The Accidental Smallholder Forum

Livestock => Goats => Topic started by: mcginty on September 21, 2014, 10:31:53 am

Title: Abandoned goats
Post by: mcginty on September 21, 2014, 10:31:53 am: I have two abandoned pigmy goats, males.
To keep as pets would need to be castrated and horned.I think.
Not sure of there age, the horns are about 4ins. long.
Any advice most welcome.
Title: Re: Abandoned goats
Post by: fiestyredhead331 on September 21, 2014, 11:46:37 am: castration is the easy bit, vet does it with a local aneasthetic but disbudding/dehorning at this stage is not going to be an option I suspect.
Title: Re: Abandoned goats
Post by: Lesley Silvester on September 21, 2014, 11:49:01 pm: You would need to ask your vet's advice re the dehorning. It might be too late.
Title: Re: Abandoned goats
Post by: Buttermilk on September 22, 2014, 08:17:37 am: I once rehomed a goat that had been dehorned as an adult. You could look down the holes and see out of her nose, not nice at all and a nightmare with flies and debris from the hayrack.

At 4 inches I would keep trimming the points back to blunt them but not remove the whole horn.
Title: Re: Abandoned goats
Post by: Lesley Silvester on September 22, 2014, 11:59:00 pm: Quote from: Buttermilk on September 22, 2014, 08:17:37 am
I once rehomed a goat that had been dehorned as an adult. You could look down the holes and see out of her nose, not nice at all and a nightmare with flies and debris from the hayrack.

Eurghh.
Title: Re: Abandoned goats
Post by: shygirl on September 23, 2014, 09:36:24 am: all my goats have been horned and never caused any trouble. it doesnt need to be a routine procedure.
Title: Re: Abandoned goats
Post by: Steph Hen on September 23, 2014, 10:52:27 am: Quote from: Buttermilk on September 22, 2014, 08:17:37 am
I once rehomed a goat that had been dehorned as an adult. You could look down the holes and see out of her nose, not nice at all and a nightmare with flies and debris from the hayrack.

Omg
Title: Re: Abandoned goats
Post by: fiestyredhead331 on September 23, 2014, 11:27:18 am: goats have horns for a reason........mostly to scratch their butts with ;D
Title: Re: Abandoned goats
Post by: shygirl on September 23, 2014, 11:49:12 am: Quote from: fiestyredhead331 on September 23, 2014, 11:27:18 am
goats have horns for a reason........mostly to scratch their butts with ;D

or to rest their heads on whilst they sunbathe, yes really ;D
Title: Re: Abandoned goats
Post by: Anke on September 23, 2014, 03:01:41 pm: If they are older than 7 days the castration has to be done surgically (as opposed to ring them as lambs would be, and actually pygmies are probably too small for ringing anyway)and by a vet. Not a difficult thing to do, best to speak to vet about it.

However removing horns at this stage will not be an option, yes in theory it may be possible but it is a dangerous procedure, causes loads of blood loss and a real danger of getting infected/slow to heal etc etc. Vet would be unlikely to agree to it.

The majority of pygmies keep their horns anyway...
Title: Re: Abandoned goats
Post by: jinglejoys on September 23, 2014, 07:54:01 pm: I had a two year old British male dehorned as a driving goat no problem but that was by a vet who knew what they were doing vets nowadays don't have a clue
Title: Re: Abandoned goats
Post by: mcginty on September 26, 2014, 09:56:10 pm: We have decided to castrate by the vet,
and leave the horns.