Disbudding Fear

I have been waiting for a good time to mention this. Now that Betsy has brought up disbudding it seems like a good time. I am not sure why I am so worried about this because I have docked tails/ removed dewclaws on pups, I V horses and all kinds of things for years but I am so worried about this. Although I am worried about hurting them and getting a good hold on them and not going to far and all that I think my worse fear is not doing it well enough and leaving scurs. I have a few here now and it is driving me crazy. It just looks so horrible seeing a perfectly gorgeous goat with pieces of horns going in crazy directions that are not normal looking. I chickened out when I had goats before but they were not of this caliber and I must do them now for show, sale etc. So I have never done this and will have 2 does freshen in the next couple of months. I am concerned about buying the right iron because of conflicting opinions. And I am afraid I won't do it well enough and leave scurs and if I have to do a few larger breed goats can I use the smaller iron and just move it around in a larger area to get the job done or do I have to have more irons. Seriously, I have really been stressing over this since before i got my goats. It is really getting to me since I have no mentor close by to show me. I even teased Terry Babb when I was there at Oldesouth farm about driving all the way back with babies for her to show me! That's a long way. The only other thing that has come close to being so hard was worrying about doing blood draws. I survived by getting help from a nearby herd owner but she raises myotonics and does not disbud. I think at this point I need a poll of opinions and just choose the answers with the most votes! So feel free to give me any details you think will help before I have to tackle this one. Thanks

I understand your stress! I actually hadn't read enough to know that we were going to have to disbud until AFTER I bought my goats. (I just wanted to make a little goat cheese!) We had a vet disbud our first kids, and then I read everything I could find, and then a couple days before we were going to disbud for the first time, someone in an online forum burned through the skull of a kid! That left a very big impression on us! I know there are a lot of instructions out there that say to count to ten, but I don't really see the point of holding the iron on there for so long. You just need to destroy the horn buds, and you can do it just as well by holding it on there three times for 3-4 seconds as you can by holding it on there for one time at ten seconds. And if you have a teeny tiny kid, it's safer. My thought is that you can always stick the iron there for another few seconds if you don't have the "copper ring" yet, but once you go through the skull, there isn't much you can do at that point.

This is the disbudding iron we've been using for eight years, and it still works well:

http://www.caprinesupply.com/products/kid-raising/disbudding/rhineh...

Do NOT get the pygmy tip. It is too small. In fact, the normal goat tip leaves scurs on bucks if you don't do the "figure 8" that so many people talk about. We use the regular goat tip for both our NDs and la manchas.

Replies

Kimberly Martin April 13, 2012 at 3:59pm

Deborah Niemann-Boehle said:

You might also like to read this:

http://fiascofarm.com/goats/disbudding.htm

Note that she switched to the X-30 iron, and in her instructions, she says that they only burn for 3-4 seconds at a time with the X-30. I think maybe those people who burn for ten seconds have an iron that isn't as hot. My X-30 glows red when we use it, and we don't need to wait any time at all between kids. It stays glowing red the whole time.

The only thing I would add is that after you burn, the skin that had been covering the horn bud will need to be flicked off. I don't know why she doesn't cover this, but if you don't see the skin sticking up, you haven't burned long enough. And then you need to burn the middle a little more than she makes it sound. I don't like her final picture there because the whole thing should be that copper color, not just the circle around the edge.<<

Absolutely! We have a small buckling that was like this this year (and a squirmy little guy), so he had to get 3x 4 seconds. Poor little guy, but I am now the forgiven favorite lap, thankfully! ;)
Kimberly Martin April 13, 2012 at 3:51pm

Kimberly Martin said:

Margaret : Debbie covered everything, but our experience is similar..We have had our first year of disbudding also, My friend did the kids last year, so we got to watch and learn..well I did..the hubby contingent went to talk "guy stuff" . Last year we didn't shave and it took a bit for the doe to figure out what the smell was, so we shaved this year with no significant after smell issue. We bought the X-30 pygmy recommended on Jeffer's and for us it has worked fine ...so far (If I ever have to do an reburn or have a large buckling like last year..it will be too small). I still have to get DH to build a box, so I held the kids in a towel, head on my knee while I held back ears (he covered eyes and did "the deed") and they were hardly stressed at all with 4 second touches, rather than the 10 seconds in the instructions. It's very hot (red) and you don't need to apply much pressure... 4 seconds, then I blew on it to cool it, and redid it until copper. Then a shot of blue coat on top. Off and bouncing again..
Janel Rickey April 11, 2012 at 6:14pm

One thing we learned this year is that it is a lot easier if you shave their heads first. You can see what your doing better and it doesn't smoke hardly at all. I would highly recommend it. :0) Good luck we were super scared too at first, but it was actually pretty easy...
Margaret Langley April 11, 2012 at 5:32pm

You guys are super, a real God send. I don't know what I would do without ya'll. I only hope that once in a while I can say something that either helps someone or makes someone feel better. God Bless You, Your Families & Your Herds!
Deborah Niemann-Boehle April 11, 2012 at 4:28pm

You might also like to read this:

http://fiascofarm.com/goats/disbudding.htm

Note that she switched to the X-30 iron, and in her instructions, she says that they only burn for 3-4 seconds at a time with the X-30. I think maybe those people who burn for ten seconds have an iron that isn't as hot. My X-30 glows red when we use it, and we don't need to wait any time at all between kids. It stays glowing red the whole time.

The only thing I would add is that after you burn, the skin that had been covering the horn bud will need to be flicked off. I don't know why she doesn't cover this, but if you don't see the skin sticking up, you haven't burned long enough. And then you need to burn the middle a little more than she makes it sound. I don't like her final picture there because the whole thing should be that copper color, not just the circle around the edge.
Deborah Niemann-Boehle April 11, 2012 at 4:03pm

I understand your stress! I actually hadn't read enough to know that we were going to have to disbud until AFTER I bought my goats. (I just wanted to make a little goat cheese!) We had a vet disbud our first kids, and then I read everything I could find, and then a couple days before we were going to disbud for the first time, someone in an online forum burned through the skull of a kid! That left a very big impression on us! I know there are a lot of instructions out there that say to count to ten, but I don't really see the point of holding the iron on there for so long. You just need to destroy the horn buds, and you can do it just as well by holding it on there three times for 3-4 seconds as you can by holding it on there for one time at ten seconds. And if you have a teeny tiny kid, it's safer. My thought is that you can always stick the iron there for another few seconds if you don't have the "copper ring" yet, but once you go through the skull, there isn't much you can do at that point.

This is the disbudding iron we've been using for eight years, and it still works well:

http://www.caprinesupply.com/products/kid-raising/disbudding/rhineh...

Do NOT get the pygmy tip. It is too small. In fact, the normal goat tip leaves scurs on bucks if you don't do the "figure 8" that so many people talk about. We use the regular goat tip for both our NDs and la manchas.

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