To weight or not to weight? That is the question.

RisingCreekHerefords · Feb 28, 2016

I have a horned Hereford heifer I will be showing this year. I am used to polled animals. My question is, would you weight her horns? Or let them go naturally? I personally like the natural look, but I don't want to be docked or frowned upon because I left them alone. They really aren't growing very quickly. Any suggestions? She will be a yearling in May.

PS: She's not show ready at the moment by any means!

shortybreeder · Feb 28, 2016

Some shows have limits to the size the horns can be which is something to think about, but I have no experience with weighting because I have polled shorthorns-sorry

Aaron · Feb 28, 2016

If you do weight them, I would wait for a few more months and then go with a 3/4 lb set. Usually on horns that are 5-6" long roughly.

BUT,

I would find out your show's limits, as Shorty said.

RisingCreekHerefords · Mar 3, 2016

I will go over the rules again, but as far as I know they don't have a limit. It will be the NAILE and maybe a smaller regional show here.

herefordhandler16 · Mar 13, 2016

Since her horns are still short like that I would have someone burn them down with a branding iron. It gets rid of the problem all together and they will not develop an aggressive attitude because they have horns. Plus once it heals no one will ever know you did it. This is the heifer we last year