Horns? Dis-bud? Polled?

[OneFineAcre]

Most sheep are genetically polled. The breeds with horns are normally kept with them, as they are a part of the breed, and usually what separates them from another breed (ie the Dorset and the Dorset Horn).

I don't know of anyone or any breed that is disbudded/dehorned. All the popular breeds that are shown...Suffolk, Hamp, Southdown, Montadale, Cheviot, Dorper, Dorset, etc, are all naturally polled. Occasionally you will have scurs pop up (I had scurs on my 1/2 Texel ram lamb, but they fell off by themselves with no bleeding when he was 4-5 months old) but that's as much horn as they get.

I did not know that.

We watched some kids showing lambs at this years NC Mountain State Fair, had never seen it before. I thought it was interesting how they "lead" them without collars. Went back next door to the goat barn and was telling my wife and daughter "hey did you know they don't lead the lambs with collars"? Wife said, "well how do they do it". So, I put one hand under my daughters chin, and the other on the back of her head and started leading her around.

She was not amused.

 

[Southern by choice]

 

[OneFineAcre]

Interesting article regarding goats and horns.

http://idgr.info/index/articles/why-horns/

 

[Southern by choice]

Great Find!

I like the last paragraph best! Deciding for oneself. It is elective.
I agree with much of what was stated... yet I don't regret doing my mini-mancha. LOL

Our Shofar is a ram's horn!

 

[OneFineAcre]

Great Find!

I like the last paragraph best! Deciding for oneself. It is elective.
I agree with much of what was stated... yet I don't regret doing my mini-mancha. LOL

Our Shofar is a ram's horn!

I think his effort to explain where the practice of disbudding came from in the second paragraph revealed some personal bias against showing.

First of all, he offered no basis of his theory other than "we strongly suspect". And at the end of the 2nd paragraph he sites "several people of unquestionable wisdom, and global experience" that showing has "destroyed or severely damaged every breed of animal it has ever touched" Ok, so who are those people and give me some examples.

You didn't detect that? Definitely not an "un-biased" just the facts essay. Or, at least the first two paragraphs are not.

 

[Southern by choice]

Definitely not unbiased, that was a given.

Showing of any species has its benefits and drawbacks.

 

[themorethemerrier]

One of my three wethers is polled but he is getting bumps where horns would have been. Is that normal? They are each about the size of a jelly bean. He is almost six months old.

The other two were dehorned and, thankfully, show no signs of growth!!!

 

[Southern by choice]

We were quite shocked to see these bumps actually protrude slightly through the skin on one of our polled bucklings. All our polled does have the "giraffe" nubs under the skin... no horns just rounded bumps. The bucklings broke through, he is a true polled goat, but poll "scurs" (that is what they are called) can still occur. They will never grow into horns but may break through and be as much as 1/2" tall... rounded. Sometimes they may break through because of rubbing or butting and they rub the skin off. Usually though, the poll bumps don't break through but you can still feel nubs. One of my polled bucks has very small nubs, more like a does, I think it just depends on the goat of what will and will not grow to poll scurs.

Sometimes polled goats end up getting dis-budded because the person may not be too familiar with the feel of a poll nub vs. a horn bud.

 

[themorethemerrier]

Good to know...thanks!!!

 

[Sweet Sue]

I had the vet come out yesterday and dehorn my 2 soon to be 6 month nubian/boer kids. All went well. It was a choice I made due to safety for them and my family. I know it was the right thing to do and feel good, actually relieved about it.