horns vs. no horns?

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burnt_umber

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I've heard two different stories:
1.) Dehorning a cow is essential to making a cow safe to handle.

2.) Leaving horns on a cow means she'll be overall healthier, give more milk for longer periods, and will live longer.

I got jabbed in the face by my Jersey cow the other morning. Actually, truth be told, I jabbed her horn with my face. I have nerve damage, three stitches, and a fracture in my cheek, just below my eye, as a result. It was my fault- I was being careless as it was early in the morning and I wasn't quite awake. She was actually trying to get out of my way. So it wasn't an aggressive act on her part. I was a stupidity act on my part! :oops:

Now I see why so many cow folks warn against cows with horns. But what about the side of the fence who say the animals are better off with them?
 
Besides defense, what are horns used for?
In this area we no longer have any lager predators
and I don't keep my gunpowder in one so I do
the easiest thing, breed it out of them. :cboy:
 
No horns allowed on our place.....I can understand leaving them on some of the big "free range" ranching but when you're biggest pasture is only a couple hundred acres they have no useful purpose that I can think of.
 
burnt_umber":25y2glit said:
I've heard two different stories:
1.) Dehorning a cow is essential to making a cow safe to handle.

2.) Leaving horns on a cow means she'll be overall healthier, give more milk for longer periods, and will live longer.

It's not essential but it gives you more leeway when handling them.
The second one is pure hokum. If you dehorn her while she's milking I'm sure her milk production will be decreased somewhat for a while, maybe the entire lactation. I would think she wouldn;t live as long because about the second time I caught an accidental horn she would find her way accidentally on the trailer to the salebarn
 
TNMasterBeefProducer":39m38847 said:
Whether she had horns or not she still would have damaged your face. Only reason to leave em horned would be if you were in a high predator area and then they could use them to fend of predators. Of course there are people that raise longhorns both for novalty and for actual production.


An old muley cow can knock you plum goofy...hard to stop 1500 lbs. horns or no horns.
 
burnt_umber":29nx31om said:
I've heard two different stories:
1.) Dehorning a cow is essential to making a cow safe to handle.

2.) Leaving horns on a cow means she'll be overall healthier, give more milk for longer periods, and will live longer.

But what about the side of the fence who say the animals are better off with them?

1.) I wouldn't say its essential, however it certainly will make it a bit safer.

2.) I say that is pure malarky.

Those cows that have to fend for themselves, range cows, certainly could benefit from horns. I wouldn't necessarily agree that all cows that have horned genetics are better off with horns.

I have one cow in the herd that has horns. Its not a problem. She's bottom of the totem pole. She too is a Jersey. The Jersey I used to have also had horns and she was second lowest in the pecking order.

(disclaimer; I am in no way advocating that all cows with horn genes should remain horned)

Sorry to hear about your face. I hope it heals up okay.

Katherine
 
Seems that the temperment is probably the most important factor but one thing I've noticed , i have holstein steers , is that the horns are no issue when in similar age groups but are a big issue if you have mature steers trying to get all the feed and you have some younger ones in with them , they will use the horns on the youngsters till they learn to stay away.
 
We used to use horn weights....but now we have sold them all and don't want anymore. We used to tip them,too.
 
burnt_umber":19xfte28 said:
I've heard two different stories:
1.) Dehorning a cow is essential to making a cow safe to handle.

2.) Leaving horns on a cow means she'll be overall healthier, give more milk for longer periods, and will live longer.

Both stories are pure BS! An aggressive non-horned cow can stomp your butt into the dirt just as fast as a horned cow can - you just won't be 'aerated', so to speak. Horns have no bearing on health, milking, or life span.
 
Thanks for your input, all. Seems to be consensus here toward dehorning/breeding for no horns. I was thinking a few might chime in on the purported benefits of keeping horns. I know there are some folks out there who really advocate for keeping horns.

If there's a second injury, I'm afraid we'll have to ship her. But she's a wonderful family cow (if you overlook the latest incident), easy hand milker, and a very good mother- I swear she'd adopt a rhinocerous baby if put to it! With a calf on her, we get 1.5-2 gals. per day.

I'm going to try to find someone to take the upturned parts of her horns off, in the meantime.

If anyone here can support the reasons to keep horns, I'd be very interested to hear the other side of the debate.

Oh, and you're right- I'm sure I would have ended up with a broken nose if she'd had no horns! ;-)
 
A cow looks more feminine without horns. A bull looks more masculine with horns. Feedlots dehorn to reduce bruising of meat. If you dehorn for safety, it may prevent some accidents. Sure don't help a mean cow. Might keep you from bleeding to death vs. being stomped to death.
 
Ke
keep the horns, the cow looks better with them. Cull mean cows. Cull nervous cows.
 
Have one horned herf on the place...have a agreement with her...use the horns, loose the horns. She is ready to wean her third calf and still haven't had a problem.
That sweet Lim bull that we had stuck horns on three calves this year and I expect we'll see the same on next year's crop. Calves are just babies, not weaned yet so the horns are just pointy little nubbs for now.
Another task that I'll put off till the weather is colder.
I don't care either way...oh yeah, we don't keep a bad cow around, no matter how nice looking they are.
And that's my two bits worth...asked for or not. DMc
 
I hate horns!! I had two cows pushing each other around and when one decided to exit the match she almost got me. I was able to push off of her. I loaded her up a few days later and had the vet cut them off. Best $20 dollars I've spent on my cows. It was nasty but I would have paid a lot more if she would have hooked me.
 
We have Dexters. All but 2 are horned. We are constantly amazed at how careful they are with them. But, if you are standing next to one and they go after a fly by throwing their head..you might wind up jabbed. But then again, no matter what is going after a fly, whether it be horned or dehorned or a horse throwing its head..ya might get thumped pretty good.

If something puts its head down and comes after us or shakes it's horns at us..it's gonna be on the butcher block pronto. But again..if a hornless animal acted in the same manner..it would wind up there too.

We like the horned Dexters, but many do not.
 
haypoor":mdnz00ti said:
We have Dexters. All but 2 are horned. We are constantly amazed at how careful they are with them. But, if you are standing next to one and they go after a fly by throwing their head..you might wind up jabbed. But then again, no matter what is going after a fly, whether it be horned or dehorned or a horse throwing its head..ya might get thumped pretty good.

If something puts its head down and comes after us or shakes it's horns at us..it's gonna be on the butcher block pronto. But again..if a hornless animal acted in the same manner..it would wind up there too.

We like the horned Dexters, but many do not.

Cull the agressive and the nervous, that is all!
 
if you are standing next to one and they go after a fly by throwing their head..you might wind up jabbed. But then again, no matter what is going after a fly, whether it be horned or dehorned or a horse throwing its head..ya might get thumped pretty good.

Given a choice, I'd rather take a bruise than a gash!
 
I have some cows with horns but I prefer them not to have horns. Horns cause problems growing into there eyes or there head and I have to cut them off. Horns are just one more thing to cause a problem and cost me extra time or money.
Now if I see a real good looking cow with horns at a sale and she is selling to cheap I will buy her.
 

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