#disbudding

[pacificremains]

Young cow skull. I believe the dark marks on the horn remnants are from disbudding.

[ask-a-vetblr]

Hello, what are your thoughts on disbudding goats, is it the same kind of messed up as declawing cats or is it its own separate thing?

Also why do people do it? I wouldn't dare do to it to my goat because it just seems cruel and pointless.

gettingvetted here.

Disbudding is done for several reasons. First, having a goat without horns is a must in showing and dairy management. When goats fight, they can cause trauma to younger or weaker goats, their handlers, and to the udder. It is luckily nothing like declawing, and done properly, should not affect the goat long-term.

Disbudding must be done before the goat is 2 weeks old because at 14 days the horn bud is firmly attached to the bone of the skull and you can (and will) quite literally cause brain damage by disbudding after that point. A good veterinarian will perform the procedure with the aid of lidocaine and each horn takes less than 10 seconds with an experienced practitioner. Ideally an antibacterial/insect repellant spray such as blue spray or alu-spray will be put on the resulting wounds and the kid will be given pain relief for a few days.

[drferox]

Dehorning

@a-study-in-stars said to @ask-drferox:  How do vets dehorn animals, specifically cows? Growing up, we dehorned our goats by burning the horns off but that seems pretty cruel to me if painkillers aren’t involved

If it is a veterinarian dehorning an animal, it is typically treated like surgery and usually an adult animal which was not done when it was young.

The horns of adult cattle are made of keratin wrapped around a boney core. The keratin has no feeling or blood supply, like finger nails. The bone core has lots of blood supply and feeling. It also opens into the frontal sinus.

To remove the horn of an adult cow, they’re typically sedated and local anaesthetic is used to numb the area. There are arteries within the horn that must be tied off or cauterised, and the wound must be packed to prevent flies and infection. It’s a bit of a bloody mess, to be honest, and these animals really should have pain relief for a good long while after.

An alternative, if you’re not removing the horn because it was broken already, is to just tip it. Basically you’re cutting off the pointy tip only, not any part with bone it is, which should be no more uncomfortable than cutting nails.

What most farmers will do is actually disbudding, where the horn buds are removed before the horn grows. This may be done with cautery, as in the case of your goats. There are different shaped implements to do this, or some just cut the horn bud out without cautery.

If you do this in a young calf, then the horn bud has not attached to the skull, and removing it wont open up into the frontal sinus.

Pain relief is still recommended. Cattle and sheep can easily be bred to be polled, which means they don’t grow horns at all, which is a completely pain free alternative. Goats are a bit harder, as polled goats were associated with infertility, but there’s been some progress there.

There is also a caustic paste that can be used for disbudding calves but it is not widely used in Australia and not really recommended. Our calves usually have access to the outside, where it rains and risks running into their eyes, or dairy calves are housed in groups, not individual pens, where they risk licking the paste off each other.

[panfictional]

is it cruel to disbud cows and goats? as someone interested in keeping dairy animals in the future, I worry about the safety of myself and other animals that may be harmed by large horns. but how painful is the procedure, and at what age is it done? I would not want to traumatize any animal. thanks.

I can tell you right off the bat that this procedure will not traumatize the animal. Similar to branding and castrations it’s done earlier in their lives. I’d say roughly a year after they’re born or earlier. You’ll have to get a trained professional for it and the cow/goat in question will be on some heavy pain killers if not unconscious throughout. Keep an eye on the area in the rare chance it might become infected but like I said that’s rare. Your buddy will be fine and back to doing whatever in no time. So it may hurt a bit but I’d say it’d hurt the same way accidentally banging against something would hurt. The pain is gone before you know it. If the thought of this or the thought of how expensive it can be is too much there are aome breeds that don’t grow horns. I understand that cows/goats with horns can be dangerous and can get caught on things easily. Your concerns are perfectly valid. Another option would be to file the horns down. Again I’d caution for getting a paid professional to do such thing. Filing does not get rid of the horn but makes sure that it’s blunt and as safe as it can be. All in all you should be fine. It’s not cruel or traumatic for them and can often help them as much as it helps you. So if that’s the route you want to go then go for it!

[bonefarm]

Being fairly new to the goat-thing it kind of seems like disbudding is just declawing for goats. All of mine are horned and yeah, kind of a pain in the ass sometimes but in watching them you see that they use their horns so much and apparently they also function to keep goats cool in the summer so?? I don’t see the need? Am I wrong here? Why on earth is this required in some registries?

[someveganfacts]

Fact 093. Most Calves are ‘disbudded’ (to stop the growth of horns) using hot irons, blades or caustic chemicals, and often without the use of anaesthesia.  

Sources // 

https://www.viva.org.uk/dark-side-dairy/calves-%E2%80%93-unwanted-products

https://veganuary.com/why/animals/cows/

http://www.nadis.org.uk/bulletins/disbudding-calves.aspx

http://www.dehorning.com/videos

http://www.dehorning.com

[goatvetoz]

Disbudding a goat kid under an anaesthetic - improved technique

[goatvetoz]

Disbudding of a goat kid under anaesthesia.  Disbudding does not have to be painful.