2 Bucklings Available in NorCal

We had 3 kids born 5 weeks ago and plan to retain the doeling... Both bucklings are available. Excellent Castle Rock bloodlines (Castle Rock Guiness x Castle Rock Buddy). They are adorable and have absolutely wonderful personalities. They are very friendly - love human attention, scratches, and face rubs - and are well socialized with both adults and a toddler. Our herd is disease free, on organic feed, and regular herbal wormers. I wanted to post here before craigslist. I can add pictures if there is any serious interest... I believe both are buckskin and one is chamoisee with dark markings on face and legs. Both have moonspots (not covered, but definitely have a few spots), but unfortunately do have horns/scurs growing from us botching our first attempt at disbudding. Free to good, loving home(s) where they will be appreciated and well cared for either as buck(s) or wether(s). I would love to see them go together, but that isn't necessarily a stipulation. Located in Boonville, CA (in Anderson valley, near Ukiah).

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  • I assure you they were born with horn buds, not horns. When we were new, we procrastinated like crazy, and there were times that we disbudded kids far later than we should have -- and then we learned that we were only making a bad situation much worse by waiting! But even when we disbudded kids that were 3 weeks old, there was still something to pop off, and we had to burn for MUCH longer to flatten the middle part. Basically we were burning down the little horn. The other thing is that when you disbud that late, there is a lot of bleeding, and so you really need to burn to cauterize it. In 12 years, I have never heard a goat breeder talk about scraping the horn bud. That sounds more like the surgical disbudding that some people do on cattle, although it is usually called scooping, which is NOT recommended on goats because they have very thin skulls compared to cattle. Also, the disbudding iron cauterizes as it kills the horn tissue, which is especially important with larger horn buds.

  • Wow... this is SO different from what i read - and was told - when researching!  everyone else we've talked to - or read - said that only the ring needs to be orange and that the middle just needs to be popped or scraped off.  the thing is that, in this case, there wasn't really skin to be popped off anymore (because it really seemed like the buds had already broken the skin of the skull at birth).  i guess i will need to do some more research and next year get some more experienced help!  i swear (and i do know that i am a newbie at this, so i could be wrong) it seemed that these kids were born with horns rather than horn buds.

  • Scraping of the horn tissues does not sound quite right. You actually turn the disbudding iron sideways and burn the top/middle of the horn bud. The entire horn bud area needs to be orange, not just the ring. You make the orange ring first, and then the skin in the middle is usually loose enough that you can pop it off, but THEN you must burn the middle also.

    Rebekah said:

    I will post pics tomorrow... To clarify, I meant that we did the actual burning (orange ring and scraped the center) correctly, but our mistake was that we weren't nearly aggressive enough with scraping off the horn bud tissue. Even the doeling was born with horn buds that were quite pronounced, and the boys were pretty huge. We didn't know that all the instructions and explanations are geared toward much smaller horn buds... Everyone we talked to - and all the things we read - emphasized the importance of the orange ring over the scraping of the horn tissue. In the future we will be sure to account for what seems to be the Nigerian factor.
  • Hi Beckie,

    They don't have blue eyes and they are full brothers (I had hoped that someone would want one as a buck and the other as a companion wether, but I know that might be a long shot). We are about a half hour from Ukiah, in boonville. I can definitely post pics if you are interested. :)
  • Hi Rebekah,

    I replied to an email from you, but I don't know if you got it.  Are the bucklings related and do either have blue eyes?  I think I saw where you are, but maybe you could be more specific?  Thanks, Beckie

  • I will post pics tomorrow... To clarify, I meant that we did the actual burning (orange ring and scraped the center) correctly, but our mistake was that we weren't nearly aggressive enough with scraping off the horn bud tissue. Even the doeling was born with horn buds that were quite pronounced, and the boys were pretty huge. We didn't know that all the instructions and explanations are geared toward much smaller horn buds... Everyone we talked to - and all the things we read - emphasized the importance of the orange ring over the scraping of the horn tissue. In the future we will be sure to account for what seems to be the Nigerian factor.
  • Now I'm really curious. Can you post pictures of the boys? (It might also help them find a good home.)

    I don't understand this comment:

    Anyway, it is good to know that we actually did do the disbudding process correctly - we just didn't know we needed to be much more aggressive on scraping the horn tissue since the buds were already so large and developed at birth.

    If you do it correctly, the kid does not grow horns. Pretty much all ND bucks have horn buds at birth. I've heard that not all standard breeds have horns that grow as aggressively as NDs, so maybe this breeder has a breed that doesn't normally have horn buds at birth?

  • As an update to this post... We had a local large goat cheese dairy herd manager check out my kids (oh how I wish I had thought to consult her sooner, or from day 1!). She re-disbudded our girl for us (so that she will be truly horn/scur free since our toddler has claimed her). The boys' horns are, in fact, too big to re-disbud. She thinks that they will have true and properly formed horns, just blunt on the tips rather than pointed, which I was relieved to hear. She was really shocked at how big the horn growth is for their age and when I explained how big the buds were when they were born she confirmed that it was a bit of an anomaly. Anyway, it is good to know that we actually did do the disbudding process correctly - we just didn't know we needed to be much more aggressive on scraping the horn tissue since the buds were already so large and developed at birth.

    Sooooo.... Blunt-horned bucklings available in NorCal. Please spread the word to anyone who may be interested. Tips on other good sites to post would also be appreciated. I will also search for posts on selling tips, as I'm sure it has been broached before.

    Even with transport costs they would be a good deal for someone. They have amazing genetics and personalities.... Free only because of the horn issue and because I would love to see them go to a great home!
  • Thanks for the input, Deborah. I honestly think that at this point it would be rather inhumane (more dehorning than disbudding) and that if we can't find them good homes the most humane thing would be to butcher. I hate to think that our hard lesson in disbudding kids born with such huge horn buds might cost them their lives - since they are SO cute and sweet. But I also would rather have them live short, happy, loved lives than cut holes in their skulls or have them go to questionable homes.
  • It has been done. If they are bad enough that you think it will be more like dehorning, then the sooner you do it, the better. Someone posted pics on here a few years ago of a buck that was in that situation, and there were large holes into his sinus cavity. I think he survived okay, but it was pretty rough. I have heard of goats not surviving dehorning.

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