# Bully ND with horns



## cdanna (Dec 17, 2012)

My ND with horns, Colleen has turned out to be a huge bully. Well, I knew she was a bully but now I realize she is getting violent with my (much larger) disbudded doe, Cherry. I bought them together as yearlings, Colleen was a rescue which is why she wasn't disbudded.

I noticed a pretty large wound in the space between Cherry's udders the day before yesterday. Thought at first it was chafing (we recently went down to 1x day milking and she makes a LOT of milk) but then I realized nope, it is a horn wound. Not infected at all, I cleaned and put pain relieving/anti-bac gel on it yesterday and today and it is already starting the healing process.

I tried separating them at first - the buck is in with them right now so I just put Colleen in the buck pen and left Cherry and Jack to hang out together. Then they all freaked out at the separation, and woke us up at 5:00 this morning MAAAing their heads off -___-

So my question is - is it really effective to cover horns? Can I wrap them with a tshirt and tape and not worry about poor Cherry getting injured again? Or do I need to sell Colleen to someone with horned goats who can defend themselves? I feel bad, we all like Colleen a lot and want to keep her if we can.


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## Naunnie (Jul 4, 2014)

I found this picture yesterday and repinned it. Unfortunately there is no description to go along with it other than the caption. "solution for stopping a goat getting is horns caught in a wire fence". I wonder if something like this would work?


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## MsScamp (Feb 1, 2010)

I've seen posts on this forum about people who duct taped/super glued tennis balls over their goats horns. I have no idea how long that would be effective, but it would be worth a try?

ETA: Another option would be to trim Colleen's horns so they don't have points. A grinder would accomplish that, but I can't give you any details on how to go about it. A 3rd option might be to band her horns. If you do a search there are a number of threads regarding banding horns.


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## cdanna (Dec 17, 2012)

Thanks - I like the tube and tennis ball ideas! I am going to try that today. I think the tube especially would work because she wont be able to get up under the udder with one horn at a time. The lady I bought them from tried to band Colleens horns halfway down and it didn't work, so one of the horns is deformed and misshapen. I don't think I want to try that again :-/


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## peggy (Aug 11, 2010)

I have a wether that has horns and he is a bully too. I duct tape tennis balls on the ends and that helps from causing a wound but he is still a bully and can butt the others. The tape lasts fe=or several days and then I have to redo them. I was thinking of banding the horns but he is going to freezer camp soon so not going to bother. Good luck.


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## Sylvie (Feb 18, 2013)

The loop in the tube looks like it could be dangerous if it got caught on something. Just a thought.


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## sweetgoats (Oct 18, 2007)

I do understand the reason here but that tube is not a good idea.

Goats are born with horns to help them stay cool. That is there air conditioning. With that plastic tube on the horns that is really preventing her to release her body heat and she can over heat and have a heat stroke. 

I would do the tennis balls or anything else. She loos so sweet.


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## Naunnie (Jul 4, 2014)

Oh my gosh! Thank you sweetgoats! I did not even think of that! I feel bad for even posting this now. :blue:


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## cdanna (Dec 17, 2012)

So I decided to do the tubing but with a modification - it only goes down about 1/3 of her horns - I know it is not to the point where there is live tissue underneath because of the mark where the previous owner banded her before. It shouldn't affect her cooling off this way, right? 

We also snipped the middle so that it is not a U shape, it just extends about an inch past the horn tip to give some cushion so that she cant do any damage. Right after we got them on she went for the buck and tied to get him in the belly and it didnt work at all, I could tell she was frustrated, lol maybe she will have a better attitude now!

Gonna keep an eye on her the next week or so to see if the tubes really bother her... she is a very honest goat and always lets me know when she isn't happy about something  If so I'll try tennis balls!


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## cdanna (Dec 17, 2012)

I'll try and remember to take a pic when I milk her tomorrow.


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## Naunnie (Jul 4, 2014)

Oh thank goodness your smarter than me! After sweetgoats pointed out this was not a good idea I have been sick with worry. I almost deleted my post but I felt it best for folks to see my error. I'm so relieved you made modifications. I've learned a valuable lesson. Please forgive me for my ignorance.


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## cdanna (Dec 17, 2012)

She ended up knocking the tubes off, I have no idea how! I was impressed with her, haha. So I tried wrapping a big rag around the tips and taping it...knocked that off too! The thing that finally worked was taking just a tiny piece of rag, about the size of the palm of my hand, folding it up real small and wrapping it over the very tip just to blunt it and taping it up REALLY good with electric tape. It isnt big enough for her to get a hold on something and knock it off. She is wearing through the tape quickly but I can just redo it or layer some more tape on top.

And Naunnie, I'm sure the lady who did the tubes over the entire horn didn't have a clue it could potentially harm the goat! Or if she did, she figured the risk of over heating is less for that goat than getting stuck in the fence. It's all a give and take. We all make mistakes, its just part of owning animals


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## Naunnie (Jul 4, 2014)

Thank you cdanna. I wonder if duct tape would work better than electrical tape. Ya know it comes in designer colors and prints now! :dance: I will remember your trick if my 2 horned younguns turns into little devils.


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## kc8lsk (Jan 10, 2014)

Try a noodle (swimming) tape it on real good


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