# Too old to DisBud? (Pics)



## Shara (Feb 21, 2018)

Hi! I am wondering if this 4 week old goat in your opinion can be disbuded? This goat is for my daughter as a pet. He will be castrated. And I understand if he is not disbuded he can not be shown for 4-H. We did not think my daughter would be getting a goat. Her big brother got one for market for 4-h. His was younger. These are my neighbors goats mind you, so my daughter is over quit a bit to play with the babies and she fell In Love with this certain one.


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## Shara (Feb 21, 2018)




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## Ranger1 (Sep 1, 2014)

No. He's way too big.


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

If the disbudder can fit over it, you can disbud.


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## Shara (Feb 21, 2018)

Thanks for the replies! So I guess my next question is....how dangerous is it to own a goat with horns? I know very little about goats. I pictured the goat head butting my seven year old. Maybe not even on purpose.


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## Shara (Feb 21, 2018)

ksalvagno said:


> If the disbudder can fit over it, you can disbud.


have you disbuded goats with this size buds before? And if so how was the outcome?


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## Shara (Feb 21, 2018)

Ranger1 said:


> No. He's way too big.


 If his buds fit in the disbudder would you reccomend it or are you saying no because it might heal slower and possible for take longer to do??


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## Goat_Scout (Mar 23, 2017)

We just had a 5 week old Nubian kid disbudded (dehorned, really), and we’ve had a several 3-4 week old kids (two were Alpines, the other a Mini-Mancha) dehorned too. 

We bring them in to the vet, and she puts them under, scoops the horns and cauterizes them. They have to wear a “bonnet” for about 24 hours afterwards. 
It works well, and is not very stressful, but I definitely prefer disbudding at 1 +/- week old because it’s a quicker and cheaper option.


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## billiejw89 (May 7, 2014)

We have a mixed herd of horns and hornless, it works for us. No major issues with the horned goats and I have my small children in with them everyday. 
We had a buckling disbudded at the vet, his horns looked about the same as in the picture. 
The vet used cutters to take off most of the horn, and then burned them. It worked fine.


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## Ranger1 (Sep 1, 2014)

Shara said:


> If his buds fit in the disbudder would you reccomend it or are you saying no because it might heal slower and possible for take longer to do??


I'm saying no because you will need to remove that horn and then disbud the area where it was, once they are this size. Disbudding around the base isn't going to work.


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## MadCatX (Jan 16, 2018)

I have a mini hybrid Nigi/Pygmy - he has his horns, hes also intact. He will gore and ram us. He loves to stomp his front hoof and do what I call Mock gorring where he will ram his head into me but not hard at all. But hes never hurt me or my kids, just rambunctious.


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## Deborah Haney (Jul 11, 2017)

I was only poked once when I looked after a couple horned goats. He was actually aiming for another goat that was getting too close to his food. In my opinion, as long as goats are taught to respect people they shouldn't be dangerous, with horns or without. I also think it's good for children to respect animals, and one way to do that is allow them to interact with animals that could hurt them if they aren't careful, keeping the child's age in mind, of course. Children learn to be mindful of their actions and location in relationship to horns and teeth. Just my 2 cents. You should still disbud/dehorn if you think it's best.


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## jaycee (Aug 3, 2011)

I agree they are way too big to disbud effectively. At the very best you'd end up with some massive scurs. I started doing my bucks even earlier this year some at only 4-5 days when i first feel the bump because ive always done them at 7-10 days and last year had two bucks with big horns. What you can do is wait until they are a little bigger and take them off with green castrating bands. You just wrap the horn with a bunch of electric tape and then apply a band inside of it next to the skin. Then you wait a month or so and they will get tender then fall off. Some folks won't agree with this because its definitely more painful for the goat than disbudding. I used it on one horned doe, she was about 6 mos old so her horns weren't great big but it worked great. You couldn't tell the difference between her head and the clean disbudded ones after they came off.


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## lottsagoats1 (Apr 12, 2014)

I've successfully disbudded nubs like that, but it's not what I would want to do all the time. I nip the tip off with hoof nippers and then burn.

I had a horned doe I got from a dealer many years ago. She was a smallish Togg/Alpine cross. She was a sweetheart. One day after being milked, she jumped off the milk stand. Instead of going the direction she usually went, she suddenly twisted in mid jump and got my thigh wedged between her back and the tips of her horns. As she landed and her head snapped back, the tip of that horn buried itself thru the muscle, right down to the bone. Then it tore the skin and muscles as she fought to free herself. Very painful and now 30 some odd years later I still have a large scar as a reminder why I will never have a horned goat.


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## TexasGoatMan (Jul 4, 2015)

I see lots of horned goats in pastures and dairy parlors. I also feel that the horns are a real danger just waiting to happen. If you interact with your goats all it takes is just a split second and you may have an eye poked out or other pokes that hurt. With Grand kids and other kids that visit, I will not take the chance for some injury to happen from a horn. Therefore I will not own a doe with horns and I de-horn any doeling that I am keeping as soon as possible. I have one boer buck that I bought with horns ( was 1 old when purchased) and have been accidentally poked a few times and butted a couple of times on purpose and he is on his way to the sale in a couple of weeks. I just paid a deposit on a extremely well bred Nubian buckling that has already been disbudded. So No more horns for me. That my :2c: worth.


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## Shara (Feb 21, 2018)

So here's another question. What about dehorning by banding??


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## jaycee (Aug 3, 2011)

Hi Shara, banding is what I suggested above. You have to let them get a little bigger probably wait till they are as big as your pinky or so. Some say you have to cut a groove to put the bands in but i had very good luck just wrapping a whole bunch of electrical tape on the horn next to the head and then slipping a couple bands over the tape so it has to stay against the skin. They will act sore for a couple hours then after that it will be numb until they get loose then they get tender. You just have to resist the urge to break them off when they get loose or they will bleed more. Let them fall off on their own. I admit I only did one this way, she was a little Nubian/Toggenburg doe that I got when she was 5 or 6 mos old with horns. It worked amazingly well, she turned out as smooth headed as the ones I disbudded.


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