The accompanying article Why Horns? was written in 1995 and will give one perspective about way horns should be left on all goats.  However, there is still another side to the issue. Why Horns?  Many breeders choose to disbud their animals for a variety of reasons.  Horns can be a hazard if small children are working with the animals. Goats can get caught in fences, making it necessary to check  fences on a daily basis to be sure that a goat is not left "hung up" to die. Horns can also cause a goat to get caught in other situations like trees, feeders etc.  Personally we have experienced the loss of two goats because they were caught by their horns and choked to death . these were animals that we checked on twice a day, morning and evening, but they got caught up in between chore times.  We have seen a goat get its leg caught in the horns of another goat. This can cause broken or at least injured legs. Goats tend to push each other around by butting the other goats with it's head. Hence, horned goats butting another goats (horned or not) can make quite an impact on the poor victims body.  Horns can be a hazard when ‘working’ the herd. Remember, when you have your head bent over an animal you are in very close proximity to these ‘weapons’. On the other hand the horns make a good handle for one to hold on to the animal with.   Many wether shows require that the animal shown do not  have horns or at least have the horns tipped.  If you choose to remove the horns the ONLY procedure that we use or recommend is DISBUDDING. This is done with a hot iron while the kid is within a week old, at this time the ‘horn’ is just a small ‘bump’ on the top of the head. Yes, this seems awfully  young to inflict such a procedure, but the sooner the horn bud is removed the easier it is on the goats and the better job you get. If all of the horn bud in not removed the animals may develop ‘scurs’ at these sites.   Disbudding is done with a VERY HOT electric iron. There are several different types and styles of irons available. (see SUPPLIERS) Instructions are giving with the iron. After disbudding according to the manufactures instructions we place a zip lock bag filled with ice and a little salt (the salt makes the ice colder, remember making ice cream) on the head to cool it down quickly. For the most part when you put the kid back with its Dam it will go on like nothing has happened. If you find you have  a kid that seems to be experiencing some discomfort you can give it a baby aspirin (NOT any of the other type pain relievers but plain -  regular aspirin) (see MEDICATIONS)  Other methods of dehorning are done when the horns are much larger and it has been our EXPERIENCE that this is a VERY TRAUMATIC procedure to the goat and must be done by a competent veterinarian. Once we had a goat dehorned, we will NEVER do that again.  The skull of the goats in not nearly as thick as that of a cow. In order to remove the entire horn root a gaping hole is made in the top of the  head, yes it heals over, but there is another way to deal with mature horns that is less traumatic. Some people try to use a rubber band at the base of the horns. It is our opinion that this is NOT a good idea as it is VERY painful to the goat.  First what is the situation. Is the goat is getting caught in the feeder or not able to a access a feeder which has been designed for disbudded animals? If so you can get OB wire from your Veterinarian and shorten the horns.  This wire is sharp and will cut into your hands if you do not  use it properly. To do  this  we take a piece of  the OB wire about 18 inches long and  tie a a wooden handle (a piece of would about 1/2 inch in diameter and  6 inches long,  to each end of the OB wire. We start at about  two inches from the end (not the base) of the horn and ‘saw’ the end of the horn off with the OB wire. Be prepared there will be a peculiar odor coming from the horn. Sometimes we will see that we are getting into a ‘pink’ area on the inside of the horn, sometime we will even see a small amount of blood. If so  we stop right here, if not we can take off another 1/2 inch or so, going down until we see we are getting into the pink or blood area. If we feel we need to shorten the horn still more, we let the horn ‘rest’ a week or two, then do the procedure again taking off only about an inch this time. It seems that when removing the end of the horn the ‘blood’ recedes after several days, allowing  us to again remove a bit more of the horn.  We have worked horns down to with in about four  inches of the  head with this method. No, the goats does not like it, but it does not seem to bother them once they are turned loose and it beats getting strangled in a feeder or fence.  The horn will of course continue to grow from the base. We find that  after we have them  shortened to the desired length only yearly maintenance is necessary, perhaps when we work the goats at weaning (see MAINTENANCE).  Another trick that can  be employed if  a horned goats  keeps getting caught in the fence etc.and one would rather not alter the horns is to take a piece of one inch PVC pipe  long enough to go across the horns and stick out enough to keep the head from going into the problem spot. Using duct tape, tape the pipe onto the goats horns (tip: it works best if you put the pipe on the bottom side of the horns). Now the goats has a nice ‘bonnet’ and can no longer put it’s head into tight places.  Of course, the other option is to sell the goat.

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