Dehorning questions

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Dusty Britches

Dusty Britches

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I have always used Angus bulls in the past but 2 years ago we moved to a Hereford bull. We've been buying commercial Brangus but surprise, surprise! not all of them are really full blood Brangus. The end result that this post is getting to - I occasionally have a few calves that have horns.

I generally don't hang around them close enough to notice any horns until they are about 4 months or so in age when the horn pokes through the hair. Since I'll be weaning them at 6-7 months I will dehorn them at that time.

A few questions - what should I look for in a dehorner? The Co-Op has those nice stainless steel Barnes dehorners and I bought one but didn't realize one side is pretty crinkled and not a smooth round like the other side. Should I return it?

What should I use to cauterize the bases? The first calf we did last year, we used cauterizing / would dressing powder which worked well. But the second calf I had to cauterize and being in a bind the only thing I could think of was super heating a large bolt head, which worked well. It was just a long process.

Does anyone have any photos or video? I saw some on YT but they were terrible videos. Some bubba looking dude didn't restrain the calf well and the video really didn't show what or discuss what he was looking at, where he put the dehorners, etc. Then he didn't show how he stopped the bleeding.
 
I use paste at birth. Those that get missed are removed at about 12 months with OB wire. If there is bleeding it does quit on its own. If pain is a consideration it's not hard to use a local anesthetic to block the nerves.
 
Would a clothes iron get hot enough to do the job?

Last one I took to be worked. We just tipped her. Quit bleeding remarkably fast. Vet has an electric iron like a branding iron that he uses
 
The same people that make electric brands have one for dehorning. If no electricity the you would heat one just like a brand with fire.

We do them around 3 months or so when we band, tag, and match them up.

Definitely spray them and we also put fly spray down their backs at the same time to help keep flies and what not away. Same as with banding, I won't do it if it's wet and nasty.
 
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That's not a feasible solution to my questions at this time.

Plus, I've learned from breeders that sometimes the genetics get it wrong on homozygous polled. My friends has a "homozygous" polled bull that produces horned calves. I told them he was not homozygous. But, that is for a different discussion.
 
I have an electric one that has a brass head sort of like a hammer head. There is a hole on each end of the head. One hole bigger than the other. You want the hot iron the fit down over the horn so as to cauterize the blood vessels feeding the horn. A piece of pipe the right diameter (oe inch?) to fit over the horn will work. Just get it good and hot in a fire. Hold in on the horn like you would a branding iron.
I have used Barnes dehorner to cut out the horn. Quick and easy. The blood does fly. Just cut the horn out and turn them loose. They don't bleed too long. I don't know that I would want to do that this time of the year in the south. But we did 2 here that way just last week.
 
Kids we're helping with their herd get one or two calves each year with horns... they have a rag-tag bunch of cows with some Limo & Charolais back behind some of them... black bull that came with the cows when they bought the farm is scurred - so we KNOW that he is hetero-polled.
I bought a Stone electric dehorner, like the one AlaCowMan linked, for them to use. I like it better than the old heavy 'hammer-head' Stone dual dehorner one Dave mentioned, which we used when in active veterinary practice. The thinner one heats up faster, and burns well.
I do a cornual nerve block as soon as we catch the calf in the headgate, and by the time they get all their vaccinations & castration, they're ready to burn horn buds off.
While I've cut of hundreds(thousands?) of horns with Barnes, Keystones, OB wire... usually just 'pulled' bleeding arteries with a pair of hemostats and sprinkled on some 'blood-stop powder'(which was, IIRC, a mix of ground corncobs and ammonium alum). I much prefer to burn them off when the calves are young... preferrably under 3 months of age... probably even younger if they're Brahman-influenced.
Used some caustic paste, many years ago, on Holstein bottle calves. It worked, but - and I probably didn't know what I was doing - I burned some holes in ears with it... can only imagine what it would do to a cow's udder if I put it on a calf and turned them right back out with their dam.

While the New World 'screwworm' fly was eradicated from the U.S. in 1966, open wounds at this time of year are a threat to be infested by larvae of other Dipteran fly species. Generally not a potentially life-threatening condition (unlike true screwworm infection), but not pleasant to see or deal with.
 
Dusty Britches said:
That's not a feasible solution to my questions at this time.

Plus, I've learned from breeders that sometimes the genetics get it wrong on homozygous polled. My friends has a "homozygous" polled bull that produces horned calves. I told them he was not homozygous. But, that is for a different discussion.
Click to expand...
Nope. Not possible. It is either PP ( homozygous for polled..2 polled genes) or Pp( heterazygous for polled.1 polled gene and 1 horned gene) Polled is dominant over horned, except in the case of the African Horn Gene ( found in Watusi type cattle). If this is a registered bull with homozygous for polled on his papers, then there was some funky genetics in his cow herd.
 
Lucky_P said:
Kids we're helping with their herd get one or two calves each year with horns... they have a rag-tag bunch of cows with some Limo & Charolais back behind some of them... black bull that came with the cows when they bought the farm is scurred - so we KNOW that he is hetero-polled.
I bought a Stone electric dehorner, like the one AlaCowMan linked, for them to use. I like it better than the old heavy 'hammer-head' Stone dual dehorner one Dave mentioned, which we used when in active veterinary practice. The thinner one heats up faster, and burns well.
I do a cornual nerve block as soon as we catch the calf in the headgate, and by the time they get all their vaccinations & castration, they're ready to burn horn buds off.
While I've cut of hundreds(thousands?) of horns with Barnes, Keystones, OB wire... usually just 'pulled' bleeding arteries with a pair of hemostats and sprinkled on some 'blood-stop powder'(which was, IIRC, a mix of ground corncobs and ammonium alum). I much prefer to burn them off when the calves are young... preferrably under 3 months of age... probably even younger if they're Brahman-influenced.
Used some caustic paste, many years ago, on Holstein bottle calves. It worked, but - and I probably didn't know what I was doing - I burned some holes in ears with it... can only imagine what it would do to a cow's udder if I put it on a calf and turned them right back out with their dam.

While the New World 'screwworm' fly was eradicated from the U.S. in 1966, open wounds at this time of year are a threat to be infested by larvae of other Dipteran fly species. Generally not a potentially life-threatening condition (unlike true screwworm infection), but not pleasant to see or deal with.
Click to expand...
i bought mine when I was raising Brahman cross too..haven't used in in a few years now..I did have trouble with one that kept rubbing her head.and got infested with blowfly maggots ..
 
Dave said:
I have an electric one that has a brass head sort of like a hammer head. There is a hole on each end of the head. One hole bigger than the other. You want the hot iron the fit down over the horn so as to cauterize the blood vessels feeding the horn. A piece of pipe the right diameter (oe inch?) to fit over the horn will work. Just get it good and hot in a fire. Hold in on the horn like you would a branding iron.
.....
Click to expand...
So ... when you use the electric dehorner like that, Dave, does the horn just immediately fall off, fall off later, or do you cut it after that?
 
Dave said:
I have used Barnes dehorner to cut out the horn. Quick and easy. The blood does fly. Just cut the horn out and turn them loose. They don't bleed too long
Click to expand...
There was a picture or video here on CT in which they used a Barnes to dehorn in a big arena with advertising boards all around it. There was a very visible blood trail where the dehorned cattle had been released and it had squirted all sides of the arena as they ran along the periphery..

They'll sure change the color of the paint on a head gate too...Goodbye Preifert Blue....

The first time I tried OB wire, I thought my arms were gonna fall off before the horn did. It don't cut as fast as ya might think.

When I was a teenager, we had a pair of big cutters..LONG handles. I think they were called keystone dehorners. I haven't seen a pair of those in a very long time. They made a lot of blood too.
 
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I'll bump this. I've got a couple I'm gonna knock horns off of tomorrow. 4 year old cows.
I have some anticoagulant and bluekote spray.
In the past I've always had my vet do it. He usually uses an iron afterwards. Is that really necessary??
Supposed to freeze Sunday night. With possibly some rain Sunday day.
By the way. I've been wanting a pair of these for some time now!!
20231027_123243.jpg
 
MurraysMutts said:
I'll bump this. I've got a couple I'm gonna knock horns off of tomorrow. 4 year old cows.
I have some anticoagulant and bluekote spray.
In the past I've always had my vet do it. He usually uses an iron afterwards. Is that really necessary??
Supposed to freeze Sunday night. With possibly some rain Sunday day.
By the way. I've been wanting a pair of these for some time now!!
View attachment 36388
Click to expand...
LOL... last one I did was with a chain saw.
 

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