Dehorning Rosie's Little Bull

At about 10 days after a baby calf is born, it is time to dehorn it.  Is it necessary?  Well, not really, but for safety, we like to dehorn all of our calves.  Horns can be a real safety hazard in which other cows can be gored (either intentionally or unintentionally).  Cows like to swing their heads from side to side and it would be real easy to catch a horn to the eye.  Horns can also get tangled in fencing.

We've shown how we do this several times, but it is an interesting process.  First off, there are several ways to dehorn a calf.  We have dehorned with a heating iron before.  You simply plug it in and let it get real hot.  Once cherry-red you apply to the horn bud area.  It effectively burns the horn bud and prevents future horn growth.  There are also "scoops" which is an invasive process in which a tool scoops out the horn bud.  We've taken an animal to the vet before to get this done.  It required stitching.

We use Dr. Naylor's De-horning paste.  It's active ingredients, calcium hydroxide and sodium hydroxide prohibit horn growth.  Here's how we do it.  First we shave all the hair away from the horn bud area.  You want the paste to be able to make contact with the skin.  Then we make a 'dam' with petroleum jelly to keep the paste from running.  The dehorning paste will burn the calf's skin and you definitely don't want it to get in the calf's eyes.  Furthermore, you don't want it to get on you! 

Horn bud exposed with vaseline 'dam'

Then we put on latex gloves and with a wooden tongue depressor or other such item, we apply the paste directly on the horn bud and a little outside.  We apply the paste about the diameter of a nickel.

De-horning paste applied

Then we use duct tape to make a 'hat' to cover the area and protect their eyes.  It is also to keep them from rubbing the paste off of their horns.

Duct tape hat

We hold the animal for about 30 minutes.  The de-horning paste must not feel very good when it begins to work.  The calf begins to thrash about an lays down on the ground.

But in the morning, all is well.  The calf is up and acting normally.  We remove the duct tape and wash off the remaining dehorning paste.  If the application was successful, the horns will not grow.