bull calf with horns

[hersh]

The calf is about 3 months and is reg char. There are no horns where his parents came from so how did he get these buttons. What do I do with them?

 

[BTRANCH]

He may be polled but have scurs, that will not develop into full blown horns. Take him to the vet and they can nip off for about $6-8.00. The hair will grow over the area and you will not be able to tell.

 

[randiliana]

Well, the horn gene is recessive to the polled gene, which means that even though his parents were physically polled, both of them may have been carrying the horn gene. Or, as said before, it may be scurs, which is a different set of genes altogether.

As to how to deal with them, paste them, burn them or cut them off. The sooner you do it the less stressful it will be to the calf. Paste is best used before the horn breaks the skin. Burning works for nubs, to little horns, and after they get too big the only real way to do it is to cut them off. If you are uncomfortable dealing with it, find a local that can do it, or take the calf to the vet.

 

[bigbull338]

if he has horns or scurrs.that means that his momma an daddy both have horns in their breeding.even though they dont have horns.

 

[angie1]

Burn them out. Don;t wait until you have to use scoops.

 

[msscamp]

The calf is about 3 months and is reg char. There are no horns where his parents came from so how did he get these buttons. What do I do with them?

Pen him, catch him, and have a feel - if the 'horns' are movable, they are scurs and will probably not grow. If they are fixed to the calf's skull, they are horns and need to be dealt with if you don't want a horned calf. For a calf to have horns, he must have 2 horned genes present. If each parent carried 1 horned gene, those genes would be passed on to the calf, resulting in the 2 genes necessary to produce horns. As far as removing the horns, you can use a dehorning paste (read the directions, and keep the calf away from other animals for whatever length of time is stated, though. Dehorning paste is caustic, and can burn other animals when the calf attempts to rub it off.), or you can burn them off. Since it sounds like you've never dealt with horns before, you would be wise to enlist a trusted individual to help you with this - if you don't keep the iron on long enough the horns will be deformed, but they can still grow, and if you keep it on too long you risk possible brain injury and/or death of the calf. I am telling you straight up that you DO NOT want to let this situation go long enough that you're stuck with using a Barnes dehorner - trust me on this!

 

[hersh]

Ok, first thing to do is see if I have scurrs or horns. Thanks guys.