I am planning to purchase a dehorning iron soon. Trying to decide between the Rhinehart X50 or the X30. The X30 can be ordered with one of 3 tips, .55 , 3/8", or 1/4" . Can anyone help me decide which dehorner and which tip is better for Nigerian kids? My first kids are due in April and May.
I have seen some discussion about castration--do some of you do your own surgical castration or does everyone do banding?
Where can I purchase Bo-se? Is "Bo-se" an abreviation?
Replies
So glad to hear you're happy with Wyatt's babies! Can't wait to see pictures!
It is confusing that Jeffer's labels their disbudding irons differently than the goat companies. I guess now we have to remember the tip size, rather than just saying regular goat tip, which is what Caprine Supply and Hoegger call them.
Thank you all for your responses! You are all correct, I ordered the smaller one :( I did get the Rhinehart brand, I just ordered the larger size for goats, you want the one for COWS.
Everyone should be aware of these slightly confusing labels. There are TWO "pygmy" sizes, the one you want will be labeled for cows and goats, not specifically goats like the other two (1/2 inch size). I emailed Jeffers, and they graciously agreed to swap them out for me. I'm glad we only had one horned goat this year.
OH Yeah Deborah, I don't know that I even told you, 4/5 kids this spring were polled!! And all BEAUTIFUL kids. SOOO dairy and just dainty in every way. Just like their sire. I'll have to get some good pics when and if it ever decides to dry up for a day or two. BUT! I digress. I'm moving off the thread topic. I'll post my blabbering about my beautiful buck on his own thread where he deserves :)
Much thanks to everyone.
"If the nickel fits ..." LOL!
Margaret Langley said:
That is the same one I have Deborah, except it is $10.00 cheaper at Jeffers! So if the nickel fits, use it!
I think Ning may be having a nervous breakdown. It only printed half of my response. Hmm ...
Okay, I also said that when comparing the Caprine Supply website description with the Jeffers description, it looks like you want the one that Jeffers calls the goat/calf dehorner, but I think you should check the size of the tip of the one they sent you. If you don't have a ruler, I like Margaret's idea! Thanks, Margaret!
Deborah Niemann-Boehle said:
You want this one:
http://www.caprinesupply.com/products/kid-raising/disbudding/rhineh...
Delinda, I will see if I can help! I have the right one with box paperwork and all, but do not see a size on it for the tip. So here is what I did. I got me out some coins and a nickel placed over the tip is an exact size! I hope that helps some. Mine does have cows on the box. Strange, I wouldn't think it would work on a cow. Is yours a rhinehart brand? Where did you get it from?
Deborah,
Can you elaborate when you say "regular goat tip"?
I read a thread on this forum way back in the day and remembered hearing that the pigmy tip wouldn't work. So when I ordered our X-30, I made sure to order the larger tip size (3/8 inch). However, when I received the box, it said "pigmy tip". I looked on the Jeffers website, and sure enough, there are TWO pigmy goat tips (1/4 inch and 3/8 inch), and one large calf tip (1/2 inch). I'm not seeing a regular sized goat tip, and I wouldn't have ever thought something meant for cows would be small enough for a Nigerian. We have a single buckling that we just KNEW was polled until this weekend when we checked him again and it was totally obvious he's actually not polled. Guess he decided to wait a little longer to grow horn buds. Anyway, now that he's already behind schedule in being disbudded (two weeks old this weekend) what would you recommend us do? Try the pigmy tip or return and get the calf disbudder?
Deborah Niemann-Boehle said:
I am glad I read this forum - I was about to order the X30 w/ the pygmy tip!
You want the X30 with the regular goat tip:
http://www.caprinesupply.com/products/kid-raising/disbudding/rhineh...
The pygmy tip is too small. Even the regular goat tip isn't big enough for some bucks, so you have to do two burns, but that's a discussion for another day! If you have someone in your area who can show you how to do it, that really works best.
And I use the Burdizzo for castration:
http://www.caprinesupply.com/small-burdizzo.html
I banded for around five years, but then I had an older buck that I wanted to castrate. His scrotum was too big to band, and the vet wanted $100, so the price of the Burdizzo suddenly looked really good! I was amazed at how heavy it is.
BoSe is a prescription injection for selenium and vitamin E. I used to give it, but now I have a free choice selenium supplement available for my does, in addition to their regular mineral blend. They don't consume much unless the regular mineral feeder runs out, but from liver tests, I know that we are only borderline low on selenium, so their consumption makes sense. You would only need it if you are in an area that is selenium deficient, and there are maps online, such as this one: http://www.myhorseuniversity.com/resources/eTips/December_2009/Didy...
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