Banding off Horns

[Erin23]

My goat Camille is about a year old according to her tag and I was thinking of banding off her horns, which are probably 20cm long. She's normally kind however feeding time she becomes very aggressive, ramming me in the back of the legs, ramming the other goats, and once she's hit me in the side of the mouth. She's becoming a stress to feed with her horns and I was thinking of banding them off. Thoughts?

 

[Poka_Doodle]

Welcome to BYH. @BlessedWithGoats was trying the method with her buck

 

[BlessedWithGoats]

Welcome to Backyard Herds!! What kind of goats do you have? I have mixed breeds, with Alpine, Nigerian, Saanen, and Nubian being most popular in the mixes, but I have an Oberhasli mix as well!

Almost all of my goats have horns, but I decided to try dehorning, I think it's too dangerous for me to have them with horns right now; between the other goats, dog(s), and my siblings, etc., I don't want anyone getting hurt, even though my goats, like yours, aren't normally aggressive. I do have one buck that is more aggressive, and as @Poka_Doodle mentioned, I'm trying the banding method of dehorning on him. So far everything is good, I'm just waiting for the horns to fall off. I hope to be updating my journal: http://www.backyardherds.com/threads/blessedwithgoats-journal-dehorning-ashton.31042/ with pictures as the process continues!

 

[OneFineAcre]

I just put the bands on Zeus Friday. Never done it before, so I'll let you know how it turns out. I understand it takes about 4 weeks.

 

[Latestarter]

Hey OFA, I didn't know you were doing this as well... I must have missed the post. This is excellent as there will be 2 folks doing this that we can share the experience of. Really excited to see/hear the results... Form you and BWG.

Greetings @Erin23 from the front range in Colorado Glad you joined us! Hope you find as many answers (and even more questions!) as I did after joining! When you have the time, please and then jump in and chat! We all love pics, so if you have a few to share, we can all drool on our keyboards Glad to have you with us!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I used this method to remove a large, but fairly thin scur on a doe. It was 'semi-wiggly' but still fairly firmly attached. After this goat got her head stuck in the fence in the heat of summer and nearly died of dehydration I decided to band her. I don't remember it taking 4 weeks, but again, her scur was fairly thin. It came off cleanly with no bleeding. There is still a firm nub there, but it doesn't grow anymore at all. It'll be interesting to see how it works for others - especially on bucks.

 

[OneFineAcre]

I hadn't posted anything, I just put the bands on Friday.
FEM, I hope it doesn't take 4 weeks, but it is a pretty big horn base.
We really botched the disbudding. We waited until he was 3 weeks old, and he probably already weighed 20 lbs. Cut the horn with hoof trimming sheasr when we did it, but the horn base was so big at that point, the iron wouldn't set flush on his head.

 

[Southern by choice]

@BlessedWithGoats & @OneFineAcre this will be really good info.
2 of our vets are very "anti" banding
I have always heard and read that it was extremely painful... but seeing real experiences from people you "know" IMO is a better info.

 

[sadieml]

What about the pain aspect @BlessedWithGoats & @OneFineAcre ? Do your goats seem uncomfortable? My brother used to breed Rottweilers and banded their tails. The sniffed at them for a little while, but soon lost interest. They never seemed to be in pain, just curious. Janick never seemed to notice his banding when we wethered him. I thought the object of banding was killing the blood flow and nerves, which also alleviates pain. I am definitely interested to see how this goes, since we may end up with another wether with horns.

(edit to add) I may well try this on Jaeger's scurs.

 

[BlessedWithGoats]

The first day, when I put the bands on, I also put duct tape to keep the bands from slipping off. When you do the banding, you need to shave the area, because if the band/tape is pulling on hair, that will cause them pain. I ended up taking the duct tape off, after talking to my goat mentor, because he seemed to be in pain. I think I didn't have it shaved close enough to begin with, but the tape was stuck to some of his hair, causing him pain. After I took the duct tape off he was better, and by the next day I believe he seemed fine. He seems okay now too, and it's been almost two weeks since I put the bands on. Please keep us updated on how your buck does too, @OneFineAcre!