Bez>'s Horn Problem

[Bez>]

Well, I am attempting something I have never done before.

We run Horned Herfs. And we have one real nice - good quality heifer we kept over from last year. Running in the big pasture and feeding with the cows on straight hay.

I had not checked them in a couple of days so went for a look to make sure they were all doing OK before I leave the place for a couple of months.

Darned if I did not find her with her right horn almost ripped off - bleeding had stopped so it was obvious she had been that way for a couple of days.

Horn is about 3 inches lone. I can think of a dozen scenarios on how this happened and in the end it is not important because "done is done".

Ran her into the squeeze and cut the rest of the horn off - but all of the meat was there and scabbed over pretty nice. Actually it came off pretty nice in my hand with a slight tug.

Wife and I were get ready to cut everything off and do a bit of a burn - then an old fella from down the road stops in. He has a look and made a suggestion that I complied with - albeit with some trepidation.

Leave it alone.

All our keeprs run with horns - and the "quick" had hardened up pretty well. Froze the quick and cleaned it up a bit - then coated it with Boroform - a spay one antiseptic. Gave her a shot of Duplocillin - a long acting penecillin based product and put her in an isolation pen. Hardly any flies.

Ordinarily I would have done a complete and relatively thorough amputation - but the old guy said he was once successful in not losing the horn - although it took a long time to grow back - it did eventually come to almost equal the other horn.

So she is in isolation - has been cleaned up and given a couple of shots to keep any infection down.

Not often I ask for advice from folks about horns but this is new to me.

Wife will keep an eye on it and watch for infection - treat it and call the vet if it gets out of hand.

I could have saved some money if it goes bad - but I might have saved the horn if we get lucky.

Anyone ever heard of this being done before? Comments?

Bez>

 

[I luv herfrds]

Bez,
We had a bull do the same thing. It gave us quite a scare too.
We left it alone and it was fine. The only thing with his one horn is, it had a ball like shape at the end.
You did right, now just leave it alone and let it heal.
We have that outer shell floating around here some where and we use it as a "gag" drinking horn at branding.

 

[Oldtimer]

Bez- I had a horned heifer (one that we missed, since we have few with horns anymore) knock a horn off last year when she was hauled out to pasture- didn't do a thing, and it grew back just like new- except for a little kink out by the tip of the horn.....

I was the opposite of you- hoping it wouldn't grow back- but she's going down the road anyway as she lost her calf this spring...

 

[cattleluvr18]

thats why i have polled herfs.

 

[Bez>]

thats why i have polled herfs.

Smarty pants - I like horned cattle.



Bez>

 

[johndeerefarmer]

It won't grow back but the "meat" will harden up. My first cow, Bonnie lost a horn in a fight, she lived another 10 years after that with one good horn and the bad one

Have you ever heard this?

The best way to dehorn your cattle is to buy Angus and screw them off........

 

[cattleluvr18]

thats why i have polled herfs.

Smarty pants - I like horned cattle.



Bez>

bez> dawg, all them horns do is cause trouble. gosh, read your own post. ;-)

 

[Caustic Burno]

Well, I am attempting something I have never done before.

We run Horned Herfs. And we have one real nice - good quality heifer we kept over from last year. Running in the big pasture and feeding with the cows on straight hay.

I had not checked them in a couple of days so went for a look to make sure they were all doing OK before I leave the place for a couple of months.

Darned if I did not find her with her right horn almost ripped off - bleeding had stopped so it was obvious she had been that way for a couple of days.

Horn is about 3 inches lone. I can think of a dozen scenarios on how this happened and in the end it is not important because "done is done".

Ran her into the squeeze and cut the rest of the horn off - but all of the meat was there and scabbed over pretty nice. Actually it came off pretty nice in my hand with a slight tug.

Wife and I were get ready to cut everything off and do a bit of a burn - then an old fella from down the road stops in. He has a look and made a suggestion that I complied with - albeit with some trepidation.

Leave it alone.

All our keeprs run with horns - and the "quick" had hardened up pretty well. Froze the quick and cleaned it up a bit - then coated it with Borofoam - a spay one antiseptic. Gave her a shot of Duplocillin - a long acting penecillin based product and put her in an isolation pen. Hardly any flies.

Ordinarily I would have done a complete and relatively thorough amputation - but the old guy said he was once successful in not losing the horn - although it took a long time to grow back - it did eventually come to almost equal the other horn.

So she is in isolation - has been cleaned up and given a couple of shots to keep any infection down.

Not often I ask for advice from folks about horns but this is new to me.

Wife will keep an eye on it and watch for infection - treat it and call the vet if it gets out of hand.

I could have saved some money if it goes bad - but I might have saved the horn if we get lucky.

Anyone ever heard of this being done before? Comments?

Bez>

Bez I used to fight these problems leave it alone will not affect ribeye quality at all. This is before I got smart enough to start dehorning at conception.

 

[I luv herfrds]

Johndeerefarmer,
Have you heard the saying, "once you go black you never go back"?
Well we went black and ran like H**L back to our Hereford bulls. I like bulls you can scratch and not have to fend off with a pitchfork!

 

[Bez>]

Lots of opinion here - but as I stated - we keep the horns on all of our "keepers" everything else gets them chopped off.

A tradition HH herd does attract a crowd and certainly keeps the money coming in - for the first time in 4 years of BSE we hit the black this year - but our farm gate sales have literally gone to the point we are turning clients away. Hate that by the way - but we cannot grow fast enough.

In fact I am actually short about 25 animals for what I need - and that means 50 potential clients will have to go elsewhere.

We will not "buy in" - if it is not grown here we will not sell it out the door. Perhaps that is the attraction?

Someday someone might even be glad we did not "fad" the cows into some other evolutionary product like those who followed the flavour of the day.

Everything is supposed to be black and polled to be any good - somehow I have a problem with that. CAB may be an excellent marketing tool but it will diminish those who follow the fad of the week.

You folks can make all your assumptions and pass on the "get rid of horns" comments - but in fact there are far more horned cattle in the world than polled.

I just wanted to know if the meat would harden up - seems it will - animal is progressing and life is as it should be.

We will continue to have a Horned Herf herd - we will continue to put out a good product and we will continue to chop the horns off the sale animals. But they will all carry the horn gene.

Tha animals in the field will continue to carry ivory.

I will continue to shake my head at folks that believe horns are such a danger and such a problem.

Each to his own.

Perhaps some day one of you will actually need an out cross and have to look out side for it.

Never say never - it is a long time.

Thanks for the advice. Duly noted.

Bez>

 

[Oldtimer]

If the "root" of the horn is still there it can grow back- the one on my heifer did- and it is horn-- even tho the John Deere man says it can't...He's wrong in this case...

That is the reason sometimes after dehorning you get a horn to grow back- sometimes just a stub or deformed one...Because you didn't destroy the "root" of the horn...

The same thing happens with humans who have their toenails surgically removed- if the surgery is not deep and thorough enough to get the root, the toenails grow back.....

 

[cfpinz]

....

That is the reason sometimes after dehorning you get a horn to grow back- sometimes just a stub or deformed one...Because you didn't destroy the "root" of the horn...

.....

We're down to very few horned animals left, just personal preference and easier to market, but that's the way I was taught - if you don't get the "root" of the horn out while dehorning, it will come back. We've got some strange looking girls running around because they were not gouged deep enough, doesn't seem to bother them one bit.

I grew up around horned herfs and blue roans, watched my Dad and Grandpa cut horns a lot when I was a kid, just big enough to hold the end of the rope around the pole in the barn. Never had a headgate, though it would have made matters a lot simpler sometimes. There's still a pair of those 50lb dehorners hanging up in the barn at their place rusting. Ought to pull them down and hang them on the wall before something happpens to them.

I've been kicking around a herf bull to put on a group of blacks on another farm recently. From the horned/polled bulls I've looked at so far, I'd be willing to bet I wind up with a horned animal. Not real crazy about adding the horned gene to the replacements from that group but the horned bulls I've looked at put the smoothies to shame.

cfpinz

 

[johndeerefarmer]

Feedyards don't like horns, around here they dock you for horns and/or Brahmer influence.

As far as horns being dangerous, have you ever saw a person get gored by a bull or cow with horns? Ask them if they would prefer horns or not.
Ask my dad, why he doesn't like horns. About 50 years ago, while running our dairy farm, one of his cows accidently horned him in the eye. His vision hasn't been good in that eye since.

As far as Angus being mean, I have not had a mean Angus on this place in the last 20 years. I admit that as a kid (35 yrs ago) we did have some mean Angus on the place. For whatever reason, when I started buying registered Angus bulls in 1987, the mean trait dissapeared. Different bloodlines? or just good luck? Who knows?

 

[Bez>]

Feedyards don't like horns, around here they dock you for horns and/or Brahmer influence.

As far as horns being dangerous, have you ever saw a person get gored by a bull or cow with horns? Ask them if they would prefer horns or not.
Ask my dad, why he doesn't like horns. About 50 years ago, while running our dairy farm, one of his cows accidently horned him in the eye. His vision hasn't been good in that eye since.

As far as Angus being mean, I have not had a mean Angus on this place in the last 20 years. I admit that as a kid (35 yrs ago) we did have some mean Angus on the place. For whatever reason, when I started buying registered Angus bulls in 1987, the mean trait dissapeared. Different bloodlines? or just good luck? Who knows?

Funny how a simple request for info develops into this.

There ya go.

Outa here.

Cheers

Bez>

 

[johndeerefarmer]

Feedyards don't like horns, around here they dock you for horns and/or Brahmer influence.

As far as horns being dangerous, have you ever saw a person get gored by a bull or cow with horns? Ask them if they would prefer horns or not.
Ask my dad, why he doesn't like horns. About 50 years ago, while running our dairy farm, one of his cows accidently horned him in the eye. His vision hasn't been good in that eye since.

As far as Angus being mean, I have not had a mean Angus on this place in the last 20 years. I admit that as a kid (35 yrs ago) we did have some mean Angus on the place. For whatever reason, when I started buying registered Angus bulls in 1987, the mean trait dissapeared. Different bloodlines? or just good luck? Who knows?

Funny how a simple request for info develops into this.

There ya go.

Outa here.

Baby doesn't like it when others' don't agree with him?

Cheers

Bez>

 

[Bez>]

Feedyards don't like horns, around here they dock you for horns and/or Brahmer influence.

As far as horns being dangerous, have you ever saw a person get gored by a bull or cow with horns? Ask them if they would prefer horns or not.
Ask my dad, why he doesn't like horns. About 50 years ago, while running our dairy farm, one of his cows accidently horned him in the eye. His vision hasn't been good in that eye since.

As far as Angus being mean, I have not had a mean Angus on this place in the last 20 years. I admit that as a kid (35 yrs ago) we did have some mean Angus on the place. For whatever reason, when I started buying registered Angus bulls in 1987, the mean trait dissapeared. Different bloodlines? or just good luck? Who knows?

Funny how a simple request for info develops into this.

There ya go.

Outa here.

Baby doesn't like it when others' don't agree with him?

Cheers

Bez>

Actually that is not it at all - and I do not think you know me very well or you might not have said that.

Interesting how things swing for no apparent reason is what I was simply stating.

You threw the first insult. I do not think we have ever chatted before - is that how you would greet someone you have never met before?

If you ever need anything give me a shout - I can assure you that I will be happy to help - otherwise I will just put you on ignore now.

Last post from me to you - so send your next insult / response and that way everyone else can enjoy your rapier like wit as well.

Regards

Bez>

 

[johndeerefarmer]

My comment on Angus was for "I Luv Herefords" not you.
You were the one that stated that you didn't like our opinions and posted this after my last post.

I jumped you, when you jumped me.

Oh well, no skin off of my back,

Regards

 

[Susie David]

Keep two HH cows and a few polled just because Susie likes to have Herfs on the place. Anyway one knocked off a horn early this spring and I posted to see if other folks did anything besides just keep an eye on it. We left it alone and it is hardening nicely. DMc

 

[Vicky the vet]

In my experience, a knocked off horn will regrow, and it will not be perfectly normal, although it may be acceptable, expecially in a strongly horned breed (ie, good horns vs piddly ones). In Simmies, unless you kill all of the skin at the base of the horn, it will regrow (ask me how I know this, dehorned same durn cow 3 times.....kept regrowing, abnormal horn)

Good Luck
V

 

[Bez>]

Well, I am back home and the horn is coming along very nicely.

All healed and growing as it should albeit somewhat smaller than the other horn. 8)

Bez>