My camera is on its way home from Gloucester MA, so I don't have photos of this, but that is probably good since the procedure was not for the faint of heart! Don't read the rest of this post if you generally have a queasy stomach. Dehorning a goat, although necessary from time to time, is not an easy or pleasant procedure.
Vet2Be's buck was not properly dis-budded (removing the horn buds of a goat kid before or soon after they erupt using a disbudding iron) so his horns were growing at awful angles. (The buck came to us when he was about 6-8 months old. This was not one that we had disbudded). One horn was growing into the back of his eye, the other was growing into the back of his head. We had to saw them off about every 4-6 weeks to keep the horns from piercing his skin. All the other goats at the farm have no horns, the buck was the only one with horns. It is preferable to have either all horned goats or all goats with no horns in a herd. So this guy's horns needed to come off.
Here is a photo from last year after he got sprayed with the hose. If you look closely you can see that his horns are malformed. We kept them trimmed as short as we could, but the older he got the more the horns grew in towards his skull and the back of his eye.Don't read any further if you have a queasy stomach!!!
When the vet got here he told Vet2Be that he might not want to be a vet after he saw this. But Vet2Be didn't mind watching. We've come to the conclusion that animals do feel pain, but not in the same way people do. Vet2Be does not take procedures personally--that means that he doesn't look at the procedure as if it is happening to him, he looks at it as if it is going to help the animal in the long run.
The vet decided he would rather give the buck a sedative through the fence. The buck isn't all that hard to handle, but he is a little 'pushy' when it is breeding season, and it is breeding season! He's starting to rut and get stinky!
When the buck looked good and sleepy, then fell over, it was time to go to work. The vet trimmed all the hair close to the horns so that he could see the skin. Then he used a scalpel to cut the skin down to the bone close to the bucks skull.
Next the vet used a wire bone saw to saw through the horn. One horn was a real horn, malformed, but it was growing firmly from his skull. The other horn was a scur, it was attached but moved when you pushed on it. It was not as firmly attached to his skull.
It took a while to get the wire saw through the real horn. There was plenty of blood, but it didn't seem as if there were too many 'bleeders' (blood vessels squirting blood). The vet worked up a sweat getting the first horn off! The scur was quite a bit quicker to cut through.
The vet packed the opening (the holes go into the bucks sinus cavity) with gauze and covered it with more gauze. Then he sprayed the wound with BlueKote to reduce the chance of infection. We also gave the buck a shot of Tetanus Antitoxin just in case he might get tetanus. It is always better to be on the safe side.
Vet2Be checked on the buck every 10-15 minutes from 7:30 PM until midnight. Goats have to remain upright. If they lay on their side for too long they cannot belch gas and will bloat. We ended up having to prop him up with an old bale of grass hay on one side and a stump on the other. We had plenty of fresh straw under him so that his head wouldn't be on the dirt. We also covered him with an old wool blanket because it was getting slightly chilly last night and there was a little light rain. By the time midnight rolled around his head was up, his eyes were open (sort of!), and he was munching on some of the hay that was next to him. It took about 5 hours for him to come out of the sedation enough that we felt we could leave him the rest of the night.
When we checked at 6 AM this morning, he was in his goat house and he seemed fine. He has been a bit slow today, but he doesn't really seem to be bothered by the surgery last night. He is eating and drinking normally.
We are very glad the weather is cool today. Hopefully that will keep the flies down, we'll spray with fly spray if we need to.
Not a pleasant procedure, but a necessary one since the buck's horns were growing at the wrong angle. I am very grateful for vets who will come out to our property and do the procedure here. I think it makes it easier on the animal to be in a place they are used to.
When the camera gets back I'll take some 'after' photos to show how the skull is growing in over the holes and how the buck is doing.
The moral of the story.... if you choose to disbud a goat make sure that you do it properly so that you don't have to dehorn them later.
Lavender Prayer Shawl
The Hibiscus my friends gave me is planted in front of the house near the front door. The blue flowers are from a bush directly behind the Hibiscus. I will move it in the fall when the weather is cooler and easier on transplants.
We don't have much late summer and fall color in the flower beds. Hubby and I went to the store and found some beautiful mums. I love these pink ones with yellow centers.
Hubby loved these red and yellow mums. They are planted at the end of the driveway near the mailbox. Hubby will see them every time he pulls into the driveway.
You can see how much I used to strengthen the cup handle. I did this to both handles. The large handle is the one that had cracks in the welds. If it doesn't hold up well in the dishwasher, I'll let you know. This morning it was wonderful to have sturdy handles on the strip cup again!
The JB Stick brand is grey. I used the JB Stick on two legs of the table. The white color in the other photos is the off brand. Both are easy to work with and they seem to hold up the same. 
Here is the off brand that I used on the other two legs of the patio table. The table is outside on the patio and gets hit with the sprinkler every day. It isn't in the sun very much each day because we have trees in the yard. I'm very interested to see how well this stuff holds up through the winter.
Tipsy, the dog who loves snow, sitting in her favorite spot on top of the patio table after a storm.
Here is a photo from last year after he got sprayed with the hose. If you look closely you can see that his horns are malformed. We kept them trimmed as short as we could, but the older he got the more the horns grew in towards his skull and the back of his eye.
The buttons are on the outside. I have friends with young children that like their buttons on the inside of the door so they are out of reach of the children. The buttons are fine for me. Easy to see, easy to push, and easy to clean. I wish that the dishwasher had a 'time left' indicator but that is the only thing I would change.
See how much it holds! The bucket is a 4 gallon bucket that has a lid (you can see the lid to the left of the bucket). The large bucket is our holding bucket that sits in a bucket of ice-water. That is our VitaMix blender to the right.
Another view of the bottom rack. You can see the smaller milking bucket (it holds 1-gallon) behind the large bucket. The small bucket will also fit on the top rack. We milk into the smaller bucket and transfer the milk (after weighing it) into the large bucket to bring into the house after all the milking is done. You can also see some of the containers that fit into the dishwasher. We use 1/2-gallon glass containers most of the time, but sometimes we run out and have to use plastic.
Glacier. She was named because she got frostbite on her ears when she was a kid. We didn't own her at the time, it happened at the place she was born.
Both vaccinations ready to go. We prefer the 22 gauge 3/4" needles for IM injections, but all we have right now are 22 gauge 1-1/4" needles, so Vet2Be doesn't put the needle in as far.
This is where Vet2Be likes to give intramuscular shots.
Poor thing, she is probably very embarrassed by her haircut! But I am sure she appreciates having less of a coat for the rest of the summer. Hopefully we will be able to even her out soon.
Here is a photo of our llama chute. Nothing spectacular. My friend, who gave Vet2Be the llama, also gave us their chute. They had gotten it for free from someone else and never used it. It was a bit big for Daisy, but we liked the idea that she could stand up in it and that we didn't have to stretch her out on the floor.
The rash on Ginger's udder. It doesn't affect her milk production. She is still milking between 6 and 7 pounds per milking, but it bothers Vet2Be and me that we can't get rid of it and don't know what it is.
A Comfort Shawl is very simple to make. I used the pattern that says to knit 3, purl 3 for this shawl. But I have also made shawls that are knit every row, making the shawl in garter stitch.
Here is another photo of the shawl laid across the bottom of my bed. Stinky (the cat) decided she liked it, too. Guess I'll have to wash it before I send it off just in case the recipient is allergic to cats! You can see that the shawl is just a large rectangle
