# Wanting to de-horn my buck



## Dreamchaser (Oct 30, 2008)

I have a question. Are horns like a fingernail? What I want to know is, If I take a hacksaw to the horn a little at a time (over a period of time), can I cut the horn off with little blood? My therory is that the blood vessels will recede (sp?) and I can cut the horn off with little damage, if I cut a notch around the base of the horn, and go a little at a time with it.

Any ideas? Banding is not possible anymore, his horns are too big unless I can whittle it down where the "V" is.


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## packhillboers (Feb 2, 2011)

Leave the horns. He needs them more than you don't and it is messy and hard on him to trim these things once they are grown out. Better to disbud at 3 days old than to try and de-horn later but.. people do it from what I have read on GS. I also have read of some disasters too on here.


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## TinyHoovesRanch (Jan 16, 2010)

People do that a lot(what you are describing). My friend saws off my bucks scurs every couple years. Each time they take longer to grow and dont grow back as strong so maybe it will work?


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## Skyz84 (Jul 25, 2011)

I would not try to cut the horns. There is a LOT of blood. 

I have banded adult dwarf does and I banded a 5 month old nigerian buck. The only bad thing is the horns on the buck grew faster then the band could work. He has small scurs now that break off from time to time. The banding on the does worked beautifully. If you decide to band you need to get the band all the way down at the base of the horn. Where the groove of soft tissue begins. Have blood stop powder on hand. It can be very bloody If they break the horns off too soon.

You can also sand down the horns. They still keep growing but it takes the Sharp point off.


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## ThreeHavens (Oct 20, 2011)

Horns are not the same as scurs or fingernails ... there are huge and major blood-vessels. For me, if you have horns, you're stuck with them. It can be life-threatening to remove them. Some people have banded successfully, but I still wouldn't suggest it ... nevertheless it is better than sawing them off. That would be traumatic for both of you.


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## sweetgoats (Oct 18, 2007)

WOW, PLEASE do not cut the hors off like that.


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## Stacykins (Mar 27, 2012)

Yea, I have a relative who owns an elk farm, and they harvest the velvet antlers. Let me tell you, sawing off a velvet antler involves a LOT of blood. The same would happen with cutting a horn. It has a strong blood supply and nerve system. 

If you could get larger cattle bands, it could be an option? Not saying banding is a great way to go, but if the horns must go, then that is the best option. I am currently banding the horns on a one year old boer wether, but he was stunted, so his horns are pretty small and narrow.


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## GTAllen (Jul 22, 2012)

I don't think it works like that. I would not do it unless there is problem.

For example, I have a doe who's horn has grown bent to slightly touching the back of her skull. Last night, I trimmed about 3/4 inch off and she bleed a little. I was prepared to quick-clot it if I had to, but it clotted on it's on quickly. It was pretty traumatic for my girlfriend and I. The doe was more interested in some feed....


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## JustKidding (Aug 9, 2012)

try using the castrate bands around them. Good luck :thumbup:


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## fd123 (May 29, 2012)

My 80 yr old neighbor cutts about half of his goats horns off with loppers that you cutt tree limbs with! I dont know if they bleed or not...ive never watched him do it because i HIGHLY DISAPPROVE! :veryangry: ! Id NEVER do it to any of my goats not unless it was life threatening....Ive read that the horns help cool them off on hot days, and a few other things... If horns wasnt supposed to be on them..then god wouldnt have created them with horns.....
Just my thought and opinion....
If your wanting to de-horn because your scared they may harm the other animals ...why not just do what LIZ does and tape tennis balls on the end of them? :ROFL: :ROFL: lol.... 
Best of luck to you whatever you decide!! :greengrin:


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## JustKidding (Aug 9, 2012)

It does help them cool off.But it could hert or kill the goat. I have heard of goats getting hrns stuck in hay nets.


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## packhillboers (Feb 2, 2011)

I know that goats horns in domestic tight places with small pens can be detrimental for goats to get their horns stuck, but if that is the worry, it may be best to bar up the horns with pvc pipe and duct tape. I worry about our goats at times when they are younger getting stuck in the fence so I don't leave them unattended for long. When they get older. . the heads are way too big to fit through. 

Is there a reason to have his horns messed with?


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## J.O.Y. Farm (Jan 10, 2012)

I think banding would be your best bet for dehorning him... I would wait till this winter though.... so you don't have flies bothering it.....


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## JustKidding (Aug 9, 2012)

J.O.Y. Farm said:


> I think banding would be your best bet for dehorning him... I would wait till this winter though.... so you don't have flies bothering it.....


 I think that would work.


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## clearwtrbeach (May 10, 2012)

I'm not familiar with how the banding works? I have a Nigerian dwarf buckling who is 4 mos old and was supposed to be debudded. Feeling him yesterday I realized one side has what appears to be a small scur, the other side has a horn that is about an inch and a half much to my surprise. I may want to show him so obviously I'll have to do something but I don't want to cause major pain and trauma either. 
I have never used a disbudding iron, I watched the same person who my buckling came from do my doeling and it worries me. I've heard people not getting it done properly (as is the case of my buckling) or "burning" their little brain. Does that really happen?
My husband wants horns on his Boers so no problem there.
Suggestions?


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## Dreamchaser (Oct 30, 2008)

Well that was a waste of time. No, he has pretty big horns (he is a full size goat), so I can't get the bander down around them. No I can't just put tennis balls because he hits the other bucks with the blunt of his horns, because the horns curl back. I will try sanding them down so I can fit the bander, but the horns need to go.


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## JustKidding (Aug 9, 2012)

Start with the top of his horns then when they fall of do it again till it is the sizes you want.


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## J.O.Y. Farm (Jan 10, 2012)

I think you get the band on the best you can then kinda 'pull/push' it down to the base... :shrug: I have never banded horns so I'm really not sure...


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## ThreeHavens (Oct 20, 2011)

clearwtrbeach said:


> I'm not familiar with how the banding works? I have a Nigerian dwarf buckling who is 4 mos old and was supposed to be debudded. Feeling him yesterday I realized one side has what appears to be a small scur, the other side has a horn that is about an inch and a half much to my surprise. I may want to show him so obviously I'll have to do something but I don't want to cause major pain and trauma either.
> I have never used a disbudding iron, I watched the same person who my buckling came from do my doeling and it worries me. I've heard people not getting it done properly (as is the case of my buckling) or "burning" their little brain. Does that really happen?
> My husband wants horns on his Boers so no problem there.
> Suggestions?


Hm, buckling or wethers? Buck scurs can be pretty bad so the disbudding has to be spot-on. Wether scurs are like doe scurs and usually aren't bad at all.

If he is young enough, you could get him reburned. Goats have two layers of scull. Unless you hold the iron on for longer than 10 seconds at a time, the chance of brain damage is incredibly slim. When we disbudded we did a few seconds, check, a few seconds, repeat, until it was good. Bucks usually need a special burning called figure 8 to get the job done right.










If you want to band the horns, you'll have to wait until they're a little longer. :thumb:


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

I banded my Alpine/Nubian mix doe. It worked out for me. I did have the bands on (changing them every 3-4 weeks) for about 8 months. One horn broke off on its own but I had to have the vet cut off the other one. There was a lot of blood when the one horn broke off but there was very little blood when the vet cut the other one off. I think the horn was dead but was just too thick to fall off on its own. Here is a link to a site that gives step by step instructions on banding: http://goat-info.com/removing%20horns%20adult.htm


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## Stacykins (Mar 27, 2012)

My wether has tiny horns, one of his horns came off yesterday after only 15 days of banding. It was before it was totally ready, he bled a little bit. I cleaned him up and dabbed some scarlet oil on the horn base. He also got banamine, since he seemed sore. His other horn is a little bit thicker, it will likely take a few more days unless he knocks it off. 

It is kind of sad that that he now does not trust me. I don't think he will for a while. He wouldn't come near me today, even with treats. It hurt, and he knows I caused it.


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## Dreamchaser (Oct 30, 2008)

Here is the goat in question. He is a year old, and pretty good size, he's going to be a big buck. I did not get to get him done due to my husband's health.


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

From the picture, they look to be about the same size as my does horns. It takes some effort but you may be able to get the bands on. I could get it on only so far with the bander and then I had to just sort of roll them down the rest of the way.


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## sweetgoats (Oct 18, 2007)

Get the Cow bands. They are bigger. 

I love his horns, and yes he is going to butt the others, he looks like the King of the Castle, and that is just the way of the animal’s world.

I would really NEVER recommend doing this on a goat this large. It should ALWAYS be done as a baby or not at all. I am so thankful that we do not ever band, my goats have to have the horns.


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## peggy (Aug 11, 2010)

I feel for you Dreamchaser. I have a wether that is almost 7 months old and although we disbudded him as a kid, he is growing horns. Our iron was toast so we bought a new one for next season. My herd is hornless and he is turning into a real bully. I have tennis balls on the ends which keeps anyone from getting hurt, but I have seen him tuck his head under another goats belly and try to flip them. Brat!!!. The problem is that since his horns were messed up in the beginning they are starting to grow at a funny angle and if I left them I think they would grow around into his head or neck or something so we have chosen to band his horns. We have just been waiting for the bug season to end. All the best and it is helpful to know that we aren't alone when dealing with something like this.


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

clearwtrbeach said:


> I'm not familiar with how the banding works? I have a Nigerian dwarf buckling who is 4 mos old and was supposed to be debudded. Feeling him yesterday I realized one side has what appears to be a small scur, the other side has a horn that is about an inch and a half much to my surprise. I may want to show him so obviously I'll have to do something but I don't want to cause major pain and trauma either.
> I have never used a disbudding iron, I watched the same person who my buckling came from do my doeling and it worries me. I've heard people not getting it done properly (as is the case of my buckling) or "burning" their little brain. Does that really happen?
> My husband wants horns on his Boers so no problem there.
> Suggestions?


I would have someone physically look at them to give you a good suggestion. It is really hard to say without seeing the horns.


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## 8566 (Jul 18, 2012)

I just reburned my two lil March bucklings that I brought in.

I gave them both pain killers, shaved the area, clipped the tips with my trimmers, and went to town. Both had scurs that were not attached to the skull so it was easy to pop off the scur and reburn.

While I was at it I banded one of my does who has a scur that's attached to the head. When I got her the breeders had burned her horns and left two holes in her head that I had to treat. One grew back that stays small the other .... it just needs to go since none of my other goats have horns. I got as low as I could with the bands given her horn shape. I didn't want to cut a notch below her horn base. I think that method is prone to infections. This weekend I will remove my duck tape and see if I should put on a few more bands. I need to make sure I go low enough or nothing will happen other than pain to my girl.

You can show goats with horns/scurs < 3" but I don't think it makes their head look good. You can start trimming and every week take about 1/2" off. Pretty soon you'll get pretty low. That is if you don't want to band.


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## ThreeHavens (Oct 20, 2011)

LilBleatsFarm said:


> You can show goats with horns/scurs < 3" but I don't think it makes their head look good. You can start trimming and every week take about 1/2" off. Pretty soon you'll get pretty low. That is if you don't want to band.


I thought you couldn't register horned dairy animals. Would you have to register them differently?


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## 8566 (Jul 18, 2012)

correct no horns but I think it's hard to tell between a scur and a horn on some regrowth. The one doe I just banded her scur is pretty thick. I put horn/scur there too because some newbies don't understand horn and scurs and will mix the words.

So far I haven't seen a judge throw out a goat because they thought the scur might be a horn. I suppose you could trim those horns down far enough....


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## Randi (Apr 22, 2011)

I am not a big fan of de-horning. I would band him if you really want the horns removed. If your choice is dehorning it is safer and more humane to have it done by a vet.


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## fd123 (May 29, 2012)

I feel for you Dreamchaser!! Those are some BIG HORNS.....all of my goats have horns...with my queen having the biggest pair and shes def not scared to use them on the others.. Although i do worry about someone getting hurt by her.. I dont think id tackle cutting at them for the fear of losing her trust for good, and hurting her... but all of my goats are pets only! So, if i only used them for breeding, or meat/dairy purposes id never have taken to them the way i have i guess..If your biggest fear is him getting hung up somewhere and dying...Theres alot of better ways to prevent him from getting hung in the fence than removing his horns.My fence is sooo hot i wont even touch it...much less my goats..the thought of touching my fence makes me cringe..lol...but thens there is still the delima of the safety of your other goats..Its an all around bad situation..Have you considered just replacing him? Best of luck to you with whatever you decide!


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## primal woman (Sep 17, 2011)

Tough call. I can totally understand your need/desire to dehorn. Stick to your guns. They don't have to have the horns for cooling purposes since polled goats and cattle exist! Anyway, my experience has been this: I dehorned an adult dwarf doe with a saw and cauterize with little to NO blood. I have dehorned cattle, pulled the vein, then no more blood. I dehorned a half year old buckling and there was a LOT of blood and I could not get the thing burned enough to stop the bleeding. I had to use blood stop and pine tar and it then stopped. Weird. Anyway, here is what I recommend: rubber bands and several of them. Actually do not need the tool. You may need the larger bands. But roll them on, tape them down to keep them down. and/or notch the horn to keep the band down. I rolled mine way down as far as I could get it to go, then taped it so it would not ride up. Then I used the tool to put 3 more bands on BELOW the first band. Yep, you read that right. You may be unable to do that due to the size of the horns though. I used electrical tape. 
Hope it works for you. Once dehorned all will be well and you'll be glad you did it.


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