What can I do about scurs?

[babsbag]

I have a wether with scurs and we just live with it as they don't get very long and he occaisionally knocks them off. If I grab ahold of them they wiggle a little so you can tell they aren't well attached.

My buck on the other hand had "scurs" that were not loose and the two of them kinda grew together and made him into a unicorn of sorts, at least that is what my vet told me when we had him dehorned.

OMG, I will NEVER do that to an animal again. He came home with the top of head sliced off and open to his sinuses. Then it got infected. It literally took 7 months for it to close completly and in spite of all of that he still has a little bit of horn growth.

Knowing now what I do I would have reburned his horns when we bought him. The seller assured my it was a loose scur and would get knocked off. I should have taken him to the vet at 2 months of age and not 9 months. It would have been so much easier when he was young.

It was the most horrid surgery I have ever put an animal through and I still feel bad for him. His scur was growing back into his skull, I plan on keeping him, and I didn't want him getting hurt or hurting the does or me, so I had to do, but it doesn't make it any easier to remember. I am just thankful that I did it in the winter when there were no flies to deal with.

We did cut it back once and it bled like crazy, and he screamed like crazy. That was another reason we opted for the surgery. It sure made me a believer in burning and re-burning if needed.

The one plus...his head was cut off so much that his scent glands seemed to have gotten "damaged" as well. He smells like a buck, but not like other ones I have been around. I think he was partially de-scented. If that is possible.

 

[savingdogs]

Wow, what a story!

So scurs are the result of inadequate burning in the first place, or bucks having too much testosterone?

Sebastian's scurs are just like you describe, kinda wiggly and rubbery, not hard like a horn. But with all that I've heard on this thread, I think I'm gonna just leave well enough alone. It is good to learn what to do in other situations though.

 

[babsbag]

Yes, the scurs are because of inadequate burning. The swiss breeds have larger horn buds and are harder to burn in the first place so then you add the testosterone to that and it is just difficult to get a good burn on a buck. Many people do it, but many don't. This year I waited a little over 2 weeks to do my bucklings and we didn't get a clean burn on one. I am new to this goat thing and I just waited too long. The doelings are fine. Bucks just grow bigger faster. Live and learn.

 

[Mitchellsmommy]

I recently purchased an 8 week old wether with what I believe are scurs...Like 'ridges' around the front part of the bud holes, I guess you'd call them(?) The buds were burnt down, and I mean DEEPLY. I was surprised how deep. My others seem more flat and larger circumference as well. These are smaller holes, like I could put my finger into them and scoop out pieces of debris. Like a bowl. Anyway... I think I would just leave them, but I feel like I can't because he play fights with my other two goats and he has already injured one. He was head to head with him and they kept ramming heads together and my younger one who is like 4 weeks began to bleed (A LOT) from his debudding scabs that had just really started to heal up. I got it under control but just worry he might keep opening them up and end up infected...(?) PLUS if he butts his scurs off and bleeds (they are very low and wide close to the skull...) I don't want like sinus or brain or eye damage to him either! Those holes really do seem too far in as well, like he's missing a good chunk of skull on both sides. I was hoping that it could be reburned to just get rid of it so he can't hurt himself or others! Thanks for any input!

 

[Mitchellsmommy]

the boo boo spot...

 

[Pearce Pastures]

Hi Mitchellsmommy. You might get more responses to your question by starting a new thread. I don't see any regrowth (scurs) in your photo but he looks to have been freshly burned.

At 8 weeks, the horn growth he did have would have been significant and I imagine they maybe had to burn repeatedly to knock down the horn to the skull, or maybe even cut it first. It was done later than ideal I would say.

We disbud at a few days old and on males, we burn in a figure 8 pattern because the base of their horn is wider than a females. He seems to have a single burn area and it looks fresh.

So what to do?

Spray the wound with BluKote and let it heal. If he does develop scurs, they will be small, thin pieces of horn that will probably get knocked off from time to time, or can be trimmed down with hoof shears. If that is not acceptable for you, you might get someone to help do a second burn to eliminate what was missed in the first attempt. I personally would wait until he is healed up a bit though.

 

[OneFineAcre]

the boo boo spot...

Not sure what you are seeing but, you don't have any scurs yet with that one. Be sure to keep an eye out for infection where the scabs got knocked off. We would spray something like that with an antiseptic spray.

 

[OneFineAcre]

Hi Mitchellsmommy. You might get more responses to your question by starting a new thread. I don't see any regrowth (scurs) in your photo but he looks to have been freshly burned.

At 8 weeks, the horn growth he did have would have been significant and I imagine they maybe had to burn repeatedly to knock down the horn to the skull, or maybe even cut it first. It was done later than ideal I would say.

We disbud at a few days old and on males, we burn in a figure 8 pattern because the base of their horn is wider than a females. He seems to have a single burn area and it looks fresh.

So what to do?

Spray the wound with BluKote and let it heal. If he does develop scurs, they will be small, thin pieces of horn that will probably get knocked off from time to time, or can be trimmed down with hoof shears. If that is not acceptable for you, you might get someone to help do a second burn to eliminate what was missed in the first attempt. I personally would wait until he is healed up a bit though.

x2

 

[Mitchellsmommy]

x2

OH...no...The picture isn't of my 8 week old with [what I think are] the scurs.
That is Benjamin, my 4 week old, who was playing with him (the 8 week old is Edward.)
I was trying to show the damage done to Benjamin by Edward's [scurs](?)
I can try to get a picture tomorrow, but it is kind of hard to see them because they are underneath the tuft of hair on top of his head.
Benjamin's debudding looks very flat and wide, and was beginning to heal and the scabs coming off, revealing new skin. My 'baby', Roux, [two-three weeks old] has nice,round, flat burn marks too.
If you touch Edward's head, you can feel very smallish round holes where they attempted the disbudding/ debudding (?) Then in front of the holes there are wicked hard, bony ridges. They feel sort of pointy but not like actual horns. And they are connected right to like where the bump of the skull slopes behind I guess what you would refer to as the upper brow(?)
Then the holes are behind that, and they go pretty deep...and the sides of the skull seem so small and narrow that it seems like unnaturally dented in. I don't know if I am making any sense. But again, I'll try to push the hair aside and get some pics. It is kind of hard to explain...You'd have to feel the head and skull shape to really understand the strangeness I guess.
They are very solid and connected, so when the two of them play, they cut right into poor Benjamin's still healing wounds. :/ ...
I have seen the figure 8 kind of burns and I feel like that is what should have been done on Edward. But the circles are so small (even though very deep) that even if they had done additional burns in front of them, I feel like there would have still been more 'horn matter' sprouting up around the burn circles. ugh. poor dear.

 

[momto6Ls]

Scurs are generally no big deal to remove. Most of them can just be grabbed with a good plier or hoof nipper depending on size - you hold still, the goat squirms...and POP off comes the scur. Actual HORN growth (deformed horns from a really bad disbudding mess up) will have a full blood supply and need to be banded or sawn off, then reburned (unless you wanna do it over and over again). We do this with a general sedative/NSAID.

Sooooo how do you tell if it is scur or actual horn? We had a "friend" help us disbud our kids this year (it was our first time and we didn't have equipment) and it was a disaster. He told us to wait too long, then came with cutters and cut the horns (a big bloody mess) and then burned. It is a buck. Saanen. I just read on a power point Saanen are different when it comes to disbudding, but it didn't say how! Can you give me any help?