Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
• Grasp the kid by the muzzle, and press the hot iron on the horn button for a count of 15.
The kid will scream and struggle, and you will smell burning hair. There should be a
copper-colored ring around the horn bud.
• Comfort the kid and allow the iron to heat up again. Then do the other horn bud.
• Spray the area with an antiseptic spray, taking care not to get the spray in the kid's eyes.
• Give the kid a bottle of milk to console it.
Some goat keepers give the kid a painkiller, such as aspirin, 30 minutes before disbudding.
Disbudding can be done without an anesthetic until the kid is 1 month old. After that, it is bet-
ter to let a veterinarian do the job. A local goat breeder might disbud your goats for a small
fee. If the horn bud is not completely removed or thin, misshapen horns called scurs start to
grow, you will have to repeat the disbudding.
Disbudding can also be done using a caustic dehorning paste something like a wart remover,
available from farm supply stores. Clip the hair around the horn buttons, then cover each horn
button with a disk of adhesive tape. Cover the surrounding area with petroleum jelly to protect
the skin. Remove the adhesive tape and apply caustic paste to the horn buds. Hold the kid still
for half an hour to prevent it from licking the caustic or smearing it on something. Be careful
that the kid does not rub the caustic paste on itself or on another goat. It can cause burns and
blindness.
Castration
Bucks that are going to be slaughtered before they reach maturity do not need to be castrated.
A buck that is going to be kept as a wether should be castrated as soon as its testicles descend
into the scrotum, when it is between 1 week and 3 weeks old. Kids should be vaccinated for
tetanus before castration. A veterinarian should perform surgical castration. Bucks can also be
neutered using a small Burdizzo emasculator, a tool that crushes the testicle cords. Goat keep-
ers often castrate kids using an elastrator, a device that stretches a rubber ring so that it can be
slipped over the scrotum above the testes. The rubber band cuts off circulation, and the scro-
tum withers and drops off.
Tattooing or Microchipping
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