How to you handle a horned herd?

[michickenwrangler]

All of my goats have been in with my 4-horned Jacob ram at one point or another, even the disbudded ones. And the most pugnacious of the group was a disbudded Saanen doe that was not in the least intimdated by his horns.

My herd is mixed horns and disbudded and with some initial infighting (as with any herd) they have their pecking order sorted out and there are no problems.

 

[WLRRM]

I wouldent ever take away the handles oops i mean horns. They are needed for cooling blood in hot weather, provide does a defense from over aggresive bucks, and us a comfortable safe means of handling. I have myotonics but from my experience all goats know where there horns are and most take good care to make sure not to run into people,there are exeptions im sure but i like to think of it as not taking away natural anatomy for our convienence, but to keep it for both our and the goats convienence instead.

 

[Pearce Pastures]

I would not disbud or dehorn a hair breed. Other types, is depends on what you are doing with them, the breed and personal taste.

We began disbudded our does because of 4H and since they are a small breed and our kids play with them constantly (horns at eye level), I will continue to disbud them. The bucks, though, we do not show and the kids play with them less (they are not as lovey as the girls and the kids have to shower after they play with them)---these will be the last boys I disbud. All three have scurs and the eldest is constantly knocking them loose and bleeds.

I have been bruised by our only horned goat (who is about to be in the freezer). We drilled out golf balls and taped them over the ends which made helped greatly. If you tape up the ends of the horns like we did, they can still distribute the heat but are not as potentially OW!!

 

[Jewls819]

Our doe just had two kids. I was considering disbudding but I think we will let them have horns. My husband wants them to have horns and I think I agree. Ours seem very careful with the horns however our goats are small and I do not have small children. If I had larger goats then I might consider it.

 

[FarmScapeGirl]

I will be adding fiber goats to our farm next year, and I don't plan on disbudding. They do serve a purpose. My dairy goats started as rescues, and they all came with horns. We looked into disbudding when our does were pregnant, and that sealed our decision for us. I would never be able to do that. Not judging anyone else, I just know that the husband and I couldn't handle disbudding. I also think, well, they have them for a reason. Plus, the built in handles really do come in handy. My small children are aware to be mindful of the horns, but there is not a "no contact" rule on our farm. We are very hands on, and the goaties are very used to being handled by us. We've never had an issue.

I will mention something here though. Make sure your fence is narrow enough that your goats can not get their heads through! We put up our fences before we brought our goats home, and learned this lesson the hard way. If they can push through, they may not always be able to pull back.

 

[Mamaboid]

I have a mixed herd of horned, disbudded, and polled. We don't have any problems with the horns. The only times we use the horns as handles is in extreme circumstances. (imminent danger to us or to goat), and even our bucks with huge horns know better than to use them aggressively. Mama has a no tolerance policy when it comes to aggressive behavior.

The most dangerous animal on our farm is the two rotten turkeys, who are about to find out just how mean Mama can get. One more hit to the middle of my back will just about take care of what sense of humor I have left.

 

[CYGChickies]

In my experience--I have a herd of disbudded and horned Nigerians--the does do fine with horns but I don't like them on the bucks. The does never even offer to headbutt and honestly the horns are nice if you have to immediately move them for their own safety. The bucks however don't headbutt; they gore. They'll fling their head down and back up so they hook you with the horns and they know exactly what they're doing. Even our friendliest buck will sometimes decide you're doing something wrong and try to get you. For this reason I prefer disbudded bucks and don't mind horns on the does.