Removing horns...yes or no?

[janinco]

History:  I bought a few young goats, alpines and boers.  Some have horns, some are polled.  I'd love to remove those little horns and have heard of doing it with a notch cut all around and castrating bands put in it, then sealing the head with a hot iron when the horn finally falls off.  Have any of you successfully done it? The alpine horns are thin and I could probably nip off the tips with farrier nippers, but then what? They'd just be squared off.  My friend says they will end up with crooked, ingrown scurs if I mess with them at this point.  Thoughts?  

[mogal]

Jan, dehorning cattle is a grisly enough operation on its own but dehorning goats is even worse.

I've heard those suggestions and haven't seen them performed successfully. I had a doe once that I wanted to keep but she grew horns despite being disbudded with an electric iron made for that purpose. As soon as we had cold weather to kill off the flies, I took her to the university vet school to have her dehorned under anesthesia, a dangerous enough proposition on its own. A goat's horns are open to the sinus cavities so part of the skull is open for a while. We had to keep her separated from the rest of our goats since she couldn't defend herself and had to keep a bandage on her head for what seemed like months until the holes closed. Would I put another goat through that? An emphatic no. Besides, at that time, the more unusual the case you brought to the vet school, the less they charged you. Now they'd want an arm and maybe 2 legs to do that surgery if they have anybody skilled enough to do it any more.

We have a wether whose horns grew despite hot iron disbudding and we trimmed them a time or two with pruning loppers. Since the horns have a blood supply, he bled pretty profusely for a while but the horns did continue to grow though not what I'd call crooked or ingrown. We've given up cutting them since they have grown thicker where we'd have to nip them to make any difference. This wether is very respectful of DH and me but will use his horns against another wether with a single scur the size of a tennis ball. Both need to go to freezer camp or at least the wether with the scur. He's just nuts where the horned one is a big puppy dog type.

[dustawaits]

Nipping the tops off will not stop the horns from growing. They might grow straight or crooked. But though it might cost if the horns are two inches take them to the DMV making sure first he/she knows the proper method.
Horns on goats are very dangerous around children. Many years ago a weather had horns and my sister bent over and him or near him just as he raised his head. The horn went through just below her lip and knocked a tooth loose.
It could have been an eye.
We always dehorned our kids at three days.
But buying with horns is a different story.

[oldone]

I have goats. I use to pay to have them done. I bought a burner to do them. I tried it myself but wouldn't hold it on long enough. They say you can kill them if you Hold it too long. My goats have horns.

[mogal]

Oldone, DH built a nifty "disbudding box" that is narrow and the height and length of an average goat kid. The end opposite the hinged top (where he sits while disbudding) has a hole with a carved wooden ledge, for lack of better word, where DH can secure the kid's nose/mouth while he disbuds. On the inside is a little block that fits under the kid's body to keep it from scooting backwards or sitting down. We've never killed one, never did any brain damage. Disbudding is DH's job while I get the next kid ready. I do the castrating. Division of labor, don't you know!? After the disbudding iron is cool, we store it in the box until the next time we need it.

Nope, dustawaits, trimming doesn't stop the growth, just helps keep the horns from getting stuck in small spaces. And, yes, ma'am, horns and kiddos (adults too for that matter) aren't a good thing.

[oldone]

That sounds like a good idea. I castrate & trim hooves maybe I'll try that when the new kids are born

[Wendy]

I have banded horns before it works. Some came off fairly quick and others took some time. I usually file a grove in the base of their horn and apply two bands. Then wrap with duct tape to keep bands from moving.