Disbudding Baby Goat |
Written by Administrator-GL | ||||||||||||||||
Saturday, 12 April 2008 | ||||||||||||||||
How to Disbud a Baby GoatHorns or no horns, disbudding yourself, disbudding by a vet- controversial topics to say the least! :)I used to disbud my dairy kids because I sold them for show- (most dairy shows will not allow horns- But angora shows usually do as do pygmy shows or at least they used to) I don't sell show dairy goats anymore and I don't disbud- I have never disbudded pygmy or angora or pygora kids ever. But I did the disbudding myself- I have heard over the years many horror stories of vets doing it and kids dying- I have heard of breeders doing it and having scurs or losing kids, I have heard of both using sedatives and banamine- here's my take on the topic: >I disbudded quickly and completely- never had scurs never lost a kid never used banamine (Banamine is overused IMHO) or sedatives. Never used a disbudding box. I had nubians so there were ears to get in the way- so hold them back out of the way. I would place the kid on the floor after allowing the disbudding Iron Rhinehart x30 to heat for 10 minutes and using the tip to burn a complete round circle in 5 -7 seconds on wood- if the iron does not make a complete circle of black then it is not hot enough and this is usually the biggest problem people have- so allow the burn circle on wood to be complete and black in this 5-7 second time. You can clip the hair around the horn buds to see better what you will be buring- Most kids are disbudded at 5 days old give or take- it is when the horn buds are bumps on the head but no longer than 1/2 inch (another reason people get scurs because they wait too long or disbud too early) - Once the iron is hot enough, lay the kid on the floor and straddle it holding the head down behind the neck so the chin is flat on the ground (with nubians hold the ears back as well) hold tight so the kid doesn't move, do one horn bud at a time burning and rocking the iron around without moving it off the head to the count of no more than 6 seconds- the idea of rocking is because the head is not flat and in order to get the complete circle, you need to rock the iron without lifting it from the head. Count to 6 and no more remove the iron and allow to reheat until you gt a black ring on wood again. Introduction: Many meat, pet, and fiber goat owners prefer to leave the horns on their goats. Many of the dairy goat owners, however, prefer to have the horns removed for showing. If the decision is made to remove the horns, baby goats should be disbudded in infancy. Male goats can be descented at the same time. The ideal time to perform these procedures is when the kid is 3-7 days old, depending on horn bud growth. Ideal size of horn bud is when it just starts to bump up no more than one half inch in size.There are different techniques that have been used, but only burning with a hot iron is safe and routinely successful. Dehorning adult animals requires anesthetic and usually surgical procedures performed by a veterinarian and is NOT recommended. Procedure: An electric disbudding iron (Rhinehart x30)with a tip that is 3/4 to 1 inch in diameter can be used. This instrument should be heated until they are cherry red and will leave a complete round circle of burnt wood when placed on a flat board for the count of 5-7 seconds. Tetanus Prevention: All goats should be vaccinated with a tetanus ANTI TOXIN prior to performing a disbudding procedure. The tetanus anti toxin is found at most feed stores- it's tetanus ANTI toxin (not toxoid) equine origin 1500 unit vial holds about 4ccs - I use half the bottle for one baby a Nubian baby size. This gives a 7 to 1- day protection from tetanus after doing any procedure such as banding or disbudding or injury- if the area of injury or area you have done a procedure on is still raw or open, another tetanus anti toxin injection is in order (after the initial 7 to 10 days) Alternative Methods for Disbudding and Dehorning Include (NONE of these Methods are Recommended):
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 07 March 2009 ) |
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