Hey guys, the time for procrastinating came to an end! The Huge (thickness more than length) scur that Quill arrived with a little over a year ago had finally grown to the point that it was less than 1/2 inch from his eye! Don't worry, we would never have let it reach the eye, but we did put this off as long as possible for several reasons including the idea that the longer we could wait, the longer it would be before it would have to be done again! Hoping now though that since we got off so much that I will be able to trim it frequently and not have to do this again.
I know there are differences between the goats and cows but I have seen huge cow horns done on line and was convinced that if we could just get him to stay still enough and find something that would cut that sucker quick enough that he would be fine. I could see it costing me many hundreds of dollars to have a vet do anything and I did not want him done into his skull like I have heard about!
So we armed ourselves with Iodine, vet wrap, roll gauze, flour, etc. in case we needed it for severe bleeding and the phone for pics! Said a little prayer, with hopes that his 5 wives were all pregnant in case this turned bad and that he would be just fine when we were finished!
Hoof trimmers were not going to phase this big thing, hack saw was not a good choice (tried a few secs but to slow and not strong enough), plus the friction was just to much! We really needed something quick! So one of my favorite quicky tools saved the day once again. One quick nip with the bolt cutters took off about an inch and there was no immediate bleeding so I pointed to the thin part and told Hubby to see if he could cut it (I was doing the holding, while he cut). He did, and blood started to show so not thinking they would cut the thick part I told him to cut from the top down toward the cut he had just made. But he said to let him try the thicker part and I ok'd it. It actually worked, although he says that it didn't cut all the way because Quill jerking his head had popped it off the rest of the way! It now has only a small place sticking out about an inch. Which is because he jerked and broke it uneven instead of a straight across cut.
I realize that it probably sounds very scary and drastic, especially described in detail but I felt that some of you would want detail in case you needed to brave this too! Although it was somewhat nerve racking, you need to understand that it was NOT AS BAD AS DISBUDDING! It didn't take any longer and he wasn't as hard to hang on to as when trimming his hooves. I would say that it was about like trimming ONE HOOF, as far as the actual wrestling goes! And he isn't that bad for hoof trimming! The fact is that he is a really good boy. I think he and I both got a blessing when that deal (his purchase) was made, since he came totally wild and unapproachable. So bad I feared he would always be that way! But he came around, not only to his momma, but is a sweetheart with EVERYONE including my grandbaby! He just needed love and attention and he gets plenty of that!
So now he is walking around with a little blood still drizzling down his face about like when the boys fight with each other, because he really didn't bleed bad enough to worry about doing anything to him. His blood seemed real thick so it ran slow. It isn't very hot and not a lot of bugs out! I knew that if we wrapped it, it would probably just bleed all over again when unwrapped so we just left it and are watching it. I am certain, beyond any doubt now that we did the right thing and did it the right way. All he really wanted was to be in his pen with his wives. That made him perfectly happy! He would have been much more stressed if we had carried him to a vet or anything else.
Oh yea, we did have the disbudding iron heated in case we needed to try some cauterizing to help with the bleeding, which I did try but that was when he really started to come unglued on us so we decided not to try anymore of that for fear he, or one of us would end up really hurt! Another reason that I say I don't feel this was as bad as disbudding a kid. So here are a couple of pics from before and a few minutes after.
So here are a couple of pics from before and a few minutes after! I have retrieved the horn pieces for examination and discovered that as I suspected, because they seemed to have a slight movement when attempting to wiggle them they were partially hollow which would account for this not being as bad as it might have been! Therefore if anyone attempts to wiggle scurs and they seem to move a little, this procedure might work this well if you wanted to try it but if they are solid the results may not be as good. They may be harder to cut or may bleed more. If attempting please always have everything you think you may need out and ready! I am going to take another photo later on when it isn't bloody etc. and post it so you can see better!
He looks so weird! I have never seen him with his head so clean. I would not have been so concerned with this had it not been going to grow into his eye soon. Please understand that!
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Thanks so much for posting about this Glenna, I really appreciate it. We had talked several times about ordering one to use on Quill but just wasn't sure about it because we had not heard any ones thoughts on using them. They are available at Caprine Supply and/or Jeffers can't remember and are only about $10-$15. I had looked at them about a year ago so I don't remember exactly!
This makes me wish I had thought to post when I took the girls to the vet for their testing. While there, I asked the vet to remove Summer's scur. That was wise as it was nearly ready to grow into her skull. He used a wire saw to remove it. It worked very well and now I know what to do if it grows back out. Ginger's "buds" had started to grow and he snipped those off and then filed them both (Summer and Ginger) so there were no sharp edges to bring blood when they might be fighting later.
It took a while with the wire saw, and Summer didn't like being held but it worked well. I didn't even realize there was such a thing as a wire saw and might have need for one elsewhere (other than goat horns).
I held him just standing in his pen, while hubby cut off the scur with the bolt cutters! He truly is a very good boy! Although, later when I went to check on him, he did keep his distance from me! So I took him some apple flavored horse treats. I have just let him have his distance since then and not been inside the pen for a couple of days. If he still shya away from me I will have to just win him back over. Sure that won't be a problem since he was so wild when I got him and he tamed down so sweet!
Deborah Niemann-Boehle said:
I'm counting on my boys to keep each other's scurs down. lol
Rachel, I am sure youre right! Great job, Margaret! :) It really isn't that bad. I was doing one of my boys one day, and he jerked his head and the whole thing fell off! :) Took care of that! It did bleed but not bad, and they've since knocked them off of each other a few times. :)
Some boys are just determined to grow scurs too. Both of my bucks have scurs. They were dis-budded twice and three times. STILL didn't get all of it, and not because the people doing it didn't know what they were doing. I really think that bucks hormones make scurs worse.
Thanks for sharing that! I know I was originally so freaked out by the idea of scurs, but after a few years, you get used to the idea and just deal with it. You also get better at disbudding. Even though you didn't disbud this guy, it still brings home the idea that if he'd been done better, you wouldn't have had to deal with this at all.
Did you put him on a milk stand, or did someone just hold him? So glad to hear he was a good boy for you! We had a buck halfway knock off a big scur one time, and we wound up taking him to the vet just because the vet had anesthesia available.