Horns vs. No horns. What do you like best?

[Roll farms]

I'm a goat snob. I admit it. (Some may dislike my next comment, but I truly mean no offense...)

When I see dairy goats with horns, I think the same thing as I do when I see human children w/ dirty clothes and snotty noses-- Just a general feeling of distaste.
It's not the goat's fault any more than it is the kids, but I just think they look....trashy.

I like to see Boers with horns, but I don't like what Boers with horns do to my fencing, barns, stalls, etc.

To each their own. We choose to disbud every 'keeper' meat kid we have, and we disbud all dairy kids.

For those that think horns make convenient 'handles'....lemme grab you by your ears and lead you around.....see how you like it.

 

[Catahoula]

No horns.... Goats already have snake like eyes, goats with horns reminds me of the devil.... Horns make them look evil to me. I love the look of no horns on all goats...especially on Boers. They just look so sweet and innocent...like goat kids.
There would also have some serious injuries to my smallest goat, definitely to my dog and possible one of the biggest goat...not to mention myself if my goats had horns too.

 

[kstaven]

Personal preference coupled with your experience handling goats comes into play here. We are odd in that we dairy fully horned goats. Seen way to many botched jobs and scur issues along the way. One thing I learned from experience is that horn scurs will cut like a knife, so disbudding has its own drawbacks.

 

[treeclimber233]

The other day when feeding, one of my wethers stuck his head between my legs to eat some hay that fell off the block I had just picked up. One of my other goats came to investigate what he was eating. He threw his head up and tried to back out between my legs. Ahhhh.....his horns are about 6 inches long. No horns in the future for my goats. And lucky for me he was not trying to hurt me. Accidents happen.

 

[alsea1]

I have one goat with horns and one goat with one horn and a goat with one deformed horn.
So I'm just gonna leave their horns alone.
As for banding the boys. I'm thinking about just leaving them alone. The boys are freezer bound before they mature too much anyway.
We will see if it ruins the meat or not.
I reason out it should be like eating a young spike buck deer. No one bands those deer and they sure taste good.

 

[Squirrelgirl88]

Our Nigerian Dwarf herd gets to keep their horns. Sure, you have to be a bit more careful with them, but we have not had anyone get their heads stuck anywhere yet. We have 4x4 goat fence and they cannot get their head through it. One did get her leg caught once - go figure.

We make every attempt to never grab our goats by the horns - it seems cruel.

Our girls have not been destructive with their horns. They simply use them to scratch with

Now, I have had a black eye from horns - my fault. You should never try and kiss a goat on the head. :/

 

[marlowmanor]

Our goats have their horns. Yes, I have young children out there with the goats too, but I do watch them and I have total trust in the goats when the kids are playing with them. My 2 year old is my most friendly with the goats and will walk right up to the wethers and start petting them. He's been right by their side near their head with no issues. He can't mess with the does because they aren't as human friendly but he can walk right up to the weathers and pet and play with them. Yes, I keep an eye on him so I can intervene if an issue arises but no problems have come up yet.

 

[michickenwrangler]

I have one goat with horns and one goat with one horn and a goat with one deformed horn.
So I'm just gonna leave their horns alone.
As for banding the boys. I'm thinking about just leaving them alone. The boys are freezer bound before they mature too much anyway.
We will see if it ruins the meat or not.
I reason out it should be like eating a young spike buck deer. No one bands those deer and they sure taste good.

My main meat customers are from India and they LOVE the taste of my young intact bucks. When I first mentioned about them being bucks, needed to get them wethered because I didn't want the taste affected, they curtly told me, "That doesn't affect taste." OK, you're the customer. They were right. Another goat acquaintance of mine told me that she had eaten intact breeding bucks that had been slaughtered in the spring or summer without a musky taste to the meat. We banded our buckling this year because stepdaughter wants to show him at the fair and bucks aren't allowed.

Horns: Depends. Personally, I think LaManchas look weird WITH horns without the ears the balance out the look.

As I mentioned before, I like meat and fiber goats with horns, dairy without, since dairy horns tend to grow UP before they grow back. Meat and dairy goat horns tend to have lower elevation and grow along the skull. My horned goats are quite adept with them and the only goat I've known to get his head stuck, got his HEAD stuck. It was his jaw that prevented him from withdrawing between two boards, not his horns. We do, however, keep saws and bolt cutters handy by all pens just in case.

 

[Pearce Pastures]

Funny, yesterday I was just talking to the person we got DinDin from. She is spitting mad. She was giving her doe a CDT shot while her daughter helped hold her, and just as she got it in, the doe pulled her head around and slammed her in the eyebrow with her horns. Her orbit is cracked and she looks a wreck I guess. She feels really bad for her husband though because boy are people giving him looks (NO really it was my GOAT). Anyway, she let me know that she has decided to now disbud all of her goats, dairy and meat since we are talking about getting one of her babies soon.

 

[Straw Hat Kikos]

I trust certain goats too. My one I can do anything with. I give her kisses on the head or hug her etc. I have my face over her head and horns pretty much everyday.

I love horns. I wouldn't much like to have a goat without them. Goats should have horns and if they are born with them then they absolutely should have them. That's just me.

I've never been really hit or hurt by them before and hopefully I never will but even if I am it will end up being my fault. Goats don't just go after or try to hurt you with their horns. The once in a blue moon there is a goat that does then that goat was made for the freezer.

I do get why people can be scared of them though. I know of a person that had a horn go thru his eye. But as long as you know the goat and with the ones you need to be, be careful you'll be alright.