Calf rubbing off dehorning paste. Help please!

[skylavaulter]

We just dehorned our calf using caustic paste a half hour ago. She has been rubbing the spots a lot with her back hooves and now the paste is barely on the button, but a good thin layer is still present immediately around the raised button. Should we reapply more paste to the button or is this rubbing to be expected? My husband is out there now with her to prevent her from rubbing anymore.

 

[M5farm]

throw the paste away and get you a pair of dehorners

 

[Farmgirl]

Put duct tape over the paste spots. Did you trim the hair before applying the paste?

 

[TN Cattle Man]

throw the paste away and get you a pair of dehorners

+1
Great advice!!

 

[Nesikep]

I've used paste for years and never had trouble with it, yes, some will fiddle with it, it's certainly itchy and uncomfortable, but it works and doesn't leave anything for flies to get attracted to

Putting duct tape on it is great advice from my point of view.

 

[Aaron]

As has been said, trim hair around each bud, apply with Q-tip and cover with duct tape.

 

[Farmgirl]

Paste is a lot more humane than burning horns off and leaving cattle with an open hole in their head. We did that once.

My 2 cents
Farmgirl

 

[Aaron]

Paste is a lot more humane than burning horns off and leaving cattle with an open hole in their head. We did that once.

My 2 cents
Farmgirl

Wrong. Burning destroys the nerves, so pain is quickly not an issue. Calves are irritated by paste for days-on-end, and if it gets into the eyes, you really have a issue.

 

[Nesikep]

I've never had a problem with it getting in the eyes, it also doesn't rain much here so I can work around it.

I think if you brand your calves, then it's perfectly reasonable to dehorn them with a hot iron at the same time... flies are bad around here, and I wouldn't want anything clipped.

As I don't brand them, paste works just fine, and since I've gone to a polled bull it's even easier... I'm not sure if the one I got is homo polled, so I might have a few to do next year.

 

[coachg]

Used paste for years with success. Only one time did I get one side with and one side w/o. Use to coach high school sports so I would trim hair, apply paste, tear a 6 inch strip of white athletic tape and put over each application. I then would wrap another long strip around the calves entire head and across the other 2 strips. By the time mom gets it off or the calf does it has done its magic !