2 questions -

I have a 4 month old sannen buck. He had been disbudded twice with an iron before I bought him but he keeps growing skurs (sp?) what can I do to keep them from coming back? Last night he butted heads with my doe after he had broken through the fence and the skur broke off. It didn't seem to bother him but he bled like crazy.

I was checking the tatoo in his ear since all the excess dye finally wore off and it it not the same as what his registration papers say. The first letter is a D when it should be an S I am going to call the lady I bought him from but is this going to create a problem for me in the future? Thanks -

-- Kathy (jubilant@ncweb.com), July 16, 2001

Answers

Do you have a disbudding iron? If you do secure him in the milk stand or to the fence, and when the iron is so hot that it will scorch wood, reburn the place where the horn was bleeding yesterday. You want to hit it around the outside. The reason he has scurs is because the iron didn't burn all the way around the outside of the horn bud. Most irons simply are to narrow on the inside diameter of the tool to burn most bucks very well. We replace our fittings with copper fittings, with a 3/4 inch inside diameter, this way the tool doesn't sit on top of the hornbud and ride it. It burns the edge and most importantly all the way around. You can achieve the same results with a copper fitting held in vise-grips held over an open flame.

I would defiently contact the breeder on the tattoo's. Mistakes are made, but she should pay for the retatoo on the paperwork if he is already registered. If you are just holding white registeration papers than simply fix the tattoo's on the paperwork, contacting the breeder of course. If you are holding blue or brown registration papers than you will attach a note to them, writing down that you found tattoo's in error, and this is what it should read, the papers will be stamped re-tattoo. Are you sure you are looking at the correct ears? Right ear and left ear are looking from the back of the goat forward. Make sure your guy is current on his CD&T shot, something I don't take anybodys word for, always revaccinating all new stock, it is just simply to cheap to take chances, before you redo his scurs. Good luck with your guy! vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), July 16, 2001.

Kathy,

In addition to what Vicky said ... when you disbud, you want to make sure that there is a copper colored ring around the base of the horn when you are done ... it seems the horns grow from the base ring of cells around the 'nub' and if you don't kill them all, they'll keep growing. Our first venture in disbudding was cut a little short when my wife was ... well... not pleased :-) at the smell and sound of the job (I was doing the dirty work, she was holding the kid). So I didn't burn it off completely, and we had a semi-dehorned goat and lots of problems. The next time, I got the iron hotter (propane torch on the end, till it glows red in dim lignt ... I like to do it around dusk, so I can see the iron tip is the right temp.) and I went back about 4 times to make sure that I had that ring. No problems that time. Oh, you can dress the site with vaseline when you're done ... helps keep infection out, etc. Good also to make sure the goat is vaccinated for tetanus before you do this. Our vet set us up with a syringe for about $5 or so.

Even at 4 mos, make sure to get it now... the problem only gets bigger and harder to tackle as the goat grows. Our mistake cost us a trip to the vet later to get the problem resolved ... spent $50 for the vet to give the goat some anestetic and work on her for nearly an hour with a high-heat butane torch. (Sigh... the horn still grew.)

As far as stopping the bleading, sprinkle some flour over the wound ... helps to coagulate the blood. Or a paper towel and some duct tape, if your goat will let you. Ha ha ... not many will.

Hope this helps & good luck,

Dave

-- Dave (peasedj@sparc.isl.net), July 17, 2001.