It sounds like some sort of gardening chore, doesn’t it?…

…..something to do with flowers or petals or roots…

But no…..it’s not…

It’s a goat-thing…

Just about all goats get horns…

They are born without horns (much easier to deliver that way)…..but then they quickly start growing…

Disbudding is the permanent removal of the pre-horn caps on the kids…

It also stops the horns from further growth…

It’s not an event we look forward to…

***The Necessity Of Disbudding Explained***

But for the safety of all concerned…..it’s a necessary part of any dairy herd…

*****(In the past, I’ve had my arm caught between a goat’s horns while he plotted to twist his head…

…..my forearm didn’t break, but it sure did bruise & bend in inappropriate directions)*****

Goats can easily get hung up in fencing with their horns and ultimately hurt themselves or become easy prey for any passing predator…

It happens…

It’s happened here…

Additionally with dairy goats (and I would assume dairy cows too)…..they are handled and lead around daily…

They interact with humans on a regular basis…

The horned variety have a much higher likelihood of hurting their handlers than the horn-less ones…

…..but I still hate disbudding…..

…..when done early, it’s a relatively quick procedure using a hot/disbudding iron (we don’t use the paste/you just don’t know where that stuff will get smeared)…..

…..I hold and my older daughter uses the iron to sear and cauterize where their horns will eventually grow…..

Later the babies need tattoo’ing…..(yes, my older daughter does that too)…

…..the three-letter farm code gets inked in one ear…..while the kidding date & I.D. gets tattoo’d in the other ear…..

(but then there’s the LaMancha breed of dairy goats…..who don’t have ears…..(why?…..don’t ask)…..)

(…..out of necessity they need to be tattoo’d on either side of their tail web…..(brings tears to your eyes, doesn’t it?)

…..and finally, the boys will need castrating…..

…..that’s my job…..

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It’s amazing the unique tools we have in our garage…..just waiting for their deployment…

So see………….our skills are innumerable…..

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