken of partially. I just don't feel the need to have that possibly become a problem for another goat. So this year the 2 kids I bought are horned. My new buck is one of them.

Having horns makes things a little different than not having horns obviously...I'm learning how to dodge them. I'm not used to having to watch out for them. Neither of the two horned goats here are agressive with their horns. I'm hoping it stays that way. I bought a horned buck back in november that was a nasty beast. He attcked me several times. One time he ended up bruising my whole inner thigh and my stomach. He hit me in the thigh and tossed his head which hooked inside my shirt and well it didnt end well. He had to be pulled off of me.

 

[RareBreedFancier]

I liked horns. I really did. I didn't want to dis-bud but after having my buck use his horns on my ponies and on me I wasn't thrilled with them and decided any future buck would be hornless. My blind wether can be quite dangerous if he doesn't realize who is near him and he's got me good a few times now but I don't blame him (he get's picked on). Now after having to put down my beautiful doeling because one of my does gored her I'm changing to a no horn policy. I just don't want to deal with the damage those horns can do.

 

[Missy]

I currently have a mixed herd of horned and no horned goats. 4 of my goats do not have horns and 3 do. My horned buck gets along nicely with my 2 hornless bucks, and never uses his horns for anything. As for my girls, My little pygmy never uses her horns, She peacefully lives with my Oberhasli doe and Nubian doe. It is my ND that is the problem. When she arrived here she bunted my Oberhasli over food, sleeping spots, water, hay...ect... Now the rest just stay clear of her, she doesn't use her horns on me, and the other animals avoid her. She is the only one I wish did not have horns.

 

[Straw Hat Kikos]

I understand why some people don't like horn especially dairy goat people. In a dairy farm you have 50-200 goats that must be put into a small area with each other and people several times a day. That means alot of time spend together in a small area where horns could become a very large issue. So I do understand the dairy side of things. That being said, I love horns. I much prefer a goat to have horns then to not have horns.

1. Horns are protection.
Goats with horns can and will protect themselves if they need to. If you have alot or just several of them they can at least keep a predator back. At the most they can kill the animal. They use those horns to save the lives of themselves or their kids. Goats that have no horns, be it from disbuding or being naturally polled, do not have any protection. Goats are prey animals and the only protection they have is their horns. They might be able to use their hooves from smaller creatures but in reality horns are their protection.

2. They use them to regulate body temperature.
I honestly don't know much about that but I do know that their horns regulate their body temperature.

3. Excellent handles
I know that I've had to catch goats before that would have been quite impossible without horns. They were hard enough to catch and handle. Without horns they would not have been able to be handled. There is not way. Especially a large goat or a quick and fast one that seems to know if you want to catch it or not. If you have a goat without horns and is that wild I have no idea how someone would catch them. With horns you don't have to get as close to the goat but more importantly you have something that is easy to hold onto and really not much danger involved. Without horns you have to get closer but you also have to find a way to really hold onto the goat. That more than likely have to somehow grab a kicking leg or bare-hug a goat that can kick you or flail it's head and hit you. I would argue that catching a wild goat without horns is much more dangerous that catching a wild goat with horns.

4. Dangers of disbudding
Disbudding can be very dangerous to the goat. If not done correctly disbudding can kill a goat. For some people their first time disbudding results in the death of the kid. The iron over heats the brain causing the goat to die. There are many other issues that come along with disbudding. Scurs being the biggest. A goats scurs can grow in almost any direction and many times it grows back into their eyes or back into their heads. That can cause the goat extreme pain or even death. If their scurs grow large enough they will work as horns and them removing them can be hard or cause death, as they can bleed out if not done correctly. Sometimes their scurs can be broken or even smashed into their heads. If they are fighting with other goats, be it playing or real fighting, those scurs can be broken, bent, or pushed into their heads. They can be broken and cause them to bleed and chip.

5. They look quite amazing
Anyone that tells me horns don't make a goat look beautiful is crazy. Horns make a goat a goat. Horns are so different. They go straight up, go backwards, spiral up, spiral out, some are huge and some are small. They make a goat a goat in my opinion and provide more benefits that than the issues they can cause.

 

[Straw Hat Kikos]

Bump.

 

[LBFarms]

Ok, this is driving me nuts! Everyone who is saying that they use the horns for "Handles." A human should NEVER grab a goat by it's horns. It teaches the goats that it is OK to interact with humans with it's horns and that is a BAD THING. This is why goats with horns get a bad rep. I tell everyone who comes into contact with my goats not to touch the horns. For some reason, the first thing everyone wants to do is grab the horns, DONT! If you follow this rule, you wont have a problem with goats being aggressive towards people with their horns. At least as a rule, although I'm sure there are rare exceptions

 

[Straw Hat Kikos]

Wow. I could not disagree more. It does not cause a goat to be any different.

 

[Straw Hat Kikos]

Wow. I could not disagree more. It does not cause a goat to be any different.

 

[Catahoula]

Ok, this is driving me nuts! Everyone who is saying that they use the horns for "Handles." A human should NEVER grab a goat by it's horns. It teaches the goats that it is OK to interact with humans with it's horns and that is a BAD THING. This is why goats with horns get a bad rep. I tell everyone who comes into contact with my goats not to touch the horns. For some reason, the first thing everyone wants to do is grab the horns, DONT! If you follow this rule, you wont have a problem with goats being aggressive towards people with their horns. At least as a rule, although I'm sure there are rare exceptions

I wouldn't want anyone to drag me around by my hair or ears either. My kids don't have horns but they have scurs. Sometimes I just want to check the scurs and they don't like me touching them. They have collars and I use them.

 

[LBFarms]

Wow. I could not disagree more. It does not cause a goat to be any different.

Interesting to hear your experience, which is probably much more vast than mine. However, I do know a handfull of others with goats that have problems with them using their horns against people and they all had played with their goats by their horns. I never did allow anyone to touch my goats horns (due to a lot of reading up on pack goats where this is always highly discouraged) & I've never had a problem.