Have you lost a baby disbudding??

Don't be sorry, the fact I'm getting goats and going into uncharted territory scares me in general Lol. Scare probably isn't the word to use... maybe worried? I hate being unprepared and from the Sounds of it, you never are with goats. Time to step out of my comfort zone and back into rolling towards my dream of a self sustainable life. I will know it can happen now and be my usual over protective worrying self until the danger period passes. I am still heart broken for you. Hugs.

It's scary for me both ways... my does have full horns, and my buck has scurs... not sure whether my babies should get disbudded or not... :O Our vet did my dad's heifer, and she did fine. I think I would trust him with my goats if I decide to do it...

I don't own goats (yet) and have never seen a disbudding done aside from on TV by the incredible Dr Poll. But I HAVE seen a lot of wounds of various types and those look horrible! They should NOT look like that. Especially the one on the left (in the pic) of the lost doe. IMHO the person responsible botched it very badly and it matters not how many years experience he/she had. So sorry for your loss. IMHO, the buckling's disbudding doesn't look all that great either.

Perhaps the person responsible had a "night on the town" the evening before performing this? Or just got out of bed on the wrong side that morning? Maybe skipped their morning coffee? Whatever...

Since this was a topic, I took some pictures right after we finished.
This is what it should look like.

And THAT folks - is how it's done. Great job!

Very nice, hope ours look as good.

Not great pictures, she wasn't being cooperative, but this is the same goat after a couple of weeks.

Sorry to hear you had such a bad experience with the disbudding. We have not lost any to disbudding since we started doing it. Prior to starting we several dehorned and I swore I would never let it get that bad again. I typically clip the hair around the bud and apply the iron to each horn for 6 seconds twice alternating. The ring turns out a golden brown. As soon as they are turned back in with momma they nurse and are fine.
I hope you have better luck in the future.

Greetings @Painted_Angels and the thread.
Not a happy thread this one, but there are lots of others out there to go read I'm sure you'll find a couple of interest

I am so sorry you suffered this loss. Losing a doe kid is sad, especially when these are your first kids. It can be heartbreaking. The kid was not too old. You can't disbud until you can feel the horn bud starting. Does' buds usually are slower to grow than bucks'. To me it looks like the iron went into the sinus. This can happen it if the horn is left on too long with too much pressure in a thinner skull. Damage to the sinus could cause the swelling to the eyes. If it caused heat damage to the brain this could have caused the kid to die. It was something I was warned about when learning to disbud.

Please, please don't let this stop you from disbudding future kids, especially if you have a family. Southernbychoice is right - horns are dangerous around children. If you watch a goat with horns the behavior is very noticable. They will twist their heads to the side and toss them back. I have been jabbed in the thigh badly by a pygmy goat's horns when feeding for a friend. The goat was not nasty, just tossing its head. In a confined space this can be dangerous. If you have children PLEASE disbud. Goats are super friendly and children love them. They make great pets even in a larger herd. You don't want an accident to blind one of your toddlers. Horned goats can also be dangerous to horses if you keep goats as companion animals. I heard of a goat disemboweling a pony many years ago. They were friends but the goat wether had horns and was playing. And ofcourse, I have had them get stuck in feeders and fences. You would feel terible if you found a goat hangingfrom a feeder.

Disbudding is a necessary evil when keeping goats. It does smell bad because you are burning hair and skin with the iron. Shaving the top of the head around the horn buds will help the smell and make it easier to see where to place the iron. The hotter the iron, the faster the process and easier on the goat kid. You must learn from an experienced person and use a disbudding box. Onefineacre did a beautiful job. The man who taught me had been raising and disbudding goats for 40 years. Sedating the kids can be dangerous too. My friend told me that the kids should scream. As long as they are making noise, they are ok. If they go silent, stop immediately and let them recover. One or two kids have gone limp in the box from stress. We had to get them out and cuddle them for a while before proceeding. I have never used ice packs. I pack the burns with medicated stypic powder to cause them to dry up and spray gentian violet on the wounds. Neosporin is not good, the cream gets debris stuck in it and doesn't allow the wound to dry out. Better to keep the burn area dry.

Remember to vaccinate for tetanus when disbudding and castrating. Give Tetanus Antitoxin for immediate protection and CDT which takes about a week to kick in with the tetanus toxoid protection. Eventually my son, Carl, took over the disbudding when he was about 14. We have done over 500 kids in 20 plus years of breeding goats - both our own and for other people. We have never lost one. BUT that being said, you need to be careful and watch what you are doing. All our goats were dairy and Boer breeds. We have neve done the pygmy breeds. Some goats can have thinner skull bones than others - even in the same breed. You need to be cautious about leaving the iron on too long. That is why I love our old iron. When I had it repaired the company told me that they are not allowed to make them heat up as high as mine. That is why I don't need to leave it on the goat as long. The new ones have to be left on longer to burn out the horn bud. Take it off frequently to check how it is going. Use a counting system to make sure you don't leave it on too long.

Like tattooing rabbits and dairy goats, and ear tags in sheep, cattle and market goats, this is a necessary procedure. I had to have a couple of goats dehorned when we were just starting out. That was a horrible experience and much more dangerous. I even disbussed our Boer goats.

Onyx & Samanthadrawz: