The Mailman Delivered

Subtitled: Removing Annie's Horns

I received a couple of packages in the mail the other day that I had been anticipating and was excited to get them and open them up.

The packages

It probably says a lot about a man who is excited to open up a package containing a vintage Ideal Band Castrator along with 100 castrating bands.  Our little Nubian goat, Annie, has horns and they have grown. I've been reading lots on the Internet on the topic of goat horns.  One thing that seems to be a semi-broad consensus is that you don't want a goat with horns.

Cutting off horns reminded me of a Bible verse:

Psalm 75:10

New American Standard Bible (NASB)

10 And all the horns of the wicked He will cut off,
But the horns of the righteous will be lifted up.

This verse speaks of horns as an emblem of power and communicates the justice of God in that he'll remove the power of the wicked and will extend the power of the righteous.  I don't think this verse was talking about Annie.  She's neither wicked, nor righteous - maybe a little mischievous, though.

Equipment Received

Goats with horns injure each other and themselves, can injure you by goring you or poking out an eye, and are of detriment to fencing, resulting in repeated repairs. When Annie was a bit younger, I rescued her as she had poked her head through the perimeter fence to eat some grass and consequently got her horns stuck. After reading lots on the topic, I gathered the thing to purchase was a castrator and bands.  This method works better, I have read, than dehorning paste, burning, or sawing them off. I purchased a really old castrator (used) for cheaper than I could find anywhere online new.  It is no doubt better made and more durable than the cheap stuff made today.

It was neat in that it came in the original, stained box with the original price marked with a permanent marker. I paid a couple bucks more than the original price. Although it is for castrating lambs and cattle, and also for docking lambs and goats, if you read the third bolded line below, you'll see that it says it is also used for Dehorning Cattle and Goats.  We're in business.

Original Packaging

So off to the barn we went with castrator, castrating bands, and duct tape in hand. You'll see the two castrating bands in the palm of my had next to my wedding band. The castrating bands are only slightly less constricting and confining than the wedding band.  I'm only joking!!  Benjamin, I think it was, remarked that they look like green Cheerios.

The tie that binds

We distracted Annie by putting her in Nellie's milking stanchion and putting a little feed in the trough.  Annie likes the dairy pellets and got busy, oblivious to our schemes.

Munch, munch, munch

I dropped the bands in a cup of water and allowed them to soften up for a few minutes.  Then a rolled the band on the four prongs of the castrator and opened them by squeezing on the handle.  This process gave me a very strange, if not queasy, feeling.  I don't need to explain why.  I'm going to be very careful with this instrument!

Expand the Band

Tricia held Annie's head firmly as I slipped the castrator and band around one of her horns and all the way to the base of the horn.  I released the castrator and the band tightened on the horn and then I removed the castrator.

First one is done

I then rolled the band as far down as I could get it and repeated the process with the other horn.

Rolling the band down to the base

Here is a picture of both horns banded.  The bands will cause the horns to fall off in about 3 weeks, according to all I have read.  

Banded Goat Horns

We watched her for a bit.  The different literature I read stated that she'll be uncomfortable for about 10 minutes.  That is exactly what we experienced.  She cried for a very brief period, but was fine after that.  In order to keep her from rubbing against something and rolling the bands off, I used duct tape to tape the bands in place.

Annie with horns

I'll continue to monitor her progress each day to ensure everything is okay, but if all goes well, we'll have a horn-less Annie in 3 weeks and we'll show the 'after' photo. Once horn-less, she'll be hard to tell apart from her momma, Nellie.