Broken scur with opening/hole

I have a doe who came out of the barn this morning missing the top part of her scur. Normally I don’t think much about broken scurs. She wasn’t bleeding and at first I didn’t even give it a second thought. But as I was leaving the pasture she came over to the gate with me and I looked down at her and noticed the top seems open. As if it’s an open tunnel all the way down like Id expect to see if I sawed through a full grown horn. I’m not sure if this is something I should worry about or call the vet about. She was the first ever kid I disbudded myself and she ended up with a good sized scur on one side. I’m worried now that it is more than a scur??? But then again I don’t see a full horn breaking... Thanks in advance for any advice!

Interesting! I'm glad you posted the photo. When you described it, I assumed it had broken off at the base, which is where scurs usually break. And I once had a ram lamb break a horn, and it came off right at the base also, but left behind the soft inner part of the horn. Still being fairly new back then, I thought he was going to bleed to death. I called the vet, and she said to put blood stop powder on it and call it a day. And he was fine. The horn grew back but was always smaller than the other one.

What you have looks like something between a horn and a scur. Horns are hollow near the base, but scurs are solid. Scurs are usually wiggly whereas horns are solidly attached to the skull. Like you, I don't worry when goats knock off a scur, even if it bleeds.

The only thing I can compare this to is when someone has a goat dehorned, which leaves big openings into the sinus cavity on top of the skull. They do not stitch them up, and from what I've heard, if a goat survives the actual procedure, they usually recover okay.

I'm just kind of brainstorming here. I personally wouldn't call the vet, but if you're concerned, I wouldn't discourage you from calling, especially if he or she doesn't charge for phone calls. If you decide to call and they recommend anything, let us know!

Replies

Maggie January 26, 2021 at 6:28pm

Thanks! I never did call the vet. I’m just keeping an eye on her but so far she’s acting like nothing ever happened. When I was able to take a closer look it appears that there is that little hollow place at the top and then it gets solid right past that. I e never seen anything like this before either but so far everything is going like a typical scur break. I’ll update if anything changes or I get anymore info.
Deborah Niemann-Boehle January 26, 2021 at 2:41pm

Interesting! I'm glad you posted the photo. When you described it, I assumed it had broken off at the base, which is where scurs usually break. And I once had a ram lamb break a horn, and it came off right at the base also, but left behind the soft inner part of the horn. Still being fairly new back then, I thought he was going to bleed to death. I called the vet, and she said to put blood stop powder on it and call it a day. And he was fine. The horn grew back but was always smaller than the other one.

What you have looks like something between a horn and a scur. Horns are hollow near the base, but scurs are solid. Scurs are usually wiggly whereas horns are solidly attached to the skull. Like you, I don't worry when goats knock off a scur, even if it bleeds.

The only thing I can compare this to is when someone has a goat dehorned, which leaves big openings into the sinus cavity on top of the skull. They do not stitch them up, and from what I've heard, if a goat survives the actual procedure, they usually recover okay.

I'm just kind of brainstorming here. I personally wouldn't call the vet, but if you're concerned, I wouldn't discourage you from calling, especially if he or she doesn't charge for phone calls. If you decide to call and they recommend anything, let us know!
Maggie January 25, 2021 at 9:40am

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