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wayland · Joined: 14 Dec 2006 Posts: 1171 Location: Campile. Wexford

Can Goats be dehorned once they are fully grown without incurring large veterinary bills.

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Rebecca · Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 9:20 pm Post subject:

As far as I understand it's a serious business to dehorn an adult goat and has to be performed by a vet under general. It's not without risk dehorning kids either, the risk being to literally cook their brain with the hot iron, or if not burnt out enough shards continue to grow and can cause problems during their lifetime.

Have you goats you want to dehorn? Our goats have horns. They are all fine and we've had no problems. With horns they have a chance to defend themselves from dogs, without horns they haven't much chance. There are of course 2 schools of thought on this.
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lofty · Joined: 07 May 2008 Posts: 65 Location: north mayo

Best time to do them is when they are young and the buds are just forming. It is a fairly quick procedure with a de-horner, you would want to know what you are doing though. As regards de-horning mature goats i would imagine it is the same as cattle you would have to tie off the blood vessels at the base of the cut horn

wayland · Joined: 14 Dec 2006 Posts: 1171 Location: Campile. Wexford

The horns make handy handles as well. I only ask as one of my goats has particularly sharp horns and I have had to have the vet out to treat a nasty mouth injury. As my goats come as a mixed bunch the polled ones get a bit of a pasting at feed time. I am only growing on the present stock so the problem is short term anyway. I have dehorned calves with the iron and so am familiar with the process. I have always used a local anesthetic for the job. As to cooking the animals brains Confused

I think the problems occur when the iron is not hot enough. I would rather see them all with hornes rather than a botched job as some of my stock clearly show. Thanks for the comments guys.
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lofty · Joined: 07 May 2008 Posts: 65 Location: north mayo

i can remember we had a similar problem and we just trimmed off the top of the horn as it is not live the whole way to the top. or alternatively you can stick bits of cork on the sharp ends ha ha

wayland · Joined: 14 Dec 2006 Posts: 1171 Location: Campile. Wexford

Now thats an idea. The goat in question is not the dominant and is really inoffensive and friendly but I have felt his stabbers from time to time. I think that the rasp would be a good idea.

Cheers.

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