# Goat with head stuck in fence-dehorn or replace fence?



## cwatkin (Jul 9, 2012)

I have a doe that gave birth to a cute little buckling two days ago. I noticed her stuck in the fence late last night with her kid standing next to her so I had to go out and free her. Her horns were stuck through a section of fence I constructed from cattle panels.

Should I look into dehorning her or replacing/modifying the fence? I have heard that you cannot dehorn an older goat easily and to just leave them be. Would it be best to replace the cattle panels or double up with woven wire or something else with a finer mesh/grid?

Conor


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## sweetgoats (Oct 18, 2007)

She is to old to dehorn, it would have to be a matter of days after they are born.
 What I have done is take a piece of something like a PVC pipe, lay it across their heat and the bottom of their horns, and Duck tape it to their horns. It needs to be wider than the area she is putting her head in.

 I have done that and It takes a few times from the pipe falling off putting it back on and pretty soon they stop doing it. 

 Of course if you can replace the fence that would be good, but that could get really pricy.


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## RedGate (Dec 7, 2012)

Search on here for banding horns, from what I can tell it seems to be a good option for doing older horned animals. I don't have any experience with it though. For the time being, if you have something already that you could use over the cattle panels, I would go for it.


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## nancy d (Oct 5, 2007)

You have options here! Replace panel & or cover it with field fencing; the 2x2".
You can also tape a broom handle to her horns so that the ends of the handle are wider than your panels.


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## RedGate (Dec 7, 2012)

nancy d said:


> You have options here! Replace panel & or cover it with field fencing; the 2x2".
> You can also tape a broom handle to her horns so that the ends of the handle are wider than your panels.


I've also seen tennis balls,PVC, and rubber hose used like Nancy described with the broom  forgot to add that!


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## cwatkin (Jul 9, 2012)

Good to hear... I dehorned all my kids pretty much 7 days after they were born and plan to do the same with her buckling.

As for the fence, I have some old crappy woven wire on hand that could be re-used along these panels. I was also considering adding an electric wire along the panels as electric fence seems to be the only sure way to keep goats from messing with fences.

Conor


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## clearwtrbeach (May 10, 2012)

I would not dehorn an adult. As mentioned, a piece of pvc toward the tips straight across, tennis balls are more effective on one who is using their horns to be naughty. I've seen them get their head stuck in cattle panels and field fence equally.
You can if possible (not sure how big your area is) run a strand of hot wire on the inside it also helps keep them from leaning and bending the fence.


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## cwatkin (Jul 9, 2012)

Yeah, hot wire seems to work really well with goats (and most other animals) so this will be my plan. I had several issues with keeping them contained until I made my outside perimeter with a hot wire. The final straw was when they had to go to one of my neighbors with nice landscaping and start chowing down.

Conor


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## OwnedByTheGoats (Mar 7, 2013)

Hmmm... PVC is a good idea. I heard banding can cause a lot of bleeding, but I think surgery is pretty darn risky, isn't it?


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## katie (Dec 3, 2012)

we had a goat like that except we had to cut our fence to get her out. We ended up just selling her. I think that it would be smarter replace the fencing


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## Dayna (Aug 16, 2012)

I replaced the fence with the smaller 2x4 inch opening all along my whole 3 acres.


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