Dis-Budding 101

This morning I drove over to Creeping Thyme Farm in Buxton for a lesson in dis-budding.  With very few exceptions, all goats, including does, grow horns.  Not a very good idea with dairy goats.  They can get caught in fencing, and are pretty formidable weapons as well.  So as a matter of course, all babies have their horn buds cauterized in their first week or so.

Marie and Tim were still finishing up their morning chores, which gave Missy and me time to play with the babies.  It was a warm, sunny morning and I could have stood there all day just watching them bebop and bounce around like little jumping beans.  When they were ready, we brought two twins, a doeling and buckling into the milkroom.  These guys were just over a week old.  Marie pointed out that it's very important to take ALL the babies away at the same time, even if you're only doing something to one of them.  This way their mother won't reject them when they return.  We sat them on our laps and Marie gave them both a buzz cut to clear the spot where the horns were just starting to press against the skin.  A butane dis-budder is used, which heats up super hot.  The end is placed over the horn buds and burns/cauterizes the spot.  A disk of skin is removed and you actually see the bone.  Any protrusions are carefully scraped away, then the area treated with Blu-kote.  They also had a silver colored spray that they used on the lighter colored babies to try to camouflage the area.  This is another way to trick mom into accepting her babies back.  Who knew goat could be so fickle?

Keeping the babies still is a challenge for sure.  We swaddled them in a towel and held them in our laps while Tim did the dirty work.  The smell is...nauseating.  The babies scream during the procedure.  It is not for the faint hearted.  I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't witnessed it myself, but honest to God, as SOON as it is done, they are up and about like nothing happened.  We also did two doelings that were born just a couple of days ago.  That seems like the way to go.  They didn't have nearly the time that the older kids had.  What a difference a week makes!

I was also given a hands on lesson in hoof trimming.  I finally feel confident in what I need to do and how to do it.  It's similar to cleaning a horses foot or trimming a dogs nails, just a lot more squirming involved.  I cannot imagine doing it on a bigger goat, I helped with two today and it's a very physical process.

Lots of good lessons under my belt now.  Of course, I haven't used the castrater yet...I think that will be my job...  :-)