Cutting Horned Calf

[Marshall]

We are raising a calf to use as a breeder later on. He is about 4 months old and starting getting his horns. We want to keep him as close to horn-less as possible. What is the earliest time to trim his stubbs and what is the best method? We usually just tip the older cows if it becomes a problem, but would like to nip this in the bud ASAP. (My avatar is his pop and guess he will have horns like him if we don't cut)

 

[Running Arrow Bill]

We are raising a calf to use as a breeder later on. He is about 4 months old and starting getting his horns. We want to keep him as close to horn-less as possible. What is the earliest time to trim his stubbs and what is the best method? We usually just tip the older cows if it becomes a problem, but would like to nip this in the bud ASAP. (My avatar is his pop and guess he will have horns like him if we don't cut)

What breed is the bull calf? Then...lol...if you don't want horns, why do you have horned cattle? No offense, just curious...

 

[dun]

You can use the scoop type dehorner until they get to be about 3-4 inches long

dun

We are raising a calf to use as a breeder later on. He is about 4 months old and starting getting his horns. We want to keep him as close to horn-less as possible. What is the earliest time to trim his stubbs and what is the best method? We usually just tip the older cows if it becomes a problem, but would like to nip this in the bud ASAP. (My avatar is his pop and guess he will have horns like him if we don't cut)

 

[Marshall]

For the most part, all of our cattle is cross-bread, to say the least. These are my father's cattle and I'm now helping him because it's starting to get too much for because of his age. He has 3 heards, almost 200 head. It's mainly Beefmaster cross-bread with anything from Angus to Hereford to Brahman, to Cracker, whatever bull he could acquire at the time. He was/is an advocate of heinz 57 cattle. He never did care much for purebreads.
Soooooo, with that said, the calf if Beefmaster and who knows what... He just has a great build and disposition and thought he would make a good bull.
We use to de-horn most of our cattle, but since my dad has gotten older, he hasn't done as much as in the past.
I've read several posts about horned, de-horned, polled, which is better. We, mainly I, do not care for horns. It's not worth the hassle you get when working the cattle and it hasn't had a negative impact on prices. Sooo, being somewhat new in raising cattle by myself, I was just looking for some helpful tips on keeping the blood shed down when working in a confined area with 30+ head at a time. BTW:all of our cattle are worked with a feed bag and a pickup truck. They've never even seen a horse.

 

[jcarkie]

if you want to dehorn your calves do it when they are young. i did mine at one month and they didn't miss a beat or bleed much at all. i took mine to the vet and let him do it.