Disbudding

I remember the discussion.

I'm glad to hear it worked for you.

I may try it this year. I am planning to cut the scrotum and yank the testes right after birth, so I could just do this all at the same time. If I work up the nerve. :blush2

 

Vicki, I remember you mentioning this method months ago and was hoping that you had given it a try. I've got a goat friend who told me a long time ago that they cut out the horn bud. I may just have to give her a call and ask her how she does it. I'm thinking she said they used a scalpel, cut the horn bud out, then burned with an iron. I'll report back if I can get some answers.

 

I haven't heard about the method you mention Vicki but we do a different 'X' method that works great for us.

We burn the horn bud normally, pop the horn bud off, then we burn an 'X onto where we popped the bud off and continue burning until we get the copper colored ring making sure we get a good burn all the way around the base of the horn. Spray with Furall. We do this method on all the doe and buck kids born. No scurs!

Sara

 

Sara,
Do you make the second burn forward or behind the first burn?

 

is their much blood at the first incision? and can you cut off the bud rather than pop it off? I'll try it this year on my bucklings. do you use the disposable scalpel or a reusable one? I think I would feel more comfortable using the iron then scraping/popping it off.

-Melissa

 

I burn the 'X' on top of the horn bud right after I remove the cap. The 'X' is pretty relative as it is sometimes a pretty crude one but as long as the formation is there we have had excellent results doing it this way in all breeds. Of course, this is mainly Nubians and LaManchas but we have done our share of the swiss breeds as well.

Vicki, you must just like doing all that blood and guts kind of stuff. I remember the Nubian ear thing well!

Sara

 

Hey, I'm as close to a perfectionist as one can get. Which is probably why we get along so well. :lol But, promise once you try the ear method my way just once you'll never go back to the barbaric way of the past.

Sara

 

Vicki; I remember having a chat with you about this procedure, and I still keep forgetting to talk to my vet about it. I'm assuming that you do a small X over each horn bud, Ends of X would be at about the edges of the bud, Skin peeled back to expose bud, blade slid in under the bud and pulled upward, and out.....skin laid back down in place, and then fural applied.
This is kinda my visualization of this in my head.....please tell me if I'm way off or kinda close.

Thanks Whim.

 

Ok, what do y'all mean about the ears?

 

COOL! I wonder if Bobbie would let me try it out on some of her kids in the spring (Saanens, Toggs & Obies)

 

Oh, thanks.

Have y'all ever had one where the ends of the ears are flipped up and attached to the rest of the ear, permanently? Someone gave my grandpa a boer goat. When I first saw him, I went over to flip the ends of the ears down and quickly found they were grown that way. It's wierd because it's perfectly symetrical, just the same on each ear, probably an 1 1/2 inches just flipped and sealed to the rest of the ear.

 

Ashley, the flipped up ear thing is very common in Boer goats. You can peel them apart, put cardboard on both sides and tape it good, and the ear will lay relatively flat. We left the cardboard and tape on for a week or so.
Just peel slowly - it hurts!!!!

 

Hmm, I think you would have to cut it to pull it apart.

 

I'm interested in the method Vicki mentioned, simply cutting the horn buds out at birth. Does this hurt pretty bad, I wonder if you could give a shot for pain? This method seems safer, since there is no chance of overheating the brain.

 

Ashley,
I think they need to be done shortly after birth to be corrected. I may be wrong as I am not a Nubian afficianado, just trying to help and also (getting my post numbers up) :biggrin.
Tim

 

OK Vicki
on another thread I mentioned I tried this on a dead buckling and I couldn't find the horn bud to pop off. Am now not wanting to try it on a live kid. So what did I do wrong?