Greybeard - the first article will answer most of your questions and is better written than I could ever do.
Bez
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To all:
I am sitting in my office and the power for the flight simulator went down as a tractor trailer rammed the substation at the gate - so I decided to throw a bit of info out there on pain, safety and dehorning.
And yeah - as per normal I will pontificate a bit.
Actually the best article was right on Cattletoday - but if you are like me you usually ignore most of the stuff and just hit the threads.
Our veterinarian provides us with our lidocaine. A few years ago, during our annual herd health inspection, I also had him demo a couple of dehornings using lidocaine and then watch and advise me when we did the remainder of the targeted animals to be dehorned. One thing about it that I noticed - similar to when doing a C-section (rather than pulling with a truck as I read on here once some time back) the cow pretty much stood there and did not even flinch once - when doing the horns the animals did not show signs of pain and they did recover faster. I cut the horns off using a wire saw. Blood control was carried out by removing the veins and then burning the area around the base of where the horn was.
I like this article because it gives reasons and techniques - it mentions dosage and I agree with the number - however I believe that we up that to about 8 mls per horn for full grown animals - but I do not have my notes with me to be sure.
http://cattletoday.com/archive/2009/April/CT1953.shtml
This next article is typical motherhood but does get some points across for those who simply want to never deal with horns:
http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/liv ... 09-003.pdf
One thing we always do if dehorning is pick the season - winter for us - no flies. On larger animals we also use an anti-inflammatory to assist in recovery.
The big thing to remember - if done right it is safe, relatively painless and NOT the huge gaping bloody mess that people complain about. The entire operation is carried out with no yelling and screaming and loud noises and loud grinding and loud noisy tools and no fighting of the animal. It is quiet and calm.
Now - the fact remains that horns are around, will be around and a lot of people do not like them.
There are not a lot of polled dairy breeds out there. LOL
In the beef business, there are alternatives that you can breed. We have never had an issue and in fact "train" the horns of our keepers to take the traditional Brit Herf form by using horn weights that we bolt on to the horns and remove when we figure the horns are turned down enough. It can also be done by shaving the horns but I personally have never done that.
However there are still going to be a lot of horns in the world - get used to it - they are not going away.
We are not fancy folks but the accepted standard is changing and public perception is changing - we in the beef industry need to change - not with it - but ahead of public perception.
So if people even care - then read the articles and here is the most important thing. Find a veterinarian and form a relationship with him or her. THEN find another as a back up. We use two exclusively and know three others. Our annual veterinary bill is less than a couple grand but when you consider there are more than 350 animals on the place as I write - that is not a lot of bucks as it includeds drugs, drug paraphernalia and a mulititude of tools and such. We are fairly well kitted out for most emergencies. And it is a write off as well - and probably for you folks as well.
With a little practise, a little patience, a little detemination and some education people can become reasonably competent in looking after an animal medically. You will not replace your veterinarian but you CAN avoid pulling calves with trucks and wondering why she either died or did not get up for a week, you can actually humanely repair a wound or fix pink eye without throwing a handfull of raw salt crystals or raw diesel in her eye or know when it is impossible to pull and a C-section is required and finally - you can kock some horns off and the world will not fall apart on you.
And, if you are not prepared to call a veterinarian for an issue on the farm and you then lose that animal - then you have lost more than the visit from the veterinarian might actually have cost you - loose more than one and you are really in the hole. Always have a couple on the speed dial.
So ends my pompous lecture - in the end it is only worth what you want to make of it - maybe one person will think on it - if that happens I am a happy camper - we are all in the beef business - and I am also in the sheep business and growing faster than I probably should - and we need to ensure people are happy with the way we raise and treat our animals - or they will demand changes to the laws - which will become so cumbersome as to make it impossible for the average Joe to raise anything but kids.
Cheers
Bez
