As a goat breeder, there are numerous different management procedures that you may need to consider to find the most effective options for the health and well-being of your beloved goats. However, it\u2019s not always clear which procedures are necessarily right to do. With this thought in mind, today, we\u2019re looking at whether you should disbud a goat or not. Hopefully, this will help you determine once and for all if disbudding your goat is the right option. After all, no single management strategy is right for everyone (or every goat), and considering this is crucial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Whether or not you should disbud a goat is an incredibly complex question since it depends on the goat\u2019s position in the herd, whether the herd is disbudded, and so on. There is no requirement to disbud your goat, per se, but it may be a valuable and safer management practice in some cases than leaving your goats horned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The disbudding process is a relatively straightforward procedure that serves to remove or kill off the horn buds from a young goat\u2019s heat. This prevents the horns from growing since goat kids are not already born with grown horns. However, one important distinction to make here is that you\u2019re not necessarily removing the horn, per se; usually, disbudding simply serves to kill off the horn, so it does not continue to grow. Any area of the horn that is not treated will continue to grow as normal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are numerous different reasons why people disbud their goats. Of course, there\u2019s the aesthetic perspective; many people simply prefer to see goats without horns. However, the main motivation to disbud a goat is usually for safety purposes \u2013 both for the goat and its handler!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As someone who has a roughly 100-strong herd of horned Boer goats, let me tell you \u2013 the horns can do a lot of damage. This damage doesn\u2019t necessarily mean your goat is aggressive, of course, but a horn to the leg during regular management and feeding can be pretty painful. That\u2019s before considering giving medicines, dewormers, and other such treatments; in these scenarios, it\u2019s very easy to get caught or sideswiped by a goat\u2019s horn. I always joke that my legs tend to look like a dalmatian’s skin if I\u2019ve been giving boluses to the goats (which we do every six months in our herd for mineral supplementation).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, the issue naturally becomes worse if you\u2019ve got an aggressive goat. An aggressive horned goat can potentially do even more damage than a disbudded goat, especially if they\u2019re the sort of goat that \u201cknows how to use its horns.\u201d As such, if you know a certain bloodline can be aggressive, it\u2019s worth considering if you should disbud the kids. However, breeding aggressive goats can be dangerous, so it\u2019s important to consider if this is worth the hassle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In addition to the risk to people, and perhaps even more significantly, it\u2019s worth considering that a horned goat may be able to do a lot of damage potentially to their herd mates. After all, we only spend a few hours a day with our goats, but they live with each other 24\/7. As such, the potential for injury to each other is potentially greater.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you have an aggressive goat in your herd that\u2019s horned, it will often have a tendency to use its horns during fights and gripes with others. This can easily cause a leg to get hooked or trapped between the horns, risking significant damage. Even more concerningly, a horn swipe to the mammary tissue could cause a serious injury for a dairy goat with a very large udder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As such, if you have aggressive goats and are concerned about their behavior, you may want to consider disbudding them at birth to reduce the risk. After all, goat horns can be very sharp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are many benefits of disbudding goat kids. Some of the most notable include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While disbudding your goat kids can seem like a good option, it\u2019s not always ideal. Some of the main drawbacks of disbudding goat kids include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After your goat has been disbudded, you should always take care to follow normal aseptic procedures, keeping the area clean and free of contaminants at all times. You may potentially need to apply an antibacterial or antimicrobial spray to the affected area, especially if your goat kid is distressed and scratching at the area. Follow-up painkillers may also be necessary. However, you must always discuss this with your vet and obtain a prescription and professional guidance before attempting any medical treatments with your goat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you\u2019ve been considering how to manage your goat kids, it\u2019s first important to ask: should you disbud a goat, or is this unfair on them? In the end, it really comes down to your personal situation, the temperament and personality of your goats, and the like. However, it\u2019s always important to be very cautious of putting disbudded goats in with horned goats; while it can work if there\u2019s a good dynamic in your herd, the hornless goats will often get bullied far more than the others. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As a goat breeder, there are numerous different management procedures that you may need to consider to find the most effective options for the health and well-being of your beloved goats. However, it\u2019s not always clear which procedures are necessarily right to do. With this thought in mind, today, we\u2019re looking at whether you should…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/herdiac.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/herdiac.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/herdiac.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/herdiac.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/herdiac.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=290"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/herdiac.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":291,"href":"https:\/\/herdiac.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290\/revisions\/291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/herdiac.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/herdiac.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/herdiac.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}