Milking shorthorn cross?

[MikeJoel]

You know my cow. The sire of the calf was a milking shorthorn.
Is this calf going to have horns... it sure looks like it.

She has two little nubs and their looking like they are going to break through soon.

If so. When should we dehorn?
Is there a kit or is this a vet thing?


Mike

 

[milkmaid]

How old is she? Under 2 months and I'd put dehorning paste (caustic stuff) on the horn buds. Separate her from the cow for at least 6 hours so she doesn't rub it off...on her dam's udder. Yikes. Might put duct tape over the horn buds after putting the paste on so that she doesn't rub it off on the fence either.

If you feel like waiting a little longer, you can "burn" the horns with an electric dehorner or else chop them off. I've done the dehorning paste and the chop-em-off method...never burned them myself, but seen calves done that way with good results. Chopping them off can be really messy, I will warn you ahead of time.

CB said once that he prefers to dehorn at conception, LOL, and I agree that would be nice. But unfortunately, most dairy breeds have little to no selection of polled bulls of any quality, and so we just deal with the horns as they come.

 

[MikeJoel]

Any idea how long they get if left?

 

[milkmaid]

How long they'd be? Not entirely sure as we don't leave them on permanently, but each horn will be a good 6" or more as yearlings. I've thought about leaving them on in the past - I will agree it looks neat - BUT, a cow with horns is dangerous to other cows without horns, dangerous to anyone that handles her, and her head is not going to fit through a hay feeder or allow her to go through a chute. Boss told me a story of a horned holstein bull he had years ago that managed to get his head stuck in the feeder (dairy stanchion/headlocks) and could not get free. He had to be dehorned just so he could get out, and at that size I'm sure it was hard on both people and bull. It may have been fine for people years and years ago, but it's impractical nowdays and will significantly decrease her value on any market if you leave them on.

 

[glover36]

we burn all our dairy cows works good just dont do it in the summer when flies are around either cold day in spring or fall or winter and migt i add what was the sire of the milking shorthorn cross if u know?