July Doelings & Buclings

[Farmer Nestor]

Here's our newly weaned kids....

[neodragon0l]

Ang ganda po nila. Ndi po kayo nagdisbud ng mga goats?

[Farmer Nestor]

Yes Carlo, we don't disbud our goats.

Sept 28, 2010 17:17:08 GMT -8 neodragon0l said:

Ang ganda po nila. Ndi po kayo nagdisbud ng mga goats?

[mulawin]

Hi, Carlo.

The choice between disbudding and not disbudding is a choice a goat farmer needs to make. There are always pros and cons and for our case, we have made our decision based on the following considerations.

Advantages of Disbudding.

1. Horns can be dangerous to both the handler and other goats. In their playful mood, a goat can accidentally gorge a handler or a fellow goat. This maybe particularly applicable to herds. In our case, the goats are normally separated individually in pens when they reach the age of four to six months. Bucklings are separated immediately after weaning.
2. Horns are not only dangerous to fellow goats but to individual goats too. Sometimes horns get stuck to the netted partition we have in our goathouse. However, we noticed that goats have the uncanny ability to loose themselves from such situation.
3. If you are to ‘show’ your goats in trade fairs, normally they should be disbudded or de-horned.

Advantages of Not Disbudding

1. Dehorning or disbudding is not humane. Obviously, disbudding causes a lot of pain to the kids. You may want to use anaesthetic but not many vets in the country have experience in handling goats.
2. Horns are like car’s radiator. They help regulate goat body temperature. There large blood vessels in the goat’s horn that can dilate during hot weather which help it cool off.
3. Horns can show the general nutritional status of goats. The more massive and corrugated the horns the better the goat has been fed and maintained throughout its life.
4. Improperly removed horns can grow in a deformed pattern called scurs. These can often curl around and grow back into the skull, and can also break and bleed easily during rough-housing.
5. Goats use their horns for utilitarian purposes such as scratching and feeding.
6. Handlers use the horns to easily handle goats.
7. Our target is to someday convert our goat farm into an organic goat farm. And one of the requirements is that disbudding is a no-no.

After weighing all the pros and cons, we decided not to dehorn our goats. Analysing all the factors, we feel that the advantages of not disbudding far outweigh the disadvantages of disbudding. With regards to the goats own safety, it is possible the goats can harm each other but the danger is relatively small in our case given the goat farming practices at our farm. We want to pamper our goats and we want them to be happy and not exposed to pain and trauma.

Again, this is our opinion which may vary from farm to farm. The choice is yours.

[neodragon0l]

Thank you Mulawin for your advice and the clarification. I prefer goats in their natural look and treat them humanely. Goats are very intelligent so I don't worry too much about the horns. What precautions do you use in case the horns become too sharp?

[mulawin]

Hi, Carlo.

What we do is to restrain and hold the goat and saw the horn tip (1/4" to 1/2") with a flexible hacksaw. There's no blood supply at the tip of the horn like there is at the base, so there's no bleeding. Remember goats grow their horns throughtout their lifetime and that is why we keep an eye on them to see if the horns needed further trimming.

There are times horns curl towards the skull of the goat. This will be a bit tricky and may require an expert help from a vet. This normally occur with the bucks who have extended horns which are meant to attract does as well as for defensive purposes.

[neodragon0l]

thank you po.