# Alternative to Dehorning. Gonna Look So Silly!



## erisfae (Sep 4, 2012)

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I have four goats: two itty-bitties, with barely-there horns, one completely dehorned and one with good sized horns.

The larger-horned one is nine months old and, though a wether, is king of the heard and keeps all the others in their place. He's not vicious, by any means, and never headbutts people, but I've been worried he'd get carried away and accidentally injure one of our other goats.

So, I had a good talk with our wonderful vet. A friend of mine used the banding method and had a horrific time with it. I couldn't put my goat through that, I'd sell him before I'd do that. My vet actually agreed with me and told me about an alternative he's used with his own goats: *tennis balls*.

He uses a special glue, designed for human prosthetic use, and virtually super-glues the tennis balls to the goat's horns, engulfing the ends. He said he used it for years, without any major complications.

I'm excited to give it a try! Poor Merlin, though, he's going to look to so silly. :ROFL:


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Yes, the tennis balls work. You can get the regular size tennis balls or you can go to the dollar store and get the smaller ones that come in fun colors.


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## ThreeHavens (Oct 20, 2011)

:laugh: I'm with ya. I would try that before dehorning. I don't think I could dehorn. Disbudding is much easier.

They say kongs work well too!


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## ndgoatkeeper (Jan 22, 2011)

Yes, they really do work! I duct tape our only horned goat's tennis balls in place, but the adhesive sounds like a great idea! Wouldn't be quite as fun as changing the tape to match the season though


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## Dayna (Aug 16, 2012)

I'm going to have to give this a try.


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## xymenah (Jul 1, 2011)

I'm going to spam the forum again with my pic of my doe Beep. If the tennis balls don't work try a stick.


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## erisfae (Sep 4, 2012)

:laugh:Yeah, I was right about it looking silly... 









Terrible pics, but it's night and he's in the barn. Will get better shots later! 
The SpongeBob tape is just for forty-eight hours, until the adhesive has a chance to thoroughly dry. Though, I agree with you, Cheryl; it might be more fun to just keep changing out the colors and patterns on his horns. I didn't realize there was such a huge selection of tape!


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## ThreeHavens (Oct 20, 2011)

So fashionable.


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## Dayna (Aug 16, 2012)

Just curious (since I have duct tape on my goats horns) is there any damage to the horn that can be caused by the tape?


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## xymenah (Jul 1, 2011)

Goats horns do breath so if placed too far covering the horn it can trap heat and cause the goat to overheat to some extent. Just feel the horn and you will see where its warmer at the base then gets colder as you get to the tips. That's why placing something over a cold goats horns can actually help to keep it warm a bit.


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## peggy (Aug 11, 2010)

Cute.... I do the same thing with my wether. He is king of the herd too, but I think he is just a bully. I know he realizes he has horns and knows that it gives him an advantage. So I duct taped tennis balls on his horns and it helps but he still ducks under tummys and tries to flip the others at times. Bully boy. He is going to his new home next week with another wether withe horns so at least he will be on the same playing field.


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## WarPony (Jan 31, 2010)

My mini Nubian doe has small tennis balls duct taped on her horns. They look like alien antennas, lol. Works great though.


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## WarPony (Jan 31, 2010)

Found a picture of her, after they had been on for a while. She needs new tape.


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