Took me a while, but I found my old post:
We wait until the horns are between 4 and 6 inches long.
I use half pound "bolt on" weights that have a small spur inside the horn tunnel. Older animals with bigger horns get the full one pound weights. You can turn horns on animals up to two years of age for sure - maybe older - I have not done them on anything over two. But I do know weights can be had up to five pounds in weight - never seen them - just remember reading I could order some from "some place"
Do not ask me when to take them off. There really is no set time for this. I usually eyeball the look of the horns - making sure that they come down .... how do I describe this ...... I stand beside the animal and look across the forehead ... lining up the horns. When I figure they will curve in and be ABOVE the eye line - so as to NOT eventually curve into the skull ... then I remove the weights.
Do this enough and you will get good at it. If the animal loses a weight - and this WILL happen once in a while. Well, now you have to try and even up the horns using weights and different lengths of time on each horn. You may mess up once or twice, but you'll get good at it - and the animal does not seem to mind the weights at all. All of this is easy if you keep them penned up - we let ours go in the pasture - still have some weights out there somewhere.
Wife tells me just now that we average around 6 weeks before we take them off the youngsters - so now you even have a target date / time.
If you look at our herd, you can actually see the animals that I learned on - and they do not have the symmetry that the newer models have. After some years I have got pretty good at it - the animals do not seem to hold it against me tho'!!
Make sure you put them on right. The hole is bigger on one side of the weight than it is on the other. I know that this sounds pretty basic, but it is easy to make the mistake of putting them on wrong. The side with the big hole goes toward the head.
The other thing we do is make sure we do not put them on too tight. The horn grows in diameter as well as length. So there should be about an eight of an inch of slack between the horn and the horn weight. The spur inside the horn tunnel will still bite into the horn fairly well, as to keep it from slipping off. If you do not do this, you will have an animal with a funny narrow spot on the horn - usually near the end of the horn after it matures. (Voice of experience talking!)
If you put the weight on the horn - too far down the horn and too close to the head - and if the weight is brand new - well, the spur is pretty long and once in a while you might punch throught the horn and nick the "quick". If you are in fly season or the weight has a bit of dirt on it - there is a chance of infection. The animal may very well rub the horn so hard against a tree or post that they will actually wear the horn down and either rip it off, or damage it to the point that it will come off. Much like you or I might scratch an itch until it gets infected.
Keep the weights clean and rust free prior to mounting on the horn. Make sure the horn is clean - I usually rub it with alcohol - just to make sure. If I think the animal has been nicked and it is a bad time of the year for flies I give it a shot of long acting penicillin to prevent infection while the hole seals up around the spur.
This I learned by watching a darned nice cow take off her right horn over the space of three days - we still have her - nice cow - called "One Horn".
Anyway, the classic look is pretty nice - even if there are those who do not like horns.
I think I have hit most of the important points - let me know if you have any questions - I'll do my best to give you some help via the keyboard.
Certs wrote:
This is just my method.
I wait till the horns are at the tip of the ears. Then take the weights off after the horns curve breaks past half way(past center).
If the animal is getting good protein the horns will grow pretty fast.
When I think on this - when you are looking directly at the cows face - this would be a good measure - I always look from the side because I am afraid I might turn the horn too much - think I'll start using "combination" of the two.
Just be sure to not put the weights on too tight - it really can screw up the normal growth - and you do NOT want a narrow band of horn in the middle of a nice curve.
Have I missed anything Certs?
Have fun! If I was there I would love to help.
Regards
Bez
