Disbudding Our Baby Goats

When one of our goats named Agnes was born, time got away from us and we didn't de-horn (disbud) her.  Never again!  We vowed never to make that mistake again.  Agnes' horns grew, and she is the only critter on the homestead with horns.  It gives her an unfair advantage.  She bosses all the other animals around (including the cows).  She uses those horns as a weapon to force her way in to the feed trough.  She bullies the other animals.  Never again.  No sir-ee.

When out two latest kids were born, we made a mental note to get the clippers out and the disbudding iron and get the job done.  Tonight was the night.  We still haven't named the little kids yet.  We'll get around to it soon, I'd imagine.  The two just love playing with one another.  They were about to get settled in for the night underneath the feed trough, but we threw a monkey wrench on those plans.

Tricia grabbed the black one first.  She's jet black except for 3 strands of white hair on her forehead.  If you look closely, you can make them out.

We plugged in the disbudding tool.  In just a few minutes, it was warmed up, glowing cherry red on the tip.  Tricia donned leather gloves and sat on the little kid and held her firmly.

But before we got to that part of it, let's rewind.  First, you have to get the clippers and cut the hair away from both the horn buds.  This enables your disbudding iron to get down to the area around the horn buds.  The little black doeling has a nice haircut now and that enables you to see the little horn buds.

The tool is applied for about 4 seconds on each side.  Yes, the babies cry at first.  Then we come back a second time for about 3-4 more seconds until a copper-colored ring appears around the horn bud.

Now it's time for the little spotted goat.

It doesn't take long at all.  The babies cry.  The momma goats are concerned about their babies.  But in just a few minutes, we reunite them together and everything goes back to normal.

The heat from the disbudding tool kills the horn roots and they don't grow.  That's a good thing.  No bullying the others.  No getting horns stuck in the fence, either.  By tomorrow these kids will have forgotten all about this experience.