When calves get worked they are usually de-horned. This is done for a variety of reason the most important factor I believe is safety. No one wants to be around a snarky cow in the pens with horns, its also harder to move a cow thru a shoot with horns and you can't haul as many in a truck if they've got horns! In an efficient operation a calf can be run worked in less than 60 seconds if you've got a good team but de-horning adds a time to the operation. The Cooperative Research Center for Beef Technologies in Australia is actually developing a DNA test to determine if a cow will produce a calf with horns. Exciting don't you think?
6 comments:
You bet that is exciting! We hate dehorning but it is a necessary evil! I don't envy all the ones you have to do though!
We are lucky so far, we have had no horns. We raise Gelbvieh.
We would have lost a dog the other day if we had a horned bull.
I love your blog. i discovered it yesterday and read the whole thing. Thank you for answering so many city girl questions. And why don't horses come when you call them?
bonnye in west sacramento ca
bluebonnye1961@yahoo.com
Luckily we only have 1 or 2 a year that need to be dehorned. The rest are born without....thank goodness!
Wowza! Very exciting...... I thought looking out my windows and seeing cows roaming was exciting.. pregnancy checks and not de-horning...... woo, enough to make a girl weak in the knees...
Where is my cowboy when I need him?(wink)
Very exciting!!!
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