We just bought a 5 month old buckling, he has scurs and wanting some help on knowing what we can do. The breeder said it was pretty common in bucks and both of her bucks had scurs (they were bought from seperate breeders, one came from South Carolina) and her new buckling, she just bought, from Texas has the same thing as our little guy. Is there something you can do to prevent this? What can we do now that he has them? She was saying that some other people do a figure 8 burn on buckling's heads to prevent scurs and thoughts?
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Wow! Somehow I missed Jordana's post and had not seen that video, but it really shows how important it is to disbud early. When we were new, we used to procrastinate because we hated doing it, but then we realized that if we procrastinate, it just makes the situation worse because it takes a lot longer to disbud. If you do it at a week (bucks) or two (does), it doesn't take nearly that much burning time.
Wow! I just came back to check if anyone had posted anything else here. You're right, that's graphic. Hard to watch, but very helpful. That definitely better prepared me for what's coming up. :(
I didn't have anyone to show me anything, nor a vet that would help. I bought an iron with the pygmy tip (bad, bad idea, it's very hard to get everything) and did the job myself. I mistakenly "disbudded" a poor little buckling, and left a huge scur on his sister. I learned more, and the next time around I did better, getting only one set of small, thin scurs out of 10 kids done. You can do it without watching someone, but it really helps to watch another person in real-life. I know someone that just did a video, and she was disbudding an older kid. It took forever, but the video is good. It's very graphic, I wouldn't watch with sensitive children or spouses. I know it is far better to make sure you get a large enough area; I have the scars from horn/scurs to prove it.
This discussion has taught me a lot! I'm so glad I read it. I have a friend who disbudded for the first time this spring, and she didn't do it well. That made me nervous for when my turn came, but reading things like this is giving me some confidence. I'm going to look for the other threads and links. Thanks!
I disbudded my boys at 1 week of age. I didn't do a figure 8, though I probably should have, this was my first time doing it myself.... but thus far there has only been a teeny tiny point that you can feel through the fur if you're looking for it, and the one that is still here is the biggest of all, and weathered at 3 m0nths, and now hes just over 6 months, I wonder how much it will grow, if at all in the next few years.
Glad to hear you're enjoying your dam raised goats. Even though your buckling knocked off his scur, it will probably regrow.
I have never heard of anyone waiting for five weeks to disbud! That's really cruel, to be blunt about it. When we were new, we'd procrastinate and procrastinate, but we finally realized that the later we did it, the longer it took. In other words, if you disbud early, you're talking about burning for a few seconds; if you disbud later, you have to keep burning over and over and over again. And the longer you hold the iron on their head, the higher the risk that you'll heat up their brain and cause brain damage. The latest we ever did a buckling was three weeks, and it was terrible because it took so long. His horn buds were actually one-inch baby horns by then. Some bucks would have legitimate horns by 5 weeks.
There are a lot of threads on here about disbudding, including links to videos and disbudding iron recommendations. It is a good idea to have someone knowledgeable show you know to do it the first time. You said you've seen it done, but was it done correctly? I'm hearing more and more stories of people who don't do a complete job, and the goat winds up with half-grown horns.
Well after some bumping action with our wether one of our bucklings scurs have fallen off!! I found it very interesting about the time frame for reducing or prevent scurs all together. All three of our kids were disbudded after 5 weeks, but that's when the breeder would do them. He won't do them until after 5 weeks. We are thinking about doing the disbudding ourselves, but we are a little nervous about the process. We have watched it done several times. Any good websites or advice on doing it ourselves, Irons people suggest using? Should we have someone walk us through it the first time or did you all just get an iron and do it? Oh and one more thing, Deborah I am loving my dam raised goats!! They are super friendly and loving, but it is WAY different than our bottle brats :0)
It's just a bump. Nothing breaks through the skin. The size of the kid is important. Unless she was a runty pound and a quarter when she was born, three weeks is too late to disbud and know you're doing a good job. The bigger the kid, the bigger the head, and the bigger the horn buds, which means the more likely you will miss a spot.
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I didn't have anyone to show me anything, nor a vet that would help. I bought an iron with the pygmy tip (bad, bad idea, it's very hard to get everything) and did the job myself. I mistakenly "disbudded" a poor little buckling, and left a huge scur on his sister. I learned more, and the next time around I did better, getting only one set of small, thin scurs out of 10 kids done. You can do it without watching someone, but it really helps to watch another person in real-life. I know someone that just did a video, and she was disbudding an older kid. It took forever, but the video is good. It's very graphic, I wouldn't watch with sensitive children or spouses. I know it is far better to make sure you get a large enough area; I have the scars from horn/scurs to prove it.
http://s320.photobucket.com/albums/nn344/endofthelinefarm/reference...
Glad to hear you're enjoying your dam raised goats. Even though your buckling knocked off his scur, it will probably regrow.
I have never heard of anyone waiting for five weeks to disbud! That's really cruel, to be blunt about it. When we were new, we'd procrastinate and procrastinate, but we finally realized that the later we did it, the longer it took. In other words, if you disbud early, you're talking about burning for a few seconds; if you disbud later, you have to keep burning over and over and over again. And the longer you hold the iron on their head, the higher the risk that you'll heat up their brain and cause brain damage. The latest we ever did a buckling was three weeks, and it was terrible because it took so long. His horn buds were actually one-inch baby horns by then. Some bucks would have legitimate horns by 5 weeks.
There are a lot of threads on here about disbudding, including links to videos and disbudding iron recommendations. It is a good idea to have someone knowledgeable show you know to do it the first time. You said you've seen it done, but was it done correctly? I'm hearing more and more stories of people who don't do a complete job, and the goat winds up with half-grown horns.
explain horn bud. is it a point? or just the bump of where a horn would be - the little point hadnt broken through.
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