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.

Farewell to Billy Boy

Billy Boy is a Devon bull.  He's got a heart emblem on his right shoulder (see below photo) and that is appropriate, because that's why he's been on our pasture for the last couple of months.  His job was to romance, woo, and breed Rosie and Elsie.  It is time for him to go.  Our grass, with the lack of regular rains, is in short supply.

Our friend that loaned him to us has a sale for him in St. Francisville.  Perfect!  I borrowed some panels from my friend and set up a makeshift corral.  One morning this weekend, I brought some hay and sweet feed into the corral after closing the nosy goats in the barn.  The three cows and Billy Boy followed me into the corral.  I quickly escorted the ladies out and closed up Billy Boy.  It was nice and easy.

He didn't like being confined.  He used his horns to lift the corral, but he wasn't successful in breaking free.  His horns, however, got a nice, green paint job!  I watered him and then called my friend to come get him at his convenience.

He backed his truck up to the gate and I cracked the gate to the corral.  Alfalfa hay was tossed into the front of the trailer.  Ol' Billy Boy sniffed at it and walked slowly toward it.  I got behind him and just like that, he was up in the trailer.  The back gate was closed and Billy Boy was ready for a road trip.

So, was Billy Boy successful in breeding Rosie and Elsie?  That's a good question.  We saw them breed - several times, in fact.  Elsie came back into heat several times, but this last time, it appears she was successfully bred.  We didn't palpate them, so we don't know for sure.

We'll have to wait and see.  LuLu, we think, was bred by the registered Jersey Bull, Nick, who came courting.  She should be calving later this summer.  It has been a drama-filled summer with Billy Boy and his horns.  It'll be nice to have only our docile, horn-less Jersey cows in the pasture.  Peace.  At last.

The Time That the Goats Don't Like

At about 10 days old should be a happy time being a baby goat, right?  The kids are so cute.  Long ears.  Spotted coat.  They run around jumping playfully.  We already introduced you to Callie (Short for Kaleidoscope)  We named her that because she has really wild spots and designs on her face.  The little one below is named Mocha, due to the coloration of the spots on her coat.  Her Mom has horns.  We didn't remove them and that was a mistake.  She is the only creature on Our Maker's Acres Family Farm that has horns.  She uses those horns to show her dominance, bullying the other animals.  We have to be careful around her as the horns are dangerous and can easily put out an eye.

So the other night Tricia asked, "Are you ready to take care of the little girls' horns tonight?"  I was, but I wasn't.  It is not a pleasant task.  The goats are in pain for a little bit, but they get better quickly.  Another danger to goats having horns is that they can get themselves caught in fences and hang themselves.  It just had to be done.

We marched out to the barn with the clippers.  Prior to de-horning, we shave the hair around the little horn buds so that we can see where to apply the de-horning iron.  This is the dehorning iron.

This is the de-horning iron after it has been plugged in for 10 minutes.  It is cherry red.  We test it by burning a 2 x 4.  Once it leaves a black circle on the wood, we know it is ready to go.

With Tricia sitting on top of the kids and holding their long, floppy ears out of the way, I apply the de-horning iron for a 5 second count.  The smoke pours, the base of the horn sizzles, and the babies cry.  Then I move to the next one.  Then I come back and get them again until I see a copper circle around the entire horn bud.  Next I put the hot iron on the top of the horn bud.  Then the job is done.

Then we de-horned the other goat.  By the time we left the barn, they were both running around like normal.  Especially the next morning, all was good.  We will keep an eye on them to ensure all was successful and the horn bud is killed.  Sometimes it doesn't work.  Sometimes, I don't want to hurt them and don't leave it long enough, and the horn will re-grow.  I think I got it this time, though. 

Antlers of Ridicule and Scorn

Well, the other afternoon, we heard a familiar sound.  A goat was crying.  We knew exactly what had happened.  It is not the first time it happened, or the second, or third, or fourth.  Or fifth, for that matter.  Salt is one of Oreo's twins.  Salt is not too bright.  Her brother, Pepper, is not a Rhodes scholar, by any stretch, but he's smarter than Salt - although Salt does not set the bar for intellect very high.

Salt has been getting her head stuck in the fence.  Repeatedly.  The grass is indeed always greener on the other side of the fence.  The fence, in this case, is a 4 x 4 "hog wire" and the goats love to poke their heads through it and eat the tender grass on the other side.  The predicament they find themselves in is that they have horns that prevent them from getting their heads back through.

Help me!

The ideal thing to do is that when the goats are a week or so old, you get a de-horner and de-horn them.  We got busy with other things and didn't do this in time and the horns are too long.  Those horns have proven to be troublesome for Salt.  I think if you look at her below, she's kind of embarrassed to be stuck yet again.

Okay, I know it's like the tenth time, but can you get me out, please?

I searched for ideas.  We've used rubber band emasculators before on Annie in order to de-horn her, but she grew scurs (partial horn re-growth).  I found people that had success with something I'll call the "Antlers of Ridicule and Scorn."  The cost for installation is negligible.  All you need is a length of PVC pipe and some duct tape.  Every redneck has that laying around somewhere.

You simply lay the PVC pipe horizontally against the front of the goat's horns and apply the duct tape numerous times in a 'figure-8' around the horns and PVC until secure.  When you are done, it will look something like this:

I am so ashamed!

The Antlers of Ridicule and Scorn work because they prevent the goat's head from being able to fit between the 4x4 spacings in the fence.  Although it is July, looking at Salt reminded me of Christmas, specifically this guy: (Don't you see the resemblance?)

Image Credit

You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch...  Salt did not like her antlers.  The duct tape held them on tight and no amount of shaking her head would shake them loose.

Salt saw that it was futile to try to remove her antlers and tried to accept her new accessory.  She tried to act normal, but I believe she knew how ridiculous she looked to us and her barnyard friends.

What are you looking at?

Her twin, Pepper, approached her and inspected her antlers between spasms of laughter.  I'm pretty sure I witnessed Pepper laughing uncontrollably.  Salt's confidence was shaken.

You look mahvelous! (cough, cough, snicker, snicker)

But here came Oreo.  It was suppertime!  Salt and Pepper ran to Oreo to nurse.  Then the craziest thing happened.  Oreo would not let Salt come near her with the antlers.  Oreo began to head butt her away.  I don't know if it scared Oreo.  I do know that Salt and Pepper aren't weaned yet and with the Antlers of Ridicule and Scorn installed, Salt would be on an involuntary hunger strike if I didn't take action.

I reluctantly removed Salt's antlers.  I have them stored away for safekeeping.  In a month, when it is time to wean Salt, I'll re-install the antlers.  Until then, we keep our eyes and ears open for Salt.  She doesn't seem to learn her lesson and I'm sure we'll have to pry her head out of the fence another time or three...

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. 

De-Horning Rosie's Little Bull Calf

We're not big on having horns on any animals on our little farm - cows or goats.  While they are young we de-horn them.  Sometimes we do it with an electric de-horning iron, but since we don't own one, we usually opt for using de-horning paste to do the trick.  This afternoon when I got home from work, I fed Rosie and then separated her little bull calf and tied him up.  I got the clippers and trimmed the hair on his head that surrounded his little horn buds.  This allows the de-horning paste to reach the skin level so that the horn bud is killed.

Although I captured the step-by-step process in the blog in the past (you can search the posts to find it), I didn't get pics today as my hands were full.  I'll explain the process.  After his head was shaved around the horn buds, I used Vaseline Petroleum Jelly to make a dam around each of the horn buds.  This helps prevent the de-horning paste from dripping around and into his eyes.  This is a cautionary move as the paste is an acid and could potentially put his eyes out.

Then I used my pocketknife to scoop out a glob of dehorning paste and I rubbed it on each horn bud and the surrounding skin so that it covered about the size of a quarter on each horn.  Then I held him tight.  Experience taught us that this burns the horn and surrounding skin and is very uncomfortable to the animal.  I held him tight for about 30 minutes.  The animals will writhe around on the ground.  You don't want them rubbing their heads on anything as they could get the acid in their eyes or on you.  After 30 minutes I use duct tape to completely cover the area on which I applied the de-horning paste. This serves as a precaution to keep him from rubbing it off.

Later on in the evening, I went out to check on him.  We was up and moving around but very suspicious of me being around.

The duct tape seemed to be sticking and doing a good job of keeping the de-horning paste on his horns.

Tomorrow morning I will bring some scissors with me and I'll cut off the duct tape and use a wet rag to remove the remaining de-horning paste.  I wouldn't want him rubbing any of that on Rosie's teats while he's nursing on her for his breakfast.

It will heal up fast and the de-horning paste will (hopefully) kill the horn bud so that the horns will never grow.  A bull with no horns means that he won't get tangled in the fence.  It also means that he won't be able to gore any of the other animals or us!

Time to Remove the Horns from the Triplets

Our little Nubian triplets are 4 weeks old and their little horn buds are coming in.  It is high time to do something about it.  Some call it de-horning and some call it disbudding, but the result is the same – you remove the horns of the animal.  The decision to dehorn or not to dehorn is one that many people struggle with.  There are pros and cons to keeping goats with horns. 

I read with interest that goats cannot sweat.  Horns allow them to regulate their body temperature.  Interesting.  Horns also allow goats to protect themselves against predators.  Horns allow the goats to scratch those “hard to reach places.”  Horns give the goats ‘handles’ that humans can hold while working on them.

The cons are that goat horns can be quite dangerous.  Dangerous for other goats.  Dangerous for people/kids.  The horns can grow quite sharp and put out an eye if you aren’t careful.  Then, goats have a habit of squirming and fitting their necks through the fence to eat the green grass on the other side.   If the goat has horns, they could be trapped until you untangle them from the fence and/or they can destroy the fence or strangle themselves.

We like to remove the horns from our goats.  It is not something I look forward to doing.  For Annie, I tried a process using an elastic band you use to castrate a young bull.  The process was successful in removing her horns but scurs (small misshapen horns) grew back.  We wanted to try an electric dehorner, but the one we borrowed to dehorn our bull, Chuck was too big.  Fortunately for us, a friend of ours had all the equipment and offered to help us dehorn Buckwheat, Darla, and Jane.

In addition to bringing the electric dehorning element, he brought a cool box shown below.  You simply put the kid into the box.

And then close the lid.  Just the goat’s head sticks out of the box and you can even tuck their ears inside and out of the way. 

The box has a divider in the bottom so that the kid can’t sit down, but remains upright and erect while the procedure is underway.  One person handles the dehorning and one holds the animal so that it is immobile.

The dehorner is plugged in for 30 minutes to allow it to heat up.

Then it is applied over the little horn buds.  This is the unpleasant part.  Smoke fills the room along with the smell of burning hair.  The goat cries and it is kind of a heart-wrenching thing.  It is essentially like branding an animal with a hot iron.

The heating iron is pressed down until a copper colored ring encircles the little horn buds.  The little horn buds’ tips can be flicked off and then the iron is pressed on the top of the horn buds.  This kills the root of the horns and stops their growth.

We apply some Blue Wound Coat spray to the area to ward off infection, but there is no blood in this process.

Here are all of the little tips of the triplet’s horns that came off.

While they screamed bloody murder during the procedure, they quickly recover and are running around playfully in just a few minutes like nothing happened.  The ‘out-patient’ procedure being finished, we decided to give them a full checkup and weigh them, so I went and got the scale and we placed a big blue molasses tub on top and zeroed it out and then placed each kid into the tub to weigh them.

And here is where we figured out what is going on with the three kids.

• Jane weighs 16 and 3/4 pounds
• Darla weighs 11 and 1/2 pounds
• Buckwheat weighs 14 pounds

The weights of the kids tells the story.  Jane is getting Annie’s left teat and sucking it dry, while Buckwheat and Darla share/fight over the other one.  As a result, Jane grows at a faster pace than her siblings, but Tricia is milking Annie and feeding Darla and Buckwheat with baby bottles filled with Annie’s milk supplemented with some of our cows’ milk.  They’ll all be okay, especially since we’ll be weaning in a couple of months.

So dehorning is done.  Special thanks to our friend and his family in North Louisiana for their expertise and equipment.

Cut off the Horns of the Wicked

Psalm 75:10 (KJV) All the horns of the wicked also will I cut off; but the horns of the righteous shall be exalted.

A commentary tells me that in this Bible verse, horns are literal, not figurative, and what it means is that the horns are defined as the “power, the might, the glory, the haughtiness” of the wicked and will be brought down, while the power of the righteous will be lifted up.

We’ve found that there are times on our little homestead where literal horns must be cut off.  Case in point is Chuck, our Jersey bull.

Young Chuck sitting on the ground (Ground Chuck?)

As with all of our animals, within the first couple weeks of their lives, we use dehorning paste to kill the little horn buds, so that their horns won’t ever develop.  Horns are dangerous to people, to other animals in the barnyard, and horns also wreak havoc on fences.  There are times in which for one reason or another, things don’t go as planned.  We put the same de-horning paste on Luna and her horns were killed.  For Chuck, however, one didn’t grow, but the other started to grow.  This presents a problem.

It’s too big now to use de-horning paste.  We’d have to load him into a trailer and bring him to the veterinarian to undergo surgery to remove it.  That is costly and time-consuming.  There is another option…

There is a device called an electric dehorner.  It essentially is a circular heating iron that heats up, and you apply it to the entire area encircling the horn bud.  It will kill the horn bud.  A friend of ours owns an electric dehorner and agreed to let us borrow it.  Actually, he was in the area and came by and took care of the procedure for us.

I’m not going to show pictures of the process.  We tied him up tight where he couldn’t thrash around.  Then we put the nose pliers in his nose to make him compliant.  Finally the cherry red heating element was used (similar to a brand).  The barn filled with smoke when the heating iron was applied, but Chuck was only uncomfortable for a minute.  He was running around acting normal in no time, although I’m sure his head was sore.

In checking in on him a few days later, you can see the round ring that the heating element made around his horn bud.  You can also see where the little horn is about to fall off.  With this method of horn removal, there’s no bleeding.  The ‘roots’ of the horn are dead and will not grow, ensuring the safety of us, other animals and our fences.

Ouch!

And that brings a gentle reminder to me that we need to decide what to do about the triplet’s horns.  Do we want to remove them?  If so, by what method?  We tried using a castrator band on Annie’s horns.  While it worked, scurs (partial horns) grew back and we’ll likely look to another method.  The electric de-horner for a calf looks to be way too large to use on a baby goat.  They make electric dehorners for goats.  Maybe we’ll let Chuck weigh in with his opinion?

"Don't Get me Started..."

Well, maybe not…

Cutting off Horns

All the horns of the wicked also will I cut off; but the horns of the righteous shall be exalted.  Psalm 75:10

Back in November we posted HERE how we used dehorning paste to remove little Amy's horns.  It is a tricky process.  If you use too much of the paste, you run the risk of the acid running and possibly getting in their eyes, blinding them.  If you are on the cautious side and don't use enough, the horn bud isn't killed and it will grow back. Well, 8 months later one of Amy's horns started growing back.  Amy is not wicked (ha ha!), but we made an appointment with the veterinarian to get the horn cut off.

The veterinarian in town that we normally use didn't do this procedure, so we had to load up Amy in the trailer and bring her to Lake Charles for a short procedure to remove the horn.  After dropping off Amy at the vet for her day surgery, I went on to work, but Tricia watched the procedure.  The vet deadened the area on her head and sliced two long incisions, opening up her head. Then he took a large scoop-like device and scooped out the growing horn and roots. Just to be safe, he did the same on the other side as well. Poor Amy had copious amounts of blood streaming down her head. Tricia said it was hard to watch.  She wasn't in pain, though. Amy was loaded back in the trailer and Dad followed Tricia home.  Amy was unloaded and put back in the pasture.

Last night, however, the deer flies were giving her a hard time and she was using her back legs to scratch her head.  I didn't want her to open up the incision, so we let her sleep in the stall in the barn so she'd be away from the flies out in the pasture. 

Amy in the barn - a temporary recovery room after her procedure

The doctor had stitched her up and sprayed some silver stuff (AluSpray, I think) to protect the wound from bacterial infection.  It looked a lot like silver spray paint. After a rough day, she appears to be doing great now. You can see how the veterinarian shaved part of her head and made large incisions and then sprayed the silver stuff on her.

Ouch!

It had mostly stopped bleeding, but then she irritated it scratching against something and it started bleeding a little bit again.

The doctor did a good job closing up the incision and stitching it up.  We're to remove the stitches after a week.  If we lived closer, we'd take her back in, but we'll do it ourselves.  Once the wound heals up, you won't be able to notice.

We gave Amy some alfalfa pellets for a little treat and left her in the stall overnight. This morning when we went out to milk Daisy and Rosie she was doing just fine.

We put her back out into her paddock and she started eating grass.  It was probably a painful ordeal for her that could have been avoided (along with the $113 vet bill) had we been successful in dehorning her properly in the first place, but this is one of those situations that you use as a learning experience.  We'll either apply a bit more dehorning paste next time the cows calve OR we'll invest in a de-horning iron.  This is an electric appliance that heats up red-hot and is then held against the calf's horn bud to destroy the horn and prevent future growth.

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.