Disbudding Goat Kids

                In this time of year (January-March) most producers are dehorning their baby goat kids. Dehorning or disbudding goat kids is often a topic that receives a lot of questions. While it is such a hot topic, if done correctly it is way less pain on the kids. Unlike cattle which can have the genetic background to be polled (having no horns), goats do not have this quality yet or some dairy breeds that do have other problems.

To start off we have found on our farm it is a lot easier on both the person dehorning and the kid to dehorn them at a young age. Most people will tell you 3-14 days is the best time to disbud. While this time frame is definitely much more desirable than 2-3 months of age, I have found that if you can get this job done from 3-7 days it is the best. I typically like to do them at 3-5 days of age. The reason it is best to dehorn at a young age is because the more the animal grows the more its horns will grow and it will be more painful for them later on. Also the horn will become harder the older they get. Bucks horns grow faster than does. As long as I can feel where the horn is going to be I will dehorn them at 3 days. The kids have much more vigor afterwards this way and it is less stressful for them.

Dehorning is done for a safety reason. Goats are curious animals so horns are just an easy thing to get stuck in fences. For showing market animals a rule for almost any show is that the goats have to be dehorned. Now this is just the market wethers or market does, as well as dairy breeds. Market type goats that are used for breeding can still have horns. It is easier to work with animals without horns and because they are going to be used for market they do not need horns. Does and bucks are allowed to keep their horns as a means of self-defense.

This is a goat I disbudded last weekend when I was home.

When dehorning, it is easiest to have a box to stick the kids in. Before a person begins dehorning it is best to take a clipper and clip some of the hair off their head, so it is easier to see and so it won’t smell like burnt hair. When the iron is hot enough which normally takes a good 15 minutes a person should place it over the bud with a little pressure and rotate it. Normally it takes about 5 seconds of slow counting. After this step there should be a copper color looking ring. The next part is the most important. The center part needs to be scooped out otherwise the horn will grow back as regrowth or scurs (growth that wiggles). We normally rotate between horns. After the initial cooper rings are done we let the iron heat up a bit and this also gives the kids some time to rest. It is typical that the kids will yell a little bit, but it depends on how noisy they are. Some of my goats are just in general a lot more vocal than others. It also helps to do it at an earlier age like I already mentioned because it is less painful.

 

This picture from the Fathers Bounty Homestead website is a good
example of the cooper color that a person wants.

This website has a very nice article explaining the different reasons on why dehorning is good. The first picture of the young doe (Firefly) is also a good visual of what a dehorned goat looks like after some time has passed.

   http://www.oakhillhomestead.com/2014/02/goat-horns.html

 

This first 5 minutes and 45 seconds of this video explains the set-up of dehorning quite well.

     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPh3fkYngZo&oref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DJPh3fkYngZo&has_verified=1