How to Disbud a Goat Kid
Warning: This post contains graphic images of the disbudding process.
I am not a veterinarian. Disbudding a goat kid can cause serious injury to you or your goat and can even lead to death. This is not an instructional, only an account of what we do with our animals. Please contact your veterinarian before attempting to disbud.
I've raised goats since 2009. Over the years I've successfully disbudded over 30 goats and our bull calf as well. We've never had a scur or an injury. In this post, I'd like to take you step-by-step through what we do to disbud our goat kids. Hopefully, this can help you decide if disbudding is right for your goat.
In this post, I'm not going to go into the ethics of disbudding to have hornless goats. I've covered this topic at length in my post Should I Dehorn or Disbud My Goat? I believe that there are appropriate times to disbud, and there are inappropriate times to disbud. Many goat owners are in favor of disbudding, many are against it. I believe that both these arguments come from a place of concern for the well-being of the goat. It is a situational decision. If you are unsure whether a horned goat is right for you, I encourage you to talk over the decision with your livestock veterinarian.
So if you are interested in how the disbudding process happens read on.
The anatomy of a horn
A goat's horns grow continuously throughout its life. A goat kid is born with a horn bud. This is a nubbin of horn growth tissue under the skin connected to the skull. Around the horn bud is a blood supply that will feed the horn growth tissue.
What happens in the disbudding process?
The disbudding process cauterizes a ring around the horn bud and blocks the blood supply. This starves the horn of blood. The horn dies and will never grow.
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Is it painful to disbud a goat kid?
Yes, it's a very painful procedure. It is my least favorite part of keeping goats. I'm always emotional after we finish the last kid. However, the most painful part of the procedure takes 5-10 seconds and can eliminate more painful injuries that the goat might experience in its adult life. It can also eliminate the possibility of a goat being euthanized because its horns have become a danger to other people or animals. For more on this topic read my article Should I Dehorn or Disbud My Goat?
Can general anesthesia be given to lessen the pain of disbudding?
Most disbudding procedures are done without pain medicines or anesthesia, even a local anesthetic. Unfortunately, that is the norm. I've heard the argument that it's more dangerous to sedate the goat kid than it is to just do the procedure outright. I'm not sure how I feel about that argument, but that seems to be the current answer.
I did just read an article by the Penn State Extension about disbudding calves where veterinarians are suggesting lidocaine to lessen the pain in the disbudding process and Meloxicam for pain management afterward. The article explains that this lessens the stress load of young animals.
I'm hoping that as goat ownership becomes more popular that pain management in goats being disbudded will become the norm. The veterinarians in our area were not super helpful in the area of pain relief for disbudding. However, if you plan to disbud your goat kid, I encourage you to talk to your vet and ask about pain relief.
Caustic Paste VS Iron
Caustic chemical pastes are a mixture of calcium hydroxide and sodium hydroxide. A thin layer, about the size of a nickel, is spread on the horn bud causing a chemical burn. This destroys horn-producing cells and stops the horn from growing.
Caustic paste should be used with great caution. Gloves should be worn and the goat should be separated from other animals to prevent the caustic paste from transferring and causing unwanted burns. Animals should also be kept out of the rain as the water could cause the paste to run down into the eyes.
The paste should be kept on for 6-24 hours, (check the manufacturer's instructions.) Some people wrap the area to prevent the risk of transfer.
In my opinion, using a disbudding iron is the most humane way and most effective method to disbud kids on your own.
We use an iron because it's fast and less messy. Caustic paste burns the area over a period of 6-24 hours and there is the possibility that the goat might rub it on other areas of the body.
We use an iron because the worst pain is over in 5-10 seconds. Then the goat can begin to heal.
Are there any other disbudding options?
Although it tends to be out of reach for a lot of people, Cryosurgical Disbudding is another option your vet may be able to help you with. This involves spraying liquid nitrogen around the bud to cauterize and destroy the horn bud cells by freezing them instead of burning them. This is considered a less invasive procedure and is thought to be less painful and can reduce the amount of inflammation. None of the vets in our area offer this type of disbudding procedure.
When to disbud goats?
Within the first week of life. 3-10 days of age or before the horn bud has broken through the skin. Especially on bucklings. We disbud on day 5. This gives the baby goat a few days to recover from being born but is early enough that we never get scurs. The horn will break through the skin at around 10-14 days, earlier for bucklings than doelings. The earlier you disbud, the better chance you have of it being successful. If you've waited until 3 or 4 weeks of age, you are no longer disbudding, but now into the realm of dehorning.
Materials needed
- Someone to hold the goat ( you can also build a kid box which I will be covering in a future post)
- Disbudding iron
- Clippers
- warm bottle to soothe the baby after
Why we use a homemade iron
When we first started raising goats the only cautery disbudding tool that we could find was meant for calves. I'm sure goat-size irons existed, we just couldn't find any in our area or online. Many people use a calf-sized electric disbudding iron on goats and it "works" for the disbudding process, but we felt that it creates an unnecessarily large wound circle, especially for small breed goats. The diameter of a calf iron is much larger than what a goat needs. Zach is a blacksmith, so he made a smaller goat-sized hot iron that creates a small scab rather than a large one.
Recently, I've noticed that goat and sheep irons are readily available in feed stores and even on Amazon! This is convenient, but they are still pretty pricey, which is why Zach will be writing a post soon on how to make your own goat disbudding iron that you can heat with a propane torch. This is a no-weld project so almost anyone can do it with things you might already have on hand.
Preparation to disbud
To begin, I find the horn bud, they are on either side of the skull. The skull will come to a sort of 3-pointed corner. The horn bud will be near this tip. It is slightly softer than bone (think cartilage) and feels like a small rubbery lump.
Then I shave the fur area around the horn base as short as I can. The hair should be short enough to where I can easily see the bud even on dark-coated goats.
Heat the iron to around 900 degrees with a cutting torch, mapp gas, or a propane torch. (A range of 750 to 900 degrees is what we use). This can be checked precisely with an inexpensive infrared thermometer like the ERICKHILL Infrared Thermometer that we often use. In the pictures below the camera and lighting shows the iron glowing red and you should see a very dull red or just below that for the correct temperature. If I was using an electric iron it would need to be plugged in for about 15-20 minutes to preheat. (check manufacturer's instructions as they don't get as hot)
When the iron is hot, I have the goat lie down on a table. Zach rests his elbows on the table and wraps his hands over the goat's face and holds the muzzle down. He also tries to cover the eyes with his hands. It is imperative that he keeps the kid's head still.
Goat disbudding box -if you are disbudding alone you can also build a goat box to keep the goat's head still. Plans for this are coming in a future post.
Using the iron
I find the horn bud one last time and then I press the iron over the bud centering the bud in the middle of the iron's circle. Then I count slowly to 5 (5 seconds) as I'm counting, I rotate the iron in a circular motion making sure the rim of the iron presses all the way around the horn bud. I want to burn a solid, copper ring around the horn bud.
Then I remove and inspect. If there is an intact copper-colored ring around the horn bud, then the disbud is successful. Repeat on the other side.
If there is a spot missing in the copper ring. I hit that spot again with the edge of the iron circle rocking the iron slowly for 1-2 additional seconds just on that spot. Don't re-burn the whole ring again, just make sure the missed spot is re-touched so that the copper ring is complete.
Bucklings may need to have an additional second or two. Check after 5 seconds. If not complete, do 1-2 more seconds. Do not go over 7 seconds total. You can heat the brain and cause brain damage.
When disbudding is complete there is nothing else to do but return that baby back to his mamma or give him a nice warm bottle for comfort.
The burn scab will eventually fall off in about 10-14 days.
Cautions!
I do not hold the iron for more than 5 seconds at a time with a total of 7 seconds. Going over this time can heat the brain and cause brain injury.
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ERICKHILL Infrared Thermometer
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