Chicama Run Family Farm

Today we de-horned the baby goats.  This is one of the most unpleasant things I think we have to do around here - but we got it done.  Pretty much, the de-horner heats up to 500+ degrees and burns around the area of the horn which causes a scab and it falls off and the horn doesn't grow back (hopefully).

Why do you get the right stuff to do this?  Easy - this STINKS (burning hair etc).... 3-5 SECONDS is all it takes per side if you have a good piece of equipment!  If you had something that didn't heat up fast enough or reheat fast, didn't hold the temperature well this can take forever.

13 goats..... 1 hour including clean up and also the fixing of all the male goats (now they are all walking funny and will for the rest of the day - but they survive)

Fingers crossed I did it right as this was my first time ever doing the de-horning thing. I was pretty proud of myself and even my daughters who hung out there with me grabbing goats as we went and tolerating the nasty smell right along side me!  Got to give them an A+ for that one.

So our first round of goats is done...... now we just wait for the rest....