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NellieBelle
11217 Posts
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maryjane
7074 Posts
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 Posted - Nov 23 2015 : 08:50:32 AM
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| Reading through these almost makes me queasy. Thanks Janet. I saw a few techniques I've never heard of. |
MaryJane Butters, author of Milk Cow Kitchen ~ striving for the stoicism of a cow standing in the rain ~ |
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NellieBelle
11217 Posts
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Sydney2015
1156 Posts
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Posted - Nov 23 2015 : 09:32:54 AM
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| When we dehorned AppleButter, we burned the horn.(The vet did it) we numbed her head, gave her a five day pill capsule, and sedated her. We had to hold her down because she wouldn't lay down. She healed very quickly. That first day, she was very, very lazy and didn't feel the best, the next day, she was completely back to normal. I liked that method because she didn't even make a noise, and there was no blood, it just cauterized the horn. |
A good laugh overcomes more difficulties and dissipates more dark clouds than any other one thing - Laura Ingalls Wilder
I live on a small farm of seventy acres called Green Forest Farm, with 10 horses, a donkey, 5 beef cows, 2 beef heifers, 3 Hereford heifers, around 60 chickens, 8 dogs, my amazing cow, AppleButter, and her little Jersey calf HoneyButter! |
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maryjane
7074 Posts
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Posted - Nov 23 2015 : 5:34:47 PM
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| Janet, the AVMA is a good find. Thank you. I also looked up castration to see what they said. Based on their findings, it looks like if you band within the first month (ideally the first couple of weeks), it traumatizes a bull calf the least amount (determined by the cortisol in their bloodstream). |
MaryJane Butters, author of Milk Cow Kitchen ~ striving for the stoicism of a cow standing in the rain ~ |
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CloversMum
3486 Posts
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Posted - Dec 28 2015 : 3:11:01 PM
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| Just an add-on note: We banded Betsy's horns after she came to our farm. She was just over six months old. It seemed to work well; the bands stayed low and the horn buds came off without any stress on Betsy's part. However, the horns seemed to just keep growing ... she has horn stumps now that area couple of inches long. Hopefully, they've stopped but I'll keep watching them. Out of safety for my family, we don't have any animal with horns on our farm. Too dangerous for children and grandchildren and for my peace of mind. |
Loving life and family on our Idaho farm, Meadowlark Heritage Farm; A few Jersey cows; a few alpacas; a few more goats, and even more ducks and chickens |
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maryjane
7074 Posts
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Posted - Dec 28 2015 : 9:04:38 PM
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| Charlene, I think it was Kade who mentioned recently that when he bands a cow who already has horns, he has to then debud again with a hot iron like you would a calf because they almost always start to grow again. |
MaryJane Butters, author of Milk Cow Kitchen ~ striving for the stoicism of a cow standing in the rain ~ |
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CloversMum
3486 Posts
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Posted - Jan 01 2016 : 10:43:49 AM
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| Good to know. I'll have to talk with the vets to see what they would recommend at this point since we missed the debudding opportunity right after the banding worked. I certainly want the best for Betsy and the least amount of trauma possible, but safety first for everyone here. |
Loving life and family on our Idaho farm, Meadowlark Heritage Farm; A few Jersey cows; a few alpacas; a few more goats, and even more ducks and chickens |
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maryjane
7074 Posts
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Posted - Jan 03 2016 : 12:23:12 PM
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| How about a band again if Shelly comes up to do a blood draw? |
MaryJane Butters, author of Milk Cow Kitchen ~ striving for the stoicism of a cow standing in the rain ~ |
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CloversMum
3486 Posts
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Posted - Jan 03 2016 : 3:20:44 PM
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| Sounds like I just need to call Shelly ... I'm getting a list of things for her to help me with and she was so great with Betsy last time. I'll check with our cow man, otherwise known as my son, Ethan. :-) |
Loving life and family on our Idaho farm, Meadowlark Heritage Farm; A few Jersey cows; a few alpacas; a few more goats, and even more ducks and chickens |
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GinghamGirl
19 Posts
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Posted - Jan 08 2018 : 2:58:04 PM
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| We dehorned Buttercup (born September 18th) but the horns are coming up again. What would you suggest? |
Joyce Hein
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maryjane
7074 Posts
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Posted - Jan 08 2018 : 4:20:51 PM
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| How did you dehorn her the first time? |
MaryJane Butters, author of Milk Cow Kitchen ~ striving for the stoicism of a cow standing in the rain ~ |
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GinghamGirl
19 Posts
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Posted - Jan 09 2018 : 03:57:55 AM
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| With a dehorner. |
Joyce Hein
(GinghamGirl) |
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maryjane
7074 Posts
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Posted - Jan 09 2018 : 06:10:18 AM
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So, you used a dehorner that burned them off? Or a dehorner that cut them off?
I've never tried it but I have a couple bottles of Dr. Naylor's Dehorning Paste. I'd be happy to drop one in the mail to you. I've bred my herd to the point where there's no longer the possibility of horns in any calves born here.
https://www.drugs.com/vet/dr-naylor-dehorning-paste.html
If you burned them off, you may not have burned deep enough to kill all the growth cells. Cutting the horns off seems similar to cutting hair and they'd grow back.
How old is Buttercup? Horn removal is best when done young. You can also try a very tight band around the base of them. If the band stays in place (you may have to take a tiny file to make an indentation somewhere at the base to keep the band from coming off). Charlene banded a pair of calf horns (on an older calf) but they came back.
During the years I removed horns, I always watched the procedure at WSU. There was only one technician that seemed to know how to get perfect horn removal (carefully and with every part of the circle burned and also deep enough). She went very slow and dabbed that hot iron again and again but first she numbed the area. Also, she had the calf in a squeeze chute. |
MaryJane Butters, author of Milk Cow Kitchen ~ striving for the stoicism of a cow standing in the rain ~ |
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maryjane
7074 Posts
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Posted - Jan 09 2018 : 06:11:44 AM
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| Buttercup was born in September so she's still young enough to try it again. |
MaryJane Butters, author of Milk Cow Kitchen ~ striving for the stoicism of a cow standing in the rain ~ |
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GinghamGirl
19 Posts
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Posted - Jan 09 2018 : 07:34:06 AM
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| We used a dehorner that burned them off. I don’t want to traumatized her, but if she’s still young enough we will try again. I wish they were naturally dehorner! |
Joyce Hein
(GinghamGirl) |
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CloversMum
3486 Posts
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Posted - Jan 13 2018 : 3:36:45 PM
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This past summer we took our little heifer, BlueBelle, over to the WSU veterinary school. They used a great dehorner that not only burned the horns off but also scooped it a bit so there was absolutely no chance of having them grow back. So far BlueBelle is the best looking of my four dairy cows to be dehorned. You can't even really tell that she was dehorned. I've had some people ask if she's naturally polled.
Here's the link to the dehorner used at WSU:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006485KWU/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_40?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER
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Loving life and family on our Idaho farm, Meadowlark Heritage Farm; A few Jersey cows; a few alpacas; a few more goats, and even more ducks and chickens |
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maryjane
7074 Posts
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Posted - Jan 13 2018 : 4:00:36 PM
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| I made note of it so I'll be able to find it again. Very helpful!!!! |
MaryJane Butters, author of Milk Cow Kitchen ~ striving for the stoicism of a cow standing in the rain ~ |
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GinghamGirl
19 Posts
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Posted - Jan 13 2018 : 4:54:04 PM
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| Thank you! I will share this with my husband. I’m not sure which one we have, but I do know it’s a really good quality. He thinks he didn’t put it on long enough. |
Joyce Hein
(GinghamGirl) |
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![[flourish]](/images/flourish-txt_mobius.png)
Dehorning techniques
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