FIRST! Make sure your kids are horned and not polled…now I bet you’re wondering what they heck does polled mean.
Polled just means they are naturally born without horns. In order for you to have any kids that are polled at least one parent must be polled. So if both parents have/had horns you don’t even have to worry about the polled gene being an option.
If you are questioning whether they are horned or polled, I have found it easier to check their head hair. If they have little hair swirls on the top of their head you can expect horns to pop through soon. If they don’t have any hair swirls and their head is more of an egg shape they are most likely polled.
It is also easier to tell on bucks than does. Right from birth you should be able to feel the horns underneath the skin on a buck.
This little one is horned -notice the little swirls on each side of the big swirl of hair.
Reasons To Take The Horns Away
Reason #1
If you are using you goats for show, you have to disbud them. You can’t show a goat that has horns.
Reason #2
It will save your fencing and structures a little more. Goats head butt when they are not happy, feeling threatened, or are fighting …I mean wouldn’t you?
Reason #3
They can injure other goats or other animals that they are penned with.
ULTIMATELY you don’t have to disbud or dehorn your goats if you are not showing them. The reason goats have horns is for protection.
When To Disbud The Babies
3-10 days old (right when the horn bud starts to break through the kid’s skull) -use a disbudding iron. (roughly 3/4” diameter)
- Build a dehorning box for your kids to be held in, or have someone that is really strong and can have great control of a very rowdy kid.
- Before you start disbudding give the kid 1cc (1ml) of tetanus antitoxin -ONLY if its mama didn’t receive her CDT shot 30 days before kidding.
- You can also give a shot of Banamine (Flumeglumine) -dosage is usually 1ml/100lbs- you don’t have to do this, but it will help keep down inflammation.
- Shave the hair around the horns to make sure the area is completely visible.
- Test your disbudding iron on a piece of wood before you use it on the kid, then apply for 4-8 seconds on the kid. (Make sure there is a copper colored ring around the horn bud and that the top of the horn is popped off after burning.)
- Put an icepack on the spots right afterwards.
- Make sure they get to their mama and either start milking or give them a bottle right afterwards so they feel more comfortable and takes the thought of pain away.
Disbudding Your Goats
Dehorning is defiantly, in my opinion, worse than disbudding. It’s kind of like getting your ears pierced when you’re 12 vs 1. You’re not gonna remember it from when you were 1 but you’re definitely going to remember it when you’re older and it’s going to hurt worse because you’ve grown more.
Dehorning is done with a dehorning tool which is basically a very sharp giant clamp that cuts off the horns at the head.
Numbing medication can be given before and a blood stop powder should be poured over the top of the horns after they are cut. I strongly recommend this be done by a veterinarian since the risk of bleeding is so high.
If you do have to dehorn instead of disbud, try to do it when the horns are still small. The bigger the horns, the more painful it is for your goat.
