Just
had my heart lock up and skip a few beats. I should learn to trust my
instincts! I heard the goats making a ruckus that they do not usually
make and a peeked out the door at them but did not go out to get a
closer look. About 30 minutes after that, went to take them food and
water and behold... Dyson had gotten himself stuck in the hay feeder.
Thank goodness he didn't panic and thrash about breaking his fool neck... We got him out safe and sound.
Guess I need to put the wire guard back into keep them from being back
to stick their heads into it. We took it out a few months ago because
they were rubbing the hair off their nose on the wire.
There has many differing opinions as there are many a great debates on whether or not one should have horned or disbudded goats. A good read on Horned vs Not Horned can be found on Fias Co Farm's website at the following link:
Dyson, our wether, came to us at three weeks old, with horns. At the time, he probably could have still been disbudded, but he was very sick and I did not want to add to his stress with the procedure. He's a very calm little fellow and we've really had no problem with his horns up until we brought Aurora home. Suddenly he was headbutting and side ramming her like crazy. After a week he mostly settled down except when it came to grain and hay time, then it was right back to showing he was boss. It alarmed me, but not until he started hooking under her stomach and lifting her up with his horns... That's when I knew we had to do something about them before he ended up gorging her and possibility killing her.
Many fellow goat shepherds gave us a lot of different advise on how to take care of his horns. I refused the idea of surgery immediately... not worth the risk of the possible side effect. Banding his horns was out of the question too... Sometimes they grow back and when they do, they be malformed scurs. Putting tennis balls and pool noodles were our best options, but even with the smallest tennis balls, they almost cover his whole horn and I don't want to mess up his temp regulating. I have a tub of spare parts... I
need to find a goat rescue place to donate too. There had to be something out there, because I really did not want to have to give up Dyson to keep the other goats safe.
Anyway, what finally worked was the form insulators that you buy at
Lowes and the like for those small copper pipes on water heaters. Just
the right size to leave most of Dyson's horns exposed without too much
duct tape.
