What to do about horns???

[Farmgirl]

We have used the paste on young calves with great success. Not sure but 80 days may be too long. Have waited 1 month to 6 weeks.

Duct tape is great for preventing mama from licking it. Trim hair away from the button before applying paste. Then cover with duct tape. Leave tape until if falls off. Much more humane than waiting and having them cut off later. Did that once. Never again.

My 2 cents.

Farmgirl

 

[Fire Sweep Ranch]

A few years ago, I had a bull that ended up with tiny little scurs, and since he was a bull we were showing, I had my vet look at him. Vet chose to burn them, and they left awful scars on his head and I promised to never do that again!
When I worked the dairy, I remember we put a paste on the heifer calves when we put them in the hutches and we never grew horns. And, I have seen the scars from cattle that have been dehorned later (for cosmetic issues).
So, I guess my question is, what is the best way to remove the horns for a "potential" show heifer?

The sooner they are dehorned the less stress on the calf and the less scarring.
My guess is the bull the vet burned the scurs off was already pretty darn big by the time it was done.
What is the problem with a little scarring on a show animal?
Confirmation is what is important.
Seems that worrying about minor scars is just deceptive and someone trying to pass off a horned animal as polled.

No deception, since the papers dictate if the animal is polled or scurred. That bull that had the burn marks went on to win Champion simmental at the Missouri state fair (percentage), so it did not hurt him at all. I just think it looks ugly, and had several people assume he was horned when in fact, he was not. We removed the scurs when we found them, and I think he was about 10 months old so older, yes. We should have just left them, since they were no bigger than your index finger tip and loose. When you show, you clip the hair down tight on the head, so every mark shows. Scars on Bulls or steers are not nearly as ugly as scars on heifers! :nod:

 

[chippie]

Good deal. We had all of our kids show cattle cosmetically dehorned. Our vet does a beautiful job. They all look like they were born polled.