Angora (Mohair) Goat Basics: Dehorning

Agriculture, animal husbandry, goats, Angora, Mohair, animal health, dehorning, disbudding, practical advice


By Dr Clive Dalton


Dehorning

• Angora goats are not usually disbudded as kids like dairy goats, and owners are generally happy to accept horns on adults as part of a breed feature.
  
• But sharp horns can be a nuisance, and a danger to humans in both kids and adults, although they have the big advantage of making catching and holding goats easier.
• Horned goats can get caught up in all sorts of things eg fences, netting, scrub and trees, gates, etc.
  
• Kids can be dehorned with a hot iron before they are a week old but great care is needed.
• See the information below from the Painful Husbandry Procedures Code of Welfare states:
• “The skull of goat kids is much thinner than that of calves. Thermal cautery disbudding techniques must be carefully used to avoid damage to the underlying tissues, including the brain. If the initial burn is not adequate, or does not cover the diameter of the horn bud, then the site should be allowed to cool before heat is reapplied. As well as being shallow, the horn bud of kids is more diffuse and a wider piece of adjacent skin (5mm around each horn) should also be taken to avoid regrowth of horn material (scurs).”
• Clearly from this information, you’d be wise to get a veterinarian to do the job.
  
• You should also get a veterinarian to remove the horns of mature goats unless it’s just the end of very long horns, which are solid and have no blood or nerve supply. The sinus in the horn is joined to the sinus in the skull next to the brain.
• Caustic chemical disbudding done from 7-10 days old is legal but has many potential problems and should be avoided. Caustic paste burns. If it burns you skin, then the goat has similar feelings.
  

Castration

• This is done with a rubber ring and the rule is simple. Place the ring around the scrotum making sure the testicles are below it and the rudimentary teats above.
• Kids can be castrated at birth and should certainly be done before they are 6 weeks old.
• To castrate a goat over six months of age you will require the services of a veterinarian as an anaesthetic must be used.
  

Rubber rings

• Using rubber rings is the most humane method.
  
• A ring is stretched with special pliers and placed around the neck of the scrotum.
• The rule is simple – make sure that before the ring is released that both testicles are below the ring and the rudimentary teats are above it.
• Hold the testicles down with your free hand in the scrotum while you release the ring to make sure they don’t escape back above the ring.
• It’s best to do the lambs between 7-10 days old.
• Lambs feel pain as judged by them lying down and kicking from 5-15 minutes but then they show no more obvious distress.
  

The 'cryptorchid' procedure

• This is also called the “short scrotum method” and is where a rubber ring is put around the scrotum so it will eventually drop off, leaving the testicles up against the body wall.
• The higher temperature this creates makes the sperm infertile while the ram gets the growth benefit of the male hormones while being infertile.
  
• Be warned though – an odd cryptorchid may not be completely infertile and may be able to get females pregnant.
  

Cattle farm husbandry - dehorning & castration

Cattle, farming, husbandry, dehorning (disbudding), castration

By Dr Clive Dalton

What use are horns ?

A horn very close to growing into an animal's
head which needs urgent attention.

Horns were designed by nature for cattle to fight with and for dams to protect their calves from predators. They damage hides, they bruise meat (which is not seen until the beast is skinned at the meat works) and they injure people. There is no place for them in today's farming systems.

Dehorning (disbudding)

The cauterising iron in action. Note how the firmly the calf needs to be held.

• Disbudding means removing the small horn “bud” on a calf when it is soft and is best done before it is 6 weeks old.
• When you do it really depends on the size of the horn bud. In Holstein Friesians the bud will be big enough long before 6 weeks, but in some Jerseys you may have to wait a bit longer.
  
• The horn bud should be smaller than the cup on the end of the cauterising iron which can be heated by gas or electricity, so you get a complete cauterised ring around the base of the bud which is where the growth occurs.
• The calf should be given an injection to block the nerves to the horn bud. Contact your veterinarian who may allow you to do this under their supervision. Your vet can also give the calf a tranquilising injection to further ease any pain.
• The anaesthetic takes a few minutes to act so plan your work to consider this.
• It is now not acceptable to do calves without anaesthetic as blocking pain is such an easy process.
• To test to see if the iron is hot enough, try it on a piece of wood to make sure it will produce an even and complete circle of burning after 2-3 seconds of burning.
• The calf must be held firmly in a headbail.
• Inspect the calves after half an hour and cauterise any that may still be bleeding.
• Do not use caustic paste, no matter how handy it is. It’s corrosive and the discomfort to the calf lasts a long time, and can be rubbed on to other animals – e.g. from calf’s head on to cow’s udder. It’s easy to end up with a badly disbudded calf.
• In some horned breeds the small buds may be very pointed, and not round. Dexter calves are a good example of this, and the best practice is to cut these pointed buds out with the horn scallops and then cauterise the bud.
  

A pointed horn bud from a Dexter removed by scallops

Dehorning

• This refers to removing any horns that will not fit in to the cup of a cauterising iron.
• There is a range of tools on the market from debudding scoops to cut our small horns, to massive guillotines for mature cattle.
• Do not use these devices without consulting your veterinarian because law changes involving the use of an anaesthetic in dehorning are about to change. Dehorning a large animal is a dangerous and painful operation that requires professional expertise.
• The mature horn is part of a beast’s skull, and the hole on the end of a severed horn goes right inside the sinuses of the beast’s head next to the brain. Cattle can get infections and die.
• To avoid this gruesome operation, never buy horned cattle and tell the stock agents and vendors why.
  

This is not 'dehorning'. These horns can still inflict damage.

Castration

• The first question is whether you need to castrate at all? If calves are going for the bull beef market, then it’s not a consideration.
• Testicles produce testosterone which is a great natural growth stimulant so the longer you delay the operation, the more free growth booster you get.
• So there is a trend to delay castration to the point where you can just get the testicles through the standard rubber ring. There are now larger rubber rings and applicators available for delayed castration, but these have some animal welfare concerns.
• For the animal’s welfare, calves should be castrated with rubber rings before they are 6 weeks old. Make sure this is done correctly so both testicles are left inside the scrotum below the ring, and the calf’s rudimentary teats are above the ring.
• If you fail to get the testicles and only cut off the scrotum you’ll be able to feel the testicles under the skin as the animal ages, in front of where its scrotum was. You have created a “cryptorchid” or partial castrate, and this may fool some buyers as they’ll have a steer that behaves like a bull! You had better inform any buyers of your missed target.
• With large testicles left under the skin, seek veterinary advice as the animal will need surgery to cut the testicles out.
• On large cattle stations, calves are still “cut” (castrated) at about 2-4 months old by experienced operators using a knife. Many old stockmen argue that when the dog has eaten the removed testicles, they know there will be no problems with rogue bulls on the property!
• Before you consider using emasculator pliers that crush the spermatic cord but doesn’t cut the skin, talk to your vet about its operation and effectiveness.

Animal welfare issue
Mixing horned and polled cattle that are not mates at saleyards and during transport can cause great pain and suffering to the beast being attacked. Even if they have been long-term mates, and sorted out their social order, the confined space does not allow the lower-ranked beast to escape - as seein in the picture below.

There is also a big financial loss incurred by the owner, as although the gore marks may not look much, once the slaughtered animal is skinned, there are massive bruised areas where the meat has to be condemned. The gored beast because of stress would also have very high pH in the carcass which would also be bad for meat quality.

The situation in the picture below shows very poor saleyard management and ignorance of the MAF Saleyard Code of Practice.

Terrified cow (with small horns) being gored by cow with large horns in saleyard pen.
The gored cow's hide and carcass meat will be ruined. The cow's owner will suffer the penalty but it's the fault of the saleyard operators - who will not stand the loss.