# banding horns..?



## coltrule (Mar 24, 2011)

I've heard a lot of people banding goat horns...??? I don't have a burning dehorner, i do have some who would do it,but there a hour away,and I don't like burning them, I mean I have NOTHING again'st people that do, I just think it causes them so much pain and stuff, is banding the horns easyer? I band the boys, is it like that? I'm just wanting some info on it, Thanks!


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## nameless_alice (Jan 10, 2012)

I've heard about banding horns too.
I don't de-horn mine at all, but have heard it's the same basic thing as wethering the bucks. 
Hopefully someone who's done them this way can help you out with some info.


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## KW Farms (Jun 21, 2008)

Disbudding is far easier on the animal vs. banding their horns. I would not recommend anyone skip disbudding and plan on banding the horns as an adult. I only band horns when I have a new goat with them or a goat with nasty scurs. It's a simple procedure, but it takes time for the horns to fall off or break off and it can be painful for the goat at times. You can search for threads already on the topic, we have had some good threads started already about it. 

I've done it on a handful of goats and never had any issues, but again, if I can disbud them as kids...that is going to be better for the goat in the long run. If you can get a disbudder and have someone show you how to use it...that's what i'd recommend. If you don't agree with the disbudding, then you shouldn't agree with the banding because the banding I would definately say is harder on the goat.


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## Skyz84 (Jul 25, 2011)

I've banded 3 goats horns so far... One 6 month old buckling, One 2 year old Doe & one 3 year old Doe. All Nigerian Dwarfs... As much as I like horns I have learned we just can't have horned goats. We have several human kids here on a regular basis. We were all sporting lots of bruises. Not to mention the number of times I had to untangle goats out of fences & shrubs. If I HAD to I would band horns again but it would NOT be my 1st choice. 

I've seen several kids burned and I burned my 1st kids this year (with the help of a mentor standing near by!)

I would chose to burn at 3-5 days old over banding ANY day! 

When we burned the kids they bounce back right away. Acting totally normal within 24 hours. It's like it never happened. Minimal blood, if any. Nice and sanitary, dry burn.

Our 6 month old buck had WIDE horns. Wider then any 6 month old kid I have ever seen. It took 1 person to hold him while I spent a good 10 minutes on each horn ... (This is after shaving the area and putting iodine on it.) I had to fight with the bander. rolling the band down onto the skin, placing a second band, making sure they stayed in place, etc. The band kept trying to roll out of place. After a few days he didn't seem to notice the bands so much. His horns fell off in about 3 weeks. A little blood & oozing but not bad. He is now a year and has really thick scurs that keep breaking off in the fences. They grow to be about 3-4 inches long and break off. 

Our 2 year old doe was just a terrible experience. =( She was in so much pain for the 1st 90 minutes after we put the bands on. She was manically slamming into everything in site and throwing herself on the ground screaming. I really regretted doing it. She spent the full 4 weeks avoiding us, avoiding other goats. I got scared I was going to lose her because the last week or so she almost completely stopped eating. Her horns were hanging and every time she would turn her head you could tell it hurt. It was a constant ozzing wound for several weeks. She lost a lot of blood from knocking her horns off early. Once they were off she physically recovered pretty quickly (maybe 2 weeks to heal.) But she no longer wants her head touched. It took several months before she would let us handle her again.

Our 3 year old doe handled it all pretty well. The bands bothered her but after a day or so she seemed fine..... Until her horns started hanging.... every time she would move they would bounce around. It bothered her, she would shake her head, it would hurt worse, etc. She was not tame to begin with so she has always avoided us. She knocked her horns off premature. I can home one day to a white goat covered in blood. One of her eyes was glued shut from all the blood. That was NOT fun to clean up... on an already wild goat. It took about 4 weeks for her to break her horns off.

With that said.. I would band a goat again if I had to. I would rather band horns then come home and find my beloved goat dead because it got tangled in a fence in our 100 degree weather. I would not leave kids intentionally to band horns later on. I would rather burn a kid at 2 ... or even 3 weeks old ... then band the horns later. Its a much quicker pain. Less risk of infection, etc.


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## coltrule (Mar 24, 2011)

Okay,then I guess if I want hornless goats, i'll just burn them when there younger. Thanks guys!!!!


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