Disbudding Drama

I would like to think of myself as confident, courageous, and prepared when it comes to disbudding, but that ideal self-image didn't quite match my pounding heart, churning stomach, and shaking arms this morning!

All along I have been resolved about disbudding the kids.  Although you can read strong arguments on both sides of the disbud/don't disbud debate, it is the commonly accepted practice in the dairy goat world.  Since I am seeking to raise dairy goats, my goat kids must be disbudded.

The vet has disbudded the goat kids for me the past few years.  But I was never completely satisfied with the way he did it (not to mention that he charged a pretty penny!).  So, it was time to learn to do it myself.

I purchased a disbudding iron from a friend who no longer needed it.  Then, I watched lots of YouTube videos on how to disbud.  I must say the first video I clicked on I had to mute the sound and turn away from the screen.  I almost lost hope that I could do this myself!  But after watching a half-dozen or so I began to get the idea of how it works.  I also conferred with my go-to goat keeping books!  Last night I went to bed resolving that I would disbud little Hillbilly in the morning!

This morning was crisp and cool.  I was determined to do what I knew must be done, even though the thought of disbudding made (and still makes) me cringe.

Here is Hillbilly enjoying the beautiful morning (and getting a kiss from his mama!)

I heated up the disbudding iron.  It gets close to 1000 degrees!  Yikes!

I knew it was hot enough when I touched it to a piece of wood and it made a dark burned circle.

While I was waiting for the iron to heat up, I shaved around Hillbilly's horns so I could see them better.

The purpose of disbudding is not to burn the horn bud off, but to sever the nerves so the horn doesn't grow.  Bucks horns are very challenging to disbud and they often get scurs (partial bits of horn that grow back).  After doing some research about Alpine bucks in particular, their horns have a small ridge that grows down toward their  nose.  If the nerves to this ridge are not severed as well, they will grow horns!

I quickly did what I had to do.

Then, it was all over.  The ring around the horn must be amber-colored to know that it "took."  I did a "figure 8" type burn to try to get those persistent, horn-growing ridges!  This isn't necessary when disbudding does.

Hillbilly was soon returned to Elly May.  He is now sleeping and nursing and acting like a normal 3-day-old buckling!

I sure didn't enjoy that experience...I felt shaken up for a while.  But, the 15 seconds of awful disbudding is worth it in the long run to not have horned goats!  And now that I have done it once, hopefully it will be easier next time!

P.S. I am still waiting on Edna to kid.  She is 3 days over due now and looking HUGE!  Hopefully soon!  Stay tuned!