[Joseph]

Hi all. How much can I expect to pay for dis-budding? I have been quoted 32.00 per kid is that what it costs?

[little blue]

sounds about right... :/
not cheap I'm afraid.

[Backinwellies]

Can't you learn to do your own?  Dont know much about goats but relatively easy on calves.

[Anke]

Can't you learn to do your own?  Dont know much about goats but relatively easy on calves.

Goats have to be disbudded by a qualified vet under general anaesthetic in the UK. Illegal to do it yourself. As it has to be done very early in the kid's life it is very easy to kill the kid and/or do lasting damage.
I pay 35 pounds per goat plus VAT. Make sure your vet is experienced in disbudding goats (older farm vets are more likely to be than young freshly qualified ones, as the "Good life" was much more fashionable in the 1970s and 80s). Also better to bring the kids to the surgery (in a large dog crate is ideal and safe) and ask the vet to use gas/air to knock them out rather than injections. Also good time to put a ring on any male kid that s not good enough for stud in the future.

[Roxy]

  I thought the £15 each I pay, was expensive ....obviously not.

[countrywoman]

I take mine to the surgery and pay £30 each.  The kids still amaze me that within a short while they are playing/feeding as though nothing has happened.  I consider myself lucky that my vet is also used by a 400+ milking herd of goats so he gets plenty of practice. 
 
I know someone who had ghastly results by having a young locum vet do it in their yard with inadequate knowledge and equipment.  She has now changed to the vet all my local goat club use.

[jinglejoys]

Yep you pay a fortune to have a novice queezy vet do it instead of an experienced goat keeper...it keeps the vets in their posh 4X4's

[sokel]

I used to pay £12 at our usual vets but have changed vets and pay £15 per kid but he does a fantastic job on them and are back to their normal selves before they are back in the car

[Lesley Silvester]

I paid about £24 last time and he was ringed at the same time.

[Skirza]

£15 per kid for us here 

[Daisys Mum]

I think I paid about £19 which I thought was pretty fair as they had had an anaesthetic.

[shygirl]

i dont understand why they cant keep their horns. mine are all horned, billies too, and they have never been rough with me. i do realise you cant keep horned and unhorned goats together, its just a shame.
how are they disbudded? i know calves have something smeared onto their heads.
we had a beautiful gg goat who was disbudded badly so she grew a deformed horn, which she managed to rip off a few times. its always seemed to grow into her head so had to be trimmed.

[Anke]

i dont understand why they cant keep their horns. mine are all horned, billies too, and they have never been rough with me. i do realise you cant keep horned and unhorned goats together, its just a shame.
how are they disbudded? i know calves have something smeared onto their heads.
we had a beautiful gg goat who was disbudded badly so she grew a deformed horn, which she managed to rip off a few times. its always seemed to grow into her head so had to be trimmed.

If you search back to previous threads - this discussion has been had many times... and some of us do disbud, others don't. Not sure this needs to be started again.

[Blinkers]

Less than a tenner each here 

[Penninehillbilly]

Less than a tenner each here 

Almost worth bring mine down to your vets 
Mine was about £17 + drugs +VAT
Left one girl too late this year - annoyed with myself, she may not mean to hurt, but those points look mean.