Thursday, March 31, 2011

Some More On Horny Goats........

Hehehe!  Get yer mind outta the gutter!  I'm talking about HORNS you goose!

I'd like to note that all the goats in these pictures have been sold and no longer live here with us!

Notice IE's tipless horns......
After this post a commenter asked me why we disbud, and if horns weren't natural.  I'd like to address this now. 

Yup, horns are more natural, but there are so many unnatural things  we do with goats that for me the horns just can't stay.

It is not natural for us to fence a goat in, it is not natural for us to milk a goat, and it certainly isn't natural to make a pet out of one, but we do and there is nothing wrong with it.  However when you fence a goat in, milk a goat, and keep a goat as a pet, horns can cause you lots and lots of problems.

  Goats learn how to use their horns quickly and they will use them on you and on other goats.  Ever since Tommy came here with his glorious set of horns, my girls have not worn collars.  It's too easy for Tommy to hook them under the collar and perhaps drag them to death or break their necks.  Tommy tries to hook me all the time, but so far I've been too fast for him.  He has gotten me when I've had to wrassle him, but not bad, just a bruise.  I've heard and read many the horror story of goats killing other goats, many times by accident.  I've heard of does ripping the bellies out of their kids with their horns.  As kids get older and the doe wants to wean them she will let them nurse for a bit, then she will butt them off with her head.  Well a goat with horns can really hurt her kids badly doing this.

You can't do this with a horned goat!!
A horned goat is a danger to themselves in fencing.  There is nothing more attractive to a goat than the grass, brush, or browse on the other side of the fence.  Unless you have hot wire all the way around your entire goat pasture your goats will be sticking their heads through to eat the grass and weeds on the other side.  If that goat has horns, they usually can't get their heads back out.  If you don't find them in time, you could come back to a dead goat, hanging from the wire.  

A horned dairy goat will have a more difficult time getting her head in the stanchion, and you won't enjoy lovin' on her nearly as much as her disbudded sister, cuz when she rolls her head back in ecstasy as you scratch her butt, she's gonna get you with her razor sharp horns!  One of the wethers we had that I botched his disbudding loved to rub his head up and down the back of my thighs and my butt.  This was actually a really nice massage, except his horns would hook me!  Tulip does this to me and it's great because she has no horns.


Disbudding is a personal decision and one each individual goat raiser should make.  In keeping livestock there are many, many things we must do that seem harsh, but in the long run they are so much better for the animals and humans involved.  Disbudding is quick and I can tell you from my experience doing it that the babies are just fine as soon as it's done.  They run over to momma, get a slug of milk and are back to bouncin' round with their siblings and cousins within minutes. 


Click this to see the disbudding scars bigger, but keep in mind that it didn't work!  As a matter of fact, you can see that the right horn bud is already growing.

Homestead life isn't all roses and chocolates.  Real homesteading is harsh at times, but that just makes the good all the sweeter!



God Bless.............




18 comments:

  1. Well, you know I certainly won't fault anyone for disbudding or dehorning an animal given the whole horned cow experience I just went through. I think leaving horns is one of those things that is nice in theory but you have to do what is practical and comfortable for your specific situation.

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  2. Well said! I am much more comfortable with the de horned dwarfs, for both their sakes & mine. They are so small & jumpy & us standing over them could be a problem if they had horns. I was present at a few dis-buddings by someone very proficient. The whole process was not as bad as I had thought it to be.

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  3. Safety first , its why we raise polled cattle. or dehorn.

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  4. ps....good tip on taking the collar off the girls if their billy has horns.

    the goats in my avatar are related to mine, i turned down adopting them because of the horns.

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  5. We dehorn around here.We will be doing on e little one this evening.Not my favorite thing to do...but they are just fine within minutes of doing it.Thanks for all the humor and the noteworthy post you write. Love it!!

    Cindy from Rick-Rack and Gingham

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  6. Thanks Mandy, you are right, you have to do what's best for you and your animals.

    Hi Michelle! Yeah, that's exactly the way I feel. And you are right, when disbudding is done right, it's over quickly and not that big a deal.

    Hey Fernvalley, I totally agree!

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  7. Hey Cindy! Thanks so much for stopping by and for your lovely comments and compliments!

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  8. Yup, dehorning sucks - try doing an 80 lb. calf! - I'm super-excited that lil' Miss Kit-Kat is polled!

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  9. I've made the decision to dehorn around here also. I had some Boer goats with horns, which would have been fine if they'd been desert goats, but they were pasture goats and we were pulling heads out of fences at *least* once a day.

    When I switched to milk goats, my first ones were dehorned, and that made it necessary to disbud all the babies and only buy other adults that were already dehorned, just to protect the ones without horns.

    But there are other reasons too, as you pointed out - heads getting stuck in fences, unintentional injuries, little kids who are at extra risk with horned animals... I'll take a few minutes of pain over a potentially fatal accident for them or my own kids.

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  10. Heeehehe, ya sure know how to get a girl's attention! :o)

    Yep, I'm sure...Farm Boy brought in some cattle from the sale barn that have partial horns (nubbed about halfway down). I was watchin' 'em at the feed bunks and they sure can use what they have left. We always dehorn ours.

    God bless ya and have a terrific day sweetie!!!

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  11. our county fair doesn't allow kids to have horns on their animals for all those reasons.

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  12. I agree with you on the disbudding... sounds like it could be really dangerous if you dont.

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  13. Thank you GoodWife for your excellent information about debudding. I hope to some day have a couple of goats and I'm trying to read as much as possible and learn from the REAL experts who know the ropes!!
    Your safety issues for the animal as well as the person outweigh being natural!!
    Thank you for your information!!
    Suzan

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  14. I missed the disbudding time on my goat, and now he has one heck of a pair! Thank goodness my goat is really meek! I have been hurt really bad with goat horns, down to the point where I was in pain just walking. (Goat hooked head around my leg and jabbed the inside of my knee.)

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  15. No horns at our place! Much safer without them!

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  16. Hey MilkMaid! Lucky you and lucky Kit Kat!

    Hi Sarah! Thanks for commenting!

    Hi Nezzy, thanks so much for stopping by!

    Thanks Nicole and Jennifer!

    Hi TreeHugger and you are so very welcome! You are doing the right thing in reading, reading, reading!

    Hey Autumn, so glad you weren't hurt worse than you were!

    Thanks for stopping by Weekend Cowgirl ;)

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  17. Hi, I found your blog while researching kinder goats. We are interested in purchasing some kinders. Please contact me via email if you are interested in selling some goats. sidneyg@vol.com

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