What is Disbudding and Dehorning?
Disbudding is the term used when the “buds” or tiny “horns” are removed. Dehorning is a term used typically for when horns are removed from older goats, but essentially, when you disbud your goat, you are preventing their horns from growing.
Why would I want to Disbud or Dehorn my goat?
There’s a bit of a debate from homesteaders on the topic of disbudding or dehorning goats. Some people say it’s cruel to remove the baby goats’ buds, because it’s a painful procedure. Some people say they like horns and that it’s more natural and as God made them.
It’s been my experience that horns can cause a lot of problems when owning goats. Goats can get their horns caught in a fence and die of dehydration, they can injure & kill other goats because goats tend to head butt each other and fight, and lastly, goats can injure their owners. This has personally happened to us, Kevin was picking up a goat with horns and the goat reared it’s head back, missing Kevin’s eye by an inch.
So, we made the decision that we will always remove our goats horns by disbudding them when they are young.
But it’s so sad! I don’t think I can do it!
It IS sad. And honestly, you’ll have to decide for your family if disbudding or dehorning your goats is right for you. I won’t judge you if you decide to let your goats have horns. No goat-judging coming from this goat lady, no sir. But, trust me, after you do it the first time, it gets easier. If you really don’t think you can do this, you can always pay somebody, but it’s something a goat owner can do easily by themselves.
What is the proper age to Disbud my baby goat?
We feel for buds on the top of their heads the day our goats are born and judge from there when it is time to disbud. It can be anywhere from 4 days old to 10 days old, it just depends on your breed of goat. Males tend to grow their horns faster and will need to be disbudded sooner, while females can wait a bit longer. Either way, try to shoot for the 4-10 day range so you are careful to get the buds removed before they get too old.
Supplies needed to Disbud & Dehorn a baby goat:
- A goat disbudding iron – click here to buy
- A goat disbudding holding box – click here to make
- Heavy duty gloves – click here to buy
- A very sharp knife
- A helper
- Homemade Animal Healing Salve – recipe here
How to Disbud & Dehorn a baby goat:
STEP 1) Using hair clippers, trim the hair around the little buds on the head of the goat. Meanwhile, plug in the dehorning iron & preheat for about 10 minutes.
STEP 2) Place the baby goat in the disbudding holding box. A disbudding holding box is extremely important! Baby goats are stronger than you think and if you just try to have somebody hold them, you run the risk of burning yourself, your helper, or the baby goat in other places besides the buds. You can make your own disbudding holding box.
STEP 3) Check the proper positioning of how the helper is holding the goat. The baby goat’s head should be through the u-shaped slot, the board should be on top with the helper sitting, and the baby goat’s head should be pulled out with the helper holding the head firmly with the ears folded back.
Before you begin, make sure to test the iron on a piece of wood. If it burns a nice ring within 2 seconds, it’s ready to go
STEP 5) Place the hot iron down around the little bud of the goat. The open circle goes around the tip of the bud. Let the weight of the iron be your pressure. You will slowly rotate the pressure around in a clock-wise manner, for 3-4 seconds. For males, burn for 5 seconds. The helper can blow on the smoke so the disbudder can see what they’re doing.
What you want is a nice copper ring around the base of the bud. You may not get this the first time. Just go ahead and let it cool and do the same to the other side. (The helper can blow on the burned bud while you do the other one)
STEP 6) See that nice copper ring? You’ll want to shoot for that. You may not get it the first time, but that’s okay.
STEP 7) Now use your knife and cut off the bud. Be sure to get low enough to the base of the bud. You’ll be surprised at how easy this bud comes off.
STEP 8) The base of the bud may or may not bleed. Don’t freak out if it does bleed. You’re next step will take care of that.
STEP 9) Use the side of the horn and burn the base of the bud. You’ll move the iron around to get a good burn on the top. It’s a little more difficult with this angle, but don’t stress out. Just take your time and focus on getting a good seal on the top.
STEP 10) Do the exact same thing to the other side. Cut off the bud…
STEP 11) …And use the horn to cauterize and seal the top.
STEP 12) Before you are done you need to go around one more time on the base of each ring for an additional 3 seconds.
STEP 13) Take your time checking the burned buds and make sure you didn’t miss any spots. If all looks good, let the baby back with its mother or bottle feed to comfort him/her right away. While they bleat and cry during the procedure, they act fine the rest of the day and won’t hold it against you;)
STEP 14) Don’t put anything on the burned buds the first day, just let them rest a bit. The day after disbudding, you can add some of my homemade healing salve. You may notice some oozing & maybe a few drops of blood, but don’t worry about it. If it starts bleeding a lot, you can cauterize it again, but you most likely won’t need to. After 2 weeks or so, the hair will grow back and you’ll never see any horns.
If you have a male baby goat, you’ll need to do one extra step
Because male goats have more growth hormones in their bodies, you’ll need to burn an extra ring overlapping the original ring. Just behind of the original ring, burn another 3-4 seconds. This should help prevent scurs (partial abnormal horns) from growing as well as reduce the scent. Trust me, this is an important part when disbudding male goats.
Watch our video of how we disbud our baby goats
Frequently Asked Questions:
Q. What if my goat is older? Can I still do this method?
When your goat’s buds are too big to fit in the iron’s ring, then they are too old to do this method. You can try banding you goats horns instead, which is a method where you tie wire and a tight band around the horns and they will eventually fall off.
Q. Do I have to worry about infection?
Because you are cauterizing the area, you shouldn’t have to worry about infection at all, but it’s a good idea to keep an eye on they burned buds and make sure it looks like it’s healing. Also, using my homemade animal salve is a good idea as well.
Q. If I don’t want to do this myself, how much would somebody else charge and who should I go to?
Typically, vets don’t do disbuddings, but if you find a fellow goat owner, you can ask to pay them for the disbudding. Most people will charge $5-$10 per goat.
Okay, how are you feeling? Do you think you could do this?
This is by far the best explanation of how to disbud a goat! Thank you so much!
Where does DaNelle get those chain link collars that the goats have on
Farm supply store.
I rescued a baby Nigerian Dwarf. She will be a week old tomorrow. I had no idea that they grow their horns so young. I’m trying to figure out what to do. I haven’t found any little bumps on her head yet. Is it best to debud them? ?
Hi Emily-
Disbudding is your choice as to whether you want a horned goat or not. It’s best to disbud before 10 days of age though.
Thank you -Bobbi (DaNelle’s Assistant)
What breed do you have? It’s possible that you gave a naturally polled goat-one that doesn’t grow horns.
Here is a link to a website that explains this:
http://www.nigeriandwarfcolors.com/polledhorned-genetics.html
I know this is an old post, and you have your answer by now, however, I wanted to help others with the same question.
Julie
(I am not a goat owner….YET….but have been doing my research and learning from goatie friends prior to purchasing.)
If your priority is to protect your children and at the same time provide meat for your family, by raising goats you would rather have the horns removed, either humane or not they are lives stocks, they are meant for human consumption. And humans, we are the Apex devourers. We raise livestock to prevent the endangered species from over consumption from them becoming extinct, any endangered species. Humane or not this is the only option left to those animals.Getting eaten by humans, that is their role, for them to get assimilated to us.
What size dehorner do you use for Nigerian Dwarf Goats? 3/8″ or 1/2″?
Hi Kerri-
You can use either, but I typically go with 1/2”.
Thank you -Bobbi (DaNelle’s Assistant)
Can I have someone else do the disbudding?
Hi Callie-
Yes, always your choice to disbud or not, and to do it yourself or not.
Thank you -Bobbi (DaNelle’s Assistant)
Seriously, if you don‘t want horns on an animal or can‘t take proper care of one with them, JUST DON‘T GET HORNED ANIMALS!
And to say this procedure is humane, because goats can injure themselves, is just ridiculous and probably meant to ease your guilty conscience.
I mean, humans use their hands to hurt each other, but we would never think to remove those.
true!
I don’t think you should do this, but f you really have to than at least use Narcotics/painkillers!
Goat owner and lover of goats for 20 years. The above is the stupidest thing I have ever read. We who homestead do our own disbudding ourselves and our excellent at it. If a predator is going to get them their horns won’t even slow them down. Get a LGD to protect your goats.
Thank you. We are planning on doing this procedure soon. We appreciate all the info —
I see SO many negative comments about this solely based on human/goat interaction. What you are failing to realize is the interactions goats have with other goats. I have horned goats and have witnessed them hitting each other with their horns a lot. My reason for considering this is to PROTECT my goats from harming EACH OTHER! I have been seriously concerned for their safety at times. Anyone saying this is cruel and inhumane BETTER NOT agree with human infant circumcision.
Yes, but them “fighting” is completely natural, and if they feel they need to find a boss, then you should let them! Of course, if they become over aggressive, then you would have to separate them!
Ugh….common sense here…goats in the city need VETS or PROFESSIONALS to dehorn them with proper no/ little suffering methods. Anything else is negligence. Goats in the country need their horns for attacks on the herd like bobcats mountain lions bears ect. Im in ozarks mountains. Id be killing my pack of goats if my giant male didn’t have a way to defend his girls. Fencing is awful and holes happen regardless of how good you make it goats aggressively mess it up get into issues. Showing a goat is vanity and selfish unnecessary to dehorn for. Kids are in danger when around ANYfsrm animals die to their natural wild natures ….even a duck has a mean knock out wing…it will hit your nose with the bone in its wing n make you bleed if you try n hold one trust me. To dehorn should only be for city reasons and DONE PROFESSIONALLY..if you cant afford a professional you are negligent. Animals suffer just like you n me. Be wise with them.
“Common sense” comment is very biased and uneducated.
Done at the right age and correctly doesn’t cause the animals an distress. Are they unhappy? Sure, but as others have stated, human circumcision, tattoos, piercings, and brandings are similar “pains”. “Country goats” is a misleading term. I have 84 country acres. I have guard animals and fences with secure housing at night. I’ve never lost a hornless goat to predators. Contrary to “common sense” comment, us “country” folk can have more experience and knowledge of an animal than any city vet will ever have.
We used paste on ours and it worked on the girls but the boys seem to be getting scurs (I think that is what they are called). They are almost 2 months old what can we do about this now?
The next bunch we have I think we will burn them
Thank you for listening
Donna Hart
Hi Donna-
Some goats do develop scurs, especially if you have a male goat that is not castrated. Typically they are nothing to worry about. They can get knocked off and you will see a little bleeding. Usually the bleeding is not excessive and putting a little salve on it will fix it right up. However, do keep an eye on the scurs as the goats mature to make sure they don’t grow back into the goats’ head. If you see this happening you will need to take them to a vet to get them surgically removed.
I hope this helps. Best of luck! -Thanks -Bobbi (DaNelle’s Assistant)
This is just ridiculously inaccurate. If you have predators, you need livestock guardians. To not have then truly would be negligent. Those horns are not going to save your goats from a mountain lion, but they will allow your goat to get it’s head stuck in a fence making it an easy target. An experienced goat owner is much better at disbudding than a vet that has very limited experience doing the procedure. I’ve read plenty of horror stories of botched disbudding jobs done by vets.
You are absolutely correct. I am here with 5 baby nigerian dwarf kids that utilizes a vet for their care . all 5 kids. Were disbudded by the vet and all 5 grew back. Ive been refused any credits on their failed procedures. I am trying to have a neighboring cattle farmer disbud my kidds this time. Any assistance on the differences between disbudding calves to disbudding dwarf goat kidds would be greatly appreciated please.
Hi Theresa-
Disbudding cattle and goats is pretty much the same, but on a larger scale, so make sure the tips used fit the goats. While your neighbor most likely knows what they are doing they may not have the right sized tips.
Thank you -Bobbi (DaNelle’s Assistant)
If you can’t figure out how to keep your enclosure safe for your goats and are that worried about your own safety, then don’t get a horned animal. That is a natural part of their body. This is cruel and disgusting. It’s stuff like this that makes me lose faith in humans.
Actually, this is not cruel. In most cases the horns are numbed properly and goat doesn’t feel a thing. It’s not only for personal safety, but for the safety of all the goats in the pen, and any goats and showmen at the fair. It is a fair requirement to dehorn any goats you show. Just imagine if they got away from you in the ring (they are quite strong) and butted the next person in line? Would you really want to pay for that injury, which could have been avoided in the first place? I have shown many goats, all of which had to be dehorned, and I can tell you that they are just fine. If you want to know what true animal cruelty is, you just have to watch the news. And last but not least, if these kinds of articles bother you, don’t read them. It is really not your place to dis on every article that you think is wrong without any proof or reason. And it’s not my place to call you out on it, but I felt the need to support the writers, farmers, and 4h-ers.
If one feels the absolute need to disbud, I cannot help but wonder why one has a naturally horned animal in the first place? Perhaps polled sheep would be more appropriate.
If it is done, it should be accomplished by a veterinarian with anesthetic and NSAID pain relief afterwards. It’s one of the most painful procedures that humans perform on animals, and that’s saying a lot. And to infant animals at that. “Welcome to the world, little one! Now we’re going to take a horrendously hot iron and burn around one of the most nerve-rich parts of your body!”
To do so without proper local anesthetic is unconscionable! And there is evidence that disbudding and dehorning can cause lifelong pain.
Having horned goats and cattle simply takes a bit more thought. One does not put them in improper fencing. They use their horns for temperature control, play sparring with each other, playing with toys (one of ours picks up long sticks between his horns and practically twirls it like a baton!) and scratching themselves.
It is their birthright.
If you’re gonna go as far as to say it’s an animals birthright to keep their horns, then you better not eat animals either because it is an animals birthright to live a long and happy life. And what about when people castrate bulls and horses? Is that their birthright too? Or maybe we could let the cow population explode and eat them all because there are too many. But that would go against their birthrights. And by the way, if you happen to be a vegan and don’t eat animals, isn’t it the right of a plant to have life as well?
Just a couple thoughts. Also if you don’t want to see this stuff don’r read the articles!
Im vegan. Plants dont run im terror. A animals that are conscious do just like you. That which is aware has fear of pain/suffering….just exactly as you. But i have a baby goat by circumstances not by originally wanting him. I ended up with my moms baby goat due to its mothers rejection. I think they are right. If you want a no horned animal get a sheep. Its a choice. ..if you auction it young you wont have to dehorn. Just breed with a friend’s buck and give it back. This is cruel but bucks are dangerous no matter what. Its a fight happy animal its just what it does.
The idea that debudding goats is cruel and unnatural is the same stupidity that goes with not spaying/neutering dogs and cats, or clipping dew claws on dogs.
Just do it humanely and get a vet to do the procedure under full anaesthesia. If you can’t afford that don’t get the goat. People pay a lot for miniature goats but refuse to pay for pain relief. It’s barbaric. Imagine that happening to you.
I so totally agree with Diane C Nicholson. In my country (Netherlands) it is also ILLEGAL to dehorn without pain relief/ anesthetics, and only legal to perform under those circomstances when the animals are kept for dairy or for open recreational facilitys for children. All my dairy cows and my pet goats are horned. They don’t hurt eachother if they have enough space, food and enrichment.
I just did my first disbuddings the past couple weeks.
It broke my heart but for me it is necessary. I hope they come out ok. Thanks for the blogs
Enid,
We just did our first ones 3 weeks ago. I think they will be ok. Maybe scurs. But babies were fine right afterwards. Still get cuddles. Love these posts. Very helpful.
Hello,
I bought some baby 6 week old goats a month ago and I had the owner disbudding/dehorn at a vet. Scabs fell of and everything looked good. But I noticed recently that some have little bitty nubs. Is there anything I need to do? They are around 12-13 weeks now. What do you think?
Thanks,
Elizabeth
Hi Elizabeth-
Some goats do have little nubs that stay small and they are nothing to worry about. Nubs can grow into scurs, especially if you have a male goat that is not castrated. Typically they are nothing to worry about. They can get knocked off and you will see a little bleeding. Usually the bleeding is not excessive and putting a little salve on it will fix it right up. However, do keep an eye on the scurs as the goats mature to make sure they don’t grow back into the goats’ head. If you see this happening you will need to take them to a vet to get them surgically removed.
I hope this helps. Best of luck! -Thanks -Bobbi (DaNelle’s Assistant)
Ok! Thank you! They are all females and haven’t grown much. What kind of salve do you suggest for that?
Great on the goats!
This salve recipe is a really good one: https://www.weedemandreap.com/homemade-animal-healing-salve/
Thanks! -Bobbi
The horns haven’t grown much…the goats are growing well.
Really? I cant believe people still think this is “humane”. If youre worried about not getting impaled, dont get a goat, or better yet, learn how to READ your goats behavior so you know when they’re gonna strike. I don’t understand how people can think in a way that is so selfish that they would rather burn an animals horns off than just avoiding coming into contact with the horns. How about we have safer enclosures? This is simply ridiculous.
Actually it is much more humane to disbud when young than leaving them open to the injuries that can and do occur when goats gore each other. If you had dealt with this personally you would understand how awful it is when they are injured in that way. Another issue is that horned goats easily get caught in fencing, hay feeders, all kinds of places, and unless you are with them 24/7 they can and will get themselves tangled and die. Additionally, most goat shows require that goats be dehorned to show, for the same reason – to reduce injuries to other goats and to the kids showing.
I was really surprised that your article made no mention of using a pain killer before the procedure. Maybe I just missed it.
Most articles include an anti-inflammatory as a standard, and warn against using the iron for too long to avoid the damage of over-heating the skull. Sorry, but when your article said “humane”, I thought you would go even further and provide instructions on administering a local anesthetic. The UK requires it as a humane practice now. I once worked feverishly to release a neighbor’s goat whose horned head had become tangled in some fencing and tightened a rope around his neck to the extent that he was struggling to breath. I agree with dis-budding but will have a vet demonstrate how to do so with the use of a local anesthetic. It doesn’t need to be excruciating, even if it’s only for 10 seconds. That’s my two cents anyway.
I lost couple of goats due to their horn that stuck in the fence and I was not there to help release them and it was very hard for me to disbud my goats and I love my goats and took me 3 weeks to think about it but finally decided to do it after watching few videos and it took me about 10 seconds for each goats and as soon as I finished they got up and run to their Mom of course on of them I am the mom and feed her because she lost her mom so I take care of here and she wanted milk which I had it with me and he was very happy and they started playing. People who think it is harsh they dont know about goats and maybe they should get few and take care of the everyday and see what goat can do with their horn and stop judging. Thanks for the vide.
I couldn’t agree more! Barbaric and shameful
Yes it’s humane. The fact you cant see its best for most goats in a domestic situation shows your ignorance. Why would you come on a site that teaches disbudding so you can whine? Take that sh** somewhere else.
Humane? That word means nothing. Humans are cruel destructive beings that take without giving back. We are the most parasitic creatures on earth. So saying humane is a joke to me. Goats are born with horns, the way nature intended. But people think it’s ok to alter things to make it convenient and beneficial to their own needs. You clearly don’t understand what our relationship with animals was meant to be nor our relationship with Mother Earth. I pray for your enlightenment. Blessed be.
I think it’s time for you to be enlightened. Just because nature intended goats to have horns in the wild dosen’t mean it’s the best thing for them as domestic animals. The concern for horned domestic goats isn’t because it’s “convenient” but because goats can hurt each other and themselves no matter how good the fencing is. Similarly, neutering/spaying dogs is not done to be convenient to the owner, but to protect the safety of the dog and other animals around it. Goats establish heiarchy through head butting and they can cause a lot of damage to other goats, especially does in milk, kids, polled goats, etc. As long as disbudding is done quickly with pain medication, it is the best option for many domesticated goats. Nature also intended for diseases to afflict us but you don’t see doctors refusing to use medicine because it’s not “natural”. Blessed be.
Cats and dogs were both born with sexual organs to breed with. So is it cruel to spay/neuter them, or is it cruel to let them breed all they want and have most starve to death or be euthanized because of population explosions?
Hi when you mention removing the “cap” are you simply referring to the skin over the bud or is there an actual bone type material you are removing?
Hi Hillary-
Disbudding is just the removal of the horn-producing cells and not actually removing attached bone from the skull. DaNelle’s video shows how she does this. It’s a great video, but if you just want to view the disbudding portion start at minute 2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=193&v=TQ4U3KiRmw4
I hope this helps. Thanks for reading and posting! -Bobbi (DaNelle’s Assistant)
Have you had any experience with scurs? We bought both of our Nigerian Dwarfs as disbudded kids and they both have scurs that are about to grow into their heads so we have to remove them. I’ve been looking for the best way to do that.
Hi Stephanie-
I have had a couple goats that had scurs. However, since the scurs were small, and the goats were several months old by the time we inherited them, I left them on. They never had a problem with them, except one got knocked off later, earning that goat the nickname unicorn 😉
When the scur was knocked off the bleeding was very minimal and I just covered the area with salve and there were no problems after that.
However, if the scurs are actually growing into their heads you will need to take them to a vet to get them surgically removed.
I hope this helps. Best of luck! -Thanks -Bobbi (DaNelle’s Assistant)
Thanks! I was hoping they woudn’t grow in the direction they are so we wouldn’t need to worry about it.
Thank you for taking the time to share your experiences and knowledge. I enjoy reading your posts. I have Nigerian Dwarf goats and was wondering what size tip do you use on the iron to disbud Nigerians.
Hi Teresa-
For smaller goats I have seen it recommended to use a 1/4″ tip. However, I personally use a 1/2″ tip and get better results. I also always try to disbud as soon as possible as this gets better results too. I hope this helps. Thanks so much for reading and posting! Happy Goating! -Bobbi
Thank you for your answer. My two does, who are sisters, each gave birth to two kids. The disbudded doe gave birth to a male and a female. The polled doe had two males with one of them being polled like her. It wasn’t hard to tell he was polled. There were no swirls and no bumps like the other two males. Even now he only has small rounded nubs. The other two males I disbudded at 8 days old. The information on this sight was priceless. It was my first time of disbudding and though emotionally difficult, I think it went well. I thought the female kid might be polled as well until yesterday when her small round nubs started to feel somewhat pointed. I’ve been checking daily, but now we’re past the 4-10 day time frame. Can she just now be getting horns at three weeks? I didn’t want to accidently disbud a polled goat.
Hi Teresa-
Congratulations on all the healthy kids! So glad the disbudding went well. As for your little doe in question, some goats can be late bloomers, but this is rare, although does’ horns do grow slower than the males. If you definitely feel they have gone from smooth little nubs to actually pointy horns, I would say yes you have a goat that is not polled. You are getting a bit late in the disbudding game, and I am always so nervous about disbudding at older ages. You may want to talk to a vet about removing them if you are not comfortable about doing it yourself. Plus, they can see in person if they are truly horns or not. I hope this helps and your little doe is a-ok. Let me know what you decide to do with her. Thanks -Bobbi (DaNelle’s Assistant)
Can you please help with what can go wrong or what to expect after disbudding??? We just did our babies on our own for the first time and there is some oozing and a little bleeding on some of their bud sites. It’s been 4 hours since we disbudded. we saw a good copper ring on most, but some had white showing through around edges of copper ring or just a lot of white showing through in certain spots. I am really concerned about the oozing weeping effect and also one of the babies is messing with her head and using her back hooves to scratch and pick at the wounded areas. I don’t know what to do… might call a vet next? Ugghh. Please help?
Hi Sarah,
It’s normal for them to scratch at them, but if there isn’t a copper ring, it’s because you took the disbudding horn off too soon (probably by 1-2 seconds). That copper ring is necessary so it doesn’t ooze. At this point, you can put lavender or frankincense on it and let it be, but just know next time to really get a good dark copper ring on it.
Do you sell the cream? We are going to do it pretty soon and I can’t get the oils right away.
thanks
Hi Karla-
No, DaNelle doesn’t sell the salve. If you need EOs right away you can always try your local health food store and see if they sell any quality brand of EOs that you can purchase immediately. Thank you -Bobbi (DaNelle’s Assistant)
I am buying the electric dehorn but you did not said or write what size I should buy? I have a little one, 10 days old and we always will do little ones. Which size would you recommend? I will appreciate you answer as soon as possible.Thanks
Hi Karla-
For smaller goats a 1/4″ tip can be used, although a 1/2″ tip often gets better results. And yes, try to disbud as soon as possible as this gets better results too. I hope this helps.
Thank you -Bobbi (DaNelle’s Assistant)
Hi, I am looking for more information about the debudding/dehorning of my goats. Could we possibly talk on the phone? I am willing to pay you for your time.
Hi Renee, I have a video on it here, I think it’ll help you! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQ4U3KiRmw4&list=PLbNNUM043aIDMgCku6eGb6hEqCtwYqXGT&t=25s&index=9
Dear DaNelle,
I hope you’ll be glad to hear people from all over the world are reading your articles. I live in a country in which no one raises goats as pets, but I want to do it. I’ll be getting a 4 days old goat tomorrow and I’d like to debud it. We have no debudding machines hear, nor do we have vets who do it. Is there any other way for me to do it? Can I use something else as a debudding machine?
Thank you!
Hi. Maybe this post might help?
https://www.weedemandreap.com/removing-goat-horns-naturally-clove-oil/
Great tutorial! Thanks so much for posting.
On a sad note, I attempted to order the kid box you have linked above on 3/10/17 from Hoegger Supply. My card was charged immediately but they haven’t returned any of my emails about when to expect my order. I’ve attempted contact via email on 3/15, 3/20 and 3/27.
I began to get suspicious so I googled “Hoegger Supply reviews” and the BBB review was the first to load. They have an “F” rating and several other people (also on Yelp) have reported similar issues along with not being able to get ahold of them via the phone either.
Have you personally dealt with them or ordered anything? I’m hoping that I didn’t just lose $70!
OH no!! That’s horrible! I’m taking down any links to them ASAP
I had the same thing happen to me with Hoegger this spring. I placed a sizable order, received no confirmation email and my card wasn’t charged for two weeks. My order finally came almost a month after I placed it, with two items missing (valued at $65 combined), though these items were checked off my hand on the included invoice. I have been unable to reach anyone at Hoegers by phone and they won’t respond to my emails. Very unamusing! Premier one and caprine supply are the way to go, in my experience.
If the babies are small, I wrap them tightly in a towel so they legs are tight and dehorn that way. They are safer and are more supported. It does take 2 or 3 people to help.
I just purchased a disbudding box (not nearly handy enough to make my own!) from Hamby Supply, if anyone else is looking for alternatives to purchase one. The link is https://hambydairysupply.com/box-for-disbudding-or-tattooing-kids-lambs/. I haven’t tried it out yet but it looks good for the purpose and only cost $75 with shipping.
We just disbudded a 3 week old boy. There is a bit of horn left on the head in front. Do we burn that too? Also, he seems to be in pain (after 24 hours) is that normal? Is it because this horn is still there?
What is his behavior? I would say that it’s probably fine if a bit is left ( I wouldn’t redo it), but I’m curious as to how he is acting. He should be with mom and acting normally.
I have an Alpine doe that I have attempted to disbud at 2 weeks of age and now she is showing buds again. Can I try to disbud her again with dehorning iron or is she to old? She is 1 month of age now.
I have a Nigerian pygmy doe. I have had her horns removed twice now by the vet and they keep coming back. Is there anything else I can do to try to remover her horns. Maybe the vet doesn’t know how to do it right. Or her horns are just stubern. Now they are growing forward.. Any pointers please
Hi Andrea,
If it’s a large animal vet she should have done it properly so it wouldn’t grow back. Small animal vets aren’t very practiced at it, so I would ask her to remove the horns and then cauterize it very well. I’m sorry you have to deal with this, it’s a pain:)
I have a Nigerian Nubian kid 3 months old and he was debudded when I got him at a week old ..his horns are growing now..what can I do before there to big..
Hi Shelli, if they are small enough you can get him disbudded again, but if the horns are any taller than 1 inch, you’ll have to visit a vet to dehorn or band the horns.
Hello!
I have been following your blog for about the past week as we just bought our first house and it has a big backyard where we plan to do some homesteading-y things. (: One of them being goats! I found an ad on craigslist for a nigerian dwarf doe who is pregnant and due soon for $145 – which seemed like a pretty good deal to me…considering we would be selling most of the kids (maybe keeping one for her companion).
However, as I’m jumping around your posts I’m struggling to try to figure out ALL that I’m going to have to buy along with this goat and the things needed for the kids once they arrive. This is what I have so far (from information on your blog and a few other readings):
Hay (would one flake a day due for a pregnant doe?)
Some grain pellets (I know it’s controversial but I read on your blog that you feed your milking does a little bit of grain everyday and I figured we’d play around with it)
Goat mineral (loose)
Natural deworming supplies
CD&T vaccine (I know you all don’t vaccinate, but if I’m planning on selling the kids, I figure that could be a selling point)
Hoof shears
Shelter
A stanchion
A goat disbudding holding box (for the kids)
A disbudding iron
Iodine to dip the umbilical cords in
A stainless steel pail
Milk strainer
Filters
Whew! Is there anything I’m missing? Is there anything I could really do without to save on costs?
Hi Amber,
This is a REALLY helpful comment as I’m working on a post detailing all you need to get started with goats, along with links of where I buy. That’s a great list! I’ll get the post up this week and send it your way so you can double-check it. And $145 is a great deal for a Nigerian!
I just got two nigerian dwarfs. Both are 3 months old. One is a dis budded doe and the other a wether who was not disbudded. I assume he is too old to do it now. Do you think it will be safe to keep them together?
It will probably be okay, a wether tends to be less dominate/aggressive than a doe. She’ll pretty much be the boss of the applesauce:)
Hello,
I would like to go the natural route when rasing goats although I want my goats not to get infections so do I need to administer the CDT shot before hand to the kids or not? The lady who does the disbudding asked if they had the shot.
Hi Kelly,
A lot of people do give that vaccine before disbudding. I don’t vaccinate (I still need to write a post on it), but there’s nothing wrong with doing it either.
I just got a baby wether at 8 weeks old. He has been disbudded. I was told that they had to do it twice. One week after he came to live with us, he scraped off a scab like bit from his bud wound, and now it is a tiny bit bloody. 24 hours later it is still a little bloody. Any advice on disbudding wound care??
Hi Jennifer! This is very common and happens almost a week after I disbud my goats. If you have a little lavender essential oil, you can apply a few drops to the buds, or even coconut oil alone is good:) It should heal up just fine either way, though!
Hi! This might seem like an odd question, but do you know anything about harness goats? We are looking into getting one or two boer wethers, specifically to train as cart goats, and in my research, most, if not all still have their horns. I am in more for the safety aspect of the whole de-horning thing, but am wondering if it’s the best thing for the purpose they will be used for?
Hi Megan, it very well could be that the article you found about cart training just happen to have goats with horns in the pictures and it’s really more of a coincidence. Most people do dehorn goats these days (my husband was almost gored in the eye once so we ALWAYS dehorn now).
We bought 3 bohr mixed goats in March. They are being used as a market goat project for 4H. None of them have very big buds yet and one has none. Is it to late to band them? The 4H show is in late July. I just dont think I can do the burning.
How old are they Kathi? For no horns to form, you’d need to do it before 1 month of age.
Question time!
We bought a little Pygmy goat not to long ago. Getting her a friend this Friday. We’re going to raise them and sell kids for pets. My little Lady we bought has horns on her. Not to big at all, but already have a slight curve. Will they grow very big? If they grow large, I would like to know, seeing I would banding. Also, if you do banding, is there anything extra I would need to know? (Infection, etc)
Hi Evan,
Yes, they should grow to full-size. I’m not an expert on banding, as we’ve never performed it ourselves. Sorry, I wish I could be more help in that area!
Sorry you guys about all them Europe people being up your you know what. I myself am German and moved with my husband to his home state Louisiana 7 years ago. We bought 10 acres and own now 2 horses, 5 dogs, 16 chickens, 2 cats and now 3 Nigerian dwarf goats. I grew up knowing nothing about animals but how to feed them and if something was wrong to call the Vet. Now, I give ALL my animals their shots, trim their hoofs and treat their wounds with home made salves…..AND guess what, my animals are as healthy as they can be, blooming really!! I can’t see myself de-budding my future baby goats, but I’ll find someone that can 🙂 Certain things I still don’t dare myself at, but I truly believe it’s for the best of the goats living in fenced-in areas (no matter how large), to protect them mainly from hurting them selfs. So you all go ahead and post more for me so I’ll be able to help my animals keeping them from harms way. AWESOME POST!!!!!
Good step by step! However, I did want to mention that I recommend skipping the knife part. When I have used a knife it just makes the kid bleed and can easily lead to complications. One of my kids wouldn’t stop bleeding for awhile! Even with cauterizing it! If you just use the disbudding iron to sort of scrape off the horn bud and burn the top as you show, it takes care of it! Much easier than the knife. Just my insight from experience.?
Hello,
I am new to this goat stuff…I have a female that I purchased with horns. She had two bucklings and they also have horns…..they are about 8 weeks old. How do you know if they are to old to disbud or when is it NOT safe to disbud any longer. Also, one of the males the momma rejected and I bottle fed him. She now gets aggressive with him, with her horns….I have kept them separated for a long time….but I would like to be able to put them together. Will she kill him if left alone with him?
I think 8 weeks might be just on the cusp of being too old. Do you have a local person in your area who specializes in disbuddings? If she’s rejected the male, I’d say she’d definitely hurt him. You might want to keep them separated until he gets bigger.
Danelle,
Thanks for the info. I have one goat with horns (was 9 mos old when I bought him) and 4 without. The one with horns has gotten stuck before. I will be taking the buds off my baby kids when they come. Can you explain the extra step for the males a bit more? You made it sound like it is to prevent scurs. One comment made it sound like for minimizing buck scent???? They also said its behind rather than in front? I want to get it right! And I really appreciate your experience…I am a newbie:)
Hi Katie, you’re right, it should be behind the first ring and a bit towards the center. I’ve included an image you can see if you click above in the article.
Thank you for this post. The link doesn’t take me to an image of disbudding; it took me to an article about a buck who was too shy to mate…. could you please relink it?
Should be fixed now! Here it is: https://thekebun.wordpress.com/2008/12/14/de-odourizing-your-goat/
Hey city girl! I found your site to be very informative. I do not have goats as of yet, actually just started searching for dairy goats, eventually go through searches for meat goats as well. You have taught me a lot. Thank you! I am one that would prefer to debud a baby goat rather than have horns. I feel anxiety over it, but I guess you can get use to just about anything. Kind of like going through your first butcher.
Hi, I acquired 3 horned adult goats. I got them to help keep the pasture clean, and have become quit attached to them. They are extremely friendly and they love their scratches. One of the three goats (appox age: 4) is very sweet with me and loves attention, however she is very aggressive with the other goats. I have to lock them in at night due to predators and the other two goats became afraid to go into the barn because they are undoubtedly harassed by her in the night. I installed a divider in the barn so they mean goat now has to sleep in her own corner at night which solves the night time problems, but the goats still get picked on during the day. peace. I considered giving the mean one away, but I am afraid she will ultimately get killed or mistreated due to her aggression towards other goats. I am now considering de-horning her. I hope that dehorning reduce or eliminate her aggression towards the other goats, or at least the other goats have a better chance of sticking up for themselves. I am reluctant to dehorn her because it does seem cruel and painful, but it may simply save her life in the long run, since the next person may have less patience for her. I have a couple questions. 1) I am considering banning as a means to dehorn her. Is banning the most humane dehorning method? 2) In your opinion, will dehorning her help create balance in the flock? 3) is it dangerous to dehorn such an old goat? Thanks for any advice you can offer.
Hi DD,
Removing her horns won’t reduce her aggressiveness, it’ll only make the other goats more safe. Just like all other animals, they need to sort out their pecking order, but in my opinion, if a goat is so aggressive she doesn’t even want the others around, she’s not worth to keep. Goats are inherently herd animals and thrive in those situations. A loner goat isn’t one worth keeping:)
Hello, I adopted 2 little princesses last week–they’re about 5 weeks old–and today the area around the buds became quite dry and raw, and even bled a little bit. Is this normal? And would you recommend coconut oil to help heal it? I’m just worried about it possibly getting infected.
Thank you for your time <3
That is normal, actually as they scab over, the babies can knock them off while playing and they can look pink or red, even bleed a little.
We have farmed for years cattle LLamas and now Nigerian dwarf goats we disbudded a set of triplets and the day of disbudding the acted normal now day 2 the seem to be sleeping a lot and not playing like always is this normal. thanks for any and all advise regarding this behavior. Theresa
I would say to keep a close eye on them. It’s possible you are just paying more attention to them from checking on them and think they are sleeping a lot, when in fact, they are sleeping a normal amount. I would pay more attention to their behavior when they are awake. Are they eating & drinking? Are they running around and playing? If so, they are doing well!
Thanks for the info! Still looking into everything that’s involved in goat care before we get our own, but the horns are not something that I had considered before reading this. I will likely have someone else do the de-budding the first few times until my husband and I feel comfortable with the procedure. Love your site, by the way!
I just got my first goats! Yea!! They are 10 weeks old. They were disbudded at a week old. However, I noticed that one of them has little nubs while the other is completely smooth. Do you think the one with nubs will grow out into scurs? Or is it normal to have a little nub?
It’s normal to have little nubs. If it’s an intact male, I’d keep an eye on them, otherwise I wouldn’t worry:)
I appreciate that you put your family’s safety and comfort before that of your productive and clearly beloved animals. One question I had, though: are we able to blunt the ends of the horns as they get larger to make them less dangerous as a compromise? I ask this because I appreciate the aesthetic of the horns and I will be starting goats this year not because I disagree with the practice. many thumbs up for the original post and your dignified response of staying out of the comment-section debate.
Yes, I’m sure that’s an option too!
Thanks for posting this and I’m sorry you got so many nasty comments. I’ve done a tutorial video for doing this because people asked me for one but I won’t post it with any identifying trails to me for this very reason…..nasty comments from folks who aren’t aware of many aspects of the reality of this practice. I’m sure a lot of folks appreciate you sharing your knowledge and experience. Good job! I probably won’t come back here for fear of reading nasty comments in response to my comment.
People, giving an animal a pain killer is the stupidest thing I have ever heard. Animals have a very high tolerance for pain here in the U.S we may do things differently than you do in the uk and there is a reason for that the closest vet to me is over 4 hours away so I have to learn to castrate and dehorn animals myself along with many other procedures that I cannot wait for four hours for a vet to come out and take care of, It you are raising animals as a hobby by all means have a vet take care of all of your problems but when you raise animals for a living or to feed yourself it is a different story you have to best interest in your own life to learn these very simple techniques. The first time I carried out one of these procedures is no different the first time the vet carried out the procedure. We all learn sometime we just need to do research and be prepared for every possible situation to arise. Just because some things we do in the us are different than the uk doesn’t make it wrong. Life is tough. these animals have it very good. Its a lot tougher in the wild. I can promise you one thing my animals have better food and shelter than I had while I served in the Marine Corps during the invasion of Iraq.
Just wanted to chime in– after rescuing a neighbor’s goat stuck by the horns in wire field fencing, hearing of friends’ goats who strangled after getting caught in wire, I decided as sad as disbudding is, it’s far better than death. My vet does my disbudding–$18 each, which includes Banamine (painkiller) and local anesthetic (though honestly the babies cry just as much for the injections as they do about the disbudding so we’re not even sure it helps or is worth it since it freaks them out twice). I also bred one of my girls to a polled (naturally hornless) buck, so hopefully that will mean fewer disbuddings.
I have some Pygora goats that are just 1 month old. Is it too late to disbud them?
It very well could be. They need to be done at 3-7 days old.
I’ve dehorned baby goats that had 2″ long horns but they were all females. The horn bases were much smaller than the males. You have to clip the horn off as close to the head as possible with a clean, very sharp clipper. Yes, there is a lot of blood. You have to apply the horn burner to the horn area to cauterize it. 1st apply the horn burner in the usual way around the base of the horn bud. Rolling the burner over the top of the clipped horn will stop it from bleeding. Be patient and take your time. The burner needs to be hot. I use a fan placed in back of me to blow away the smoke. I wear ear protection so the kids won’t make me deaf! Make sure your mother’s have had their tetanus vaccine, if not, you can give your kids tetanus vaccine SQ in the skin under the arm pit, front legs. I use Tasvax 8 , 2 ml each armpit (4ml total) This is their 1st dose. In 6 weeks they get their 2nd dose of 2ml.. I keep my refrigerated meds upright in a container with a “draw” needle on them and the cap from the needle taped on top so the air doesn’t get in them. To take out the med. , attach the syringe to the draw needle, pull the amount you need, undo it and attach the new, clean needle you will dose with. Put the cap back in place and put it back in the fridge. Your meds will stay uncontaminated and will last for the length of the date on the bottle.
This is my first time disbudding my kid so please don’t judge me .i think I messed up,so here we go .My baby
Is 6 days old today and i have been feeling her head every day for buds.today I could feel the little buds.i got every thing ready and burnt the ring around the bud and all seemed well.when I proceded to cut the tops off the burn ring the entire center of the burnt circle came off .”nothing in the circle on the skull”.i was extremely carefull on the other side and the exact same thing happened again .Did I mess her up?What should I expect?
Please help!!!
I don’t think you did anything wrong, just be sure to cauterize the top and she’ll be good!
I have seen young calves dehorned with a gas ring dehorner. the vet or farmer gives the calf a shot of lidocaine between the horn bud and the end of the eye. no trauma to the calf other than being held by hand by one person while the other gets it done. they spray the area with a fungicidal antiseptic to aid in healing.
A shot of that makes for much less stress for all involved!
amazing how many people who are against doing this that feel the need to comment about how “cruel” it is. They are unaware of a lot that goes on in farming i guess.
I am choosing to keep horns on my goats for two reasons. Self defense against neighbor dogs, and because i find the horns pretty. Also i grab horns to help guide the animals around and control them.
I wont do it for fear of them getting caught in a fence because I wouldn’t remove their legs for fear of them kicking through a fence and getting a broken leg which has happened to a calf i had. It kicked it’s leg through the wire got stuck and broke it’s leg.
Accidents happen with animals (as well as with humans) it’s about managing it the best you can. I’m glad you have put out the info on how to de-horn properly though. As i’ve seen a lot of botched jobs over the years done by vets and by farmers. People often get in to much of a hurry when they are debudding. Please if you do it take your time and make sure you do it right.
I have a wether who developed scurs. What to do now?
Thank you so much for showing clear, color pictures of the process. I’ve seen quite a few tutorials accompanied by pictures that are either in black and white or the goat’s head is shadowed so that the copper ring is difficult to see. We have two goats that were disbudded before we got them and I am so grateful that they can’t hang themselves up in the fencing and manger like the horned goat my family had growing up. When our doe kids for the first time this spring, we’ll definitely disbud her kids. We use portable electric netting to rotationally graze our pasture and I see the benefit in preventing hang-ups there. Accidents can happen even with small numbers of animals, such as a horn getting snagged in another animal’s collar while bedding down or playing.
This is a pretty grim thing to do. Here in the UK this is meant to only be a procedure carried out by a vet.
“Goat kids have very thin skulls and disbudding carried out by an untrained operative can easily cause irreparable damage to the brain, either by direct heat transfer damage, or by facilitating the entry of bacteria into the skull leading to a potentially fatal meningitis” – University of Liverpool Farm Animal Practice
I understand it’s for their own safety, but jeez, go to a vet and have them anaesthetized, if it’s that important. if you can’t afford to do that, don’t keep them, or keep fewer of them.
“The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons considers the act of disbudding to be a mutilation, and as such requires serious thought before being undertaken, but it is accepted that for management and welfare reasons it is often necessary in larger goat enterprises.”
In other words, unless you have a large number of them, it’s not necessary to do it.
Thanks for this comment. If someone doesn’t have the funds or concern to keep animals humanely, I don’t see how it is ethical to keep them at all.
In the USA vets often have no clue how to properly de-horn and i’ve yet to meet a farm vet that will use any pain killers when de-horning any animal. Maybe where you are it’s common practice to inject animals with pain killers, but vets here avoid it in farm animals when they can.
This is a disgusting practice. You could at least put the animal under anesthesia first. You would certainly do that for a person. If you’re afraid the goats are going to get their horns stuck on a fence, then safety-proof the fence. If you’re afraid the goats are going to hurt each other, then give the goats enough space or don’t keep goats at all. Like Kendall said, I can’t believe this is legal. I especially feel sorry for any goat that has to suffer the mistakes of some amateur doing this for the first time. And yeah, I am going to judge anyone that causes animals this sort of pain and suffering.
That’s the thing. I shudder to think of the suffering as people experiment on their goats, the way I shudder when I imagine young boys hunting and torturing the animal to death because they are incompetent, or people attempting to slaughter their animals and botching the job. I wanted to homestead because I respect animals and disagree with their treatment on factory farms – not just because I want to be trendy or have a hobby.
LOL… YOU clearly have never seen what a buck can do to other animals and/or humans to have written this type of comment. When a family dog/pet/ gets into his living area they can and WILL easily kill them. Your neighbors child (unsupervised) comes to “play” with the goats, he can easily be eviscerated. I have personally seen a grown man gored in the stomach. Yep, de-horning is gross, and yep it caused momentary pain, but it is usually the best thing to do. Put down the PETA sign and educate yourself about farm animals.
People dock dogs tails, crop their ears and remove their dew claws, almost exclusively for cosmetic reasons, when they are very small. All are incredibly painful procedures.
At least disbudding a goat is in the name of safety and not for “looks.” Whether more for people’s safety or the safety of other goats is not the point. At least there is a true reason behind it.
Kudos to you for doing what you feel will keep your family and goats safe, Danelle. And kudos for learning how to do it yourself.
This is the best response that I have seen..
As a European, docking tails, clipping ears, declawing cats etc is completely illegal all over the EU. Only in the USA are such horrible practices legal. The fact that the USA allows these practices is not a good argument.
I can understand that this practice might be right IF done for the safety of the animal (not the owner, which seems selfish), but I don’t understand why it’s not possible to offer a painkiller to the goat.
Hmmmm…… last I saw EU docks lamb tails. We also rescued an animal that came from the UK that had ears clipped. You better check your sources.
Actually, that’s incorrect. Tail docking is done when puppies are between one and three days of age. That is the peirod before the puppy’s nerves are fully coated with myelin–which helps carry the pain impulses. No myelin, no pain. After that period, vets will use anesthesia and consider tail docking major surgery. Ear cropping does remove part of the ear and so recovery can be painful; however, the dog is anesthetized to perform the corpping procedure. Properly cared for and medicated, there does not need to be any pain at all to the dog.
I agree with disbudding goats and do not oppose docking and cropping tails and ears. But let’s be mindful that the animal rights nuts hate any of us who own or use animals in any capacity and let’s not point fingers at one group to remove pressure from our own. Some of us belong to more than one group (I have dogs with docked tails and goats that have been disbudded) and don’t like the finger pointing.
Are you kidding me? That’s animal torture. I can’t even believe that is legal. I’m not even sure it is. I’m definitely going to be looking into it. Would love to report you. You are a horrible human being. Please never have animals ever again.
You obviously live in a bubble..
Yeah, for real.
Hahahahaha! Your response genuinely elicited quite a chuckle from me. The process is definitely not any crueler than the butchering of the cattle that gave me the delicious tri-tip I ate for dinner last night. Significantly less cruel than the caging of chickens for the eggs I ate for breakfast this morning as well. Even with California’s new laws for more “expansive” cages for egg-laying hens. People who respond to something like this in the way you have, something that is a widely accepted process in the treatment of livestock animals, appear to be living in a fantasy world. We won’t even get into the treatment of animals in wild. A lion mauling a gazelle and leaving the majority of the creatures corpse to fester in the open savanna, bloating and being eventually picked clean by buzzards and insects, isn’t exactly “ethical”.
Lol.
TLDR: Found the Vegan.
HAhaha love your “TL:DR” summary cracked me up.
@ HaJerry
its for other animals safety
for real
I really do love this sit, really! But dehorning? Why is that necessary?! That’s horrible! I’m sorry but there is no way to HUMANELY cut off your goats’ horns!! That’s like ripping off each fingernail and toenail.
Sorry, but that’s the end of me and this website. Definitely cannot support this!
I think the reason for dehorning is to protect the health of the goats and therefore, even if it seems inhumane to do it, it is much like many things we must do for our own health that are painful (like getting mammograms, or getting precancerous growths cut off, or even having a damaged toenail removed, which I have had to do and it sure wasn’t painless!) Would rather do this simple procedure when the goat is small and young then have them catch their horn on something and become injured, or injure another goat, later on.
Actually people dehorn goats for their own safety, not for the goats.
I had to cut a goat’s horns out of a fence last week. It was an electronet fence, and a good thing we weren’t away from home or she would have choked herself, as she had it wrapped tightly around her neck. This goat came with horns. When we have new kids, I will disbud them. For THEIR safety, thankyouverymuch.
I don’t want to debate the pros or cons for this but as a breeder of goats I thought I’d tell you of two horror stories that I have witnessed.
1. A Doe was grazing by a gate and was startled, she got her horn caught in the gate and of course that panicked her more. Before our eyes she struggled so hard she pulled the outside horn whole off the sinews underneath. I saw a brown goat turn white (not literally) that day, she was bleeding profusely and in her terror was not going to be caught so ran until she collapsed. She went into shock and needed round the clock care to pull her through. She was lucky.
2. Whilst on holidays we were driving along when we saw a huge male goat hung up in a fence. He had deep lacerations on his body from what looked like bites so was maybe chased, I don’t know. His horns were so tangled so tightly that the wire had bitten into them. We estimated he’d been there for quite some time. He was very emaciated and very dead. He obviously wasn’t dead too long though as his body was not fully bloated and his hide still elastic so maybe a week at a guess. What a horrible way to die. I have also seen a kid stuck in the handle of a bucket, a hay feeder and in the mesh of a trailer all due to horns.
Debudding is not nice, mostly the people who debud are not doing it to be sadistic, they genuinely believe it is best for the animal. People like this also look after their animals otherwise they wouldn’t bother. Debudding irons are expensive, it takes time to get it right and to do it at the right time, so constantly checking.
Those who cannot abide by it for their own reasons are entitled to their opinion but those that do are also entitled to theirs.
I have Nubian kids. Two were “premees” because there was 4 kids born and 2 survived. And one big baby boy. Mine are a month old, how do I disbud them they are just showing the buds?
OH and the worst disbudding jobs I have ever seen were done by vets. My goat mentor taught me to disbud and I am perfectly willing to teach others to do it too. I ask a five dollar donation for me doing.
Even the local extension office would give out my name as the local goat lady, call her about disbudding (thanks people sheesh). When I first showed up at my now friend Vicki’s house with my disbudding iron in hand I about fainted I raise Lamanchas (a full sized dairy breed) and she raised Nigerians honestly people those babies are the size of kittens when they have to be disbudded. It was scary but we waded through the pile of them. 😀
Hi Sherry! I have two Nigerian dwarf does…they are 1 yr. old and were disbudded at the farm we got them from at 2 weeks of age. They both have little horns growing back…I’m so freaked out about having them re-done…is it something that needs to happen? will they continue to grow?
Thanks for any advice you can give!
Mary
Good tutorial we will be doing this after our nigerian dwarfs kidd this spring. I like that people are diving in and doing this stuff, the real stuff not just shopping at Whole Foods and calling it good. I have long lamented that people don’t know how to take care of themselves anymore. 3 years ago when I got out of the Navy my wife and I moved to south dakota to what I now call ‘The Compound’. It’s a 17 acre farmstead and we have chickens, cows, pigs, a huge garden and now goats. We have been trying to do everything we can for ourselves and when we decided to get goats we found your website. I didn’t even realize that what we had decided to do was part of a movement called ‘homesteading’. My wife just thought it was her crazy husband making her do all this work and have all these animals. But you should taste the chicken noodle soup, or eat the eggs, or have some of the bacon, and soon…drink the milk…it’s all sooooooo good. To me the pigs are the best part in the summer, they are the ultimate recyclers. Kill the chicken, cook the bird, make the soup and then anything thats left (the drippings from the pan and the bones from the stock) the pigs happily crunch! All the chopped veggie butts that the chickens dont eat go there, anything from the freezer that has been there too long goes in to the pigs and in the fall all the apples that dont make it into the sauce or the peelings and trimmings from making the sauce go to the pigs, right before they get butchered. I know I’ve gone on a little but it’s nice to see other people teaching their kids that not everything comes in a celophane wrapper and that there are some unpleasant things that have to be done to make real food.
That’s so cool! I want pigs, but my town ordinance says no:(
I had to laugh at the first few sentences of your post! We could be brothers from different mothers! I just got out of the AF in April, moved the family to TX on a 13 acre overgrown “homestead”, and joked multiple times that it was our “compound”. When I told friends about the compound thing, they said it sounded a little too culty, and that I might be better off just calling it a ranch. I think I’ll stick with compound! Just getting the fencing and shelter ready now for a few goats, which will be the first animals we’re going to try our hand at. Best of luck to you in your endeavors!
Thank you both for your service. I hope the skills learned in the military will help with at the compound. God bless you, your families, and all your furry (and not so furry) animals.
Since I’m selling my male baby goats I won’t be doing this to them but my female I will! Loved the step by step! I’m going to give it a try!
I had my vet do it. He charged probably about $15 for 2 kids.
My doe kid did have 1 horn grow back eventually. It never got too big, and it didn’t look bad or cause any problems. However she was aware of which side her horn was on, and when she charged or head-butted, she did it with her head lopsided 🙂 Funny goat.