Lost Horns!

Welcome Back!

Have you had a loose tooth fall out? 

Sometimes animal horns do the same thing!

Male deer loose their antlers in January and February. Their antlers are supposed to come off every year.

Cows and goats don't usually come off, but sometimes they do. 

Echo is 'polled.' That means her horns don't grow from her skull, they are just nubs that grow a little bit. This week one of her horns came off. I thought you might like to see it, so I sent it to school for you to look at.

When it was coming off it didn't bother her any more than a loose tooth bothers you. Once it was off, she didn't notice it any more.

Just like a tooth that falls out, Echo's horn bud bled just a little.
If a regular horn was knocked off a cow it would bleed a lot!

This is Curly's horn. During breeding season the bucks like to bang their heads against each other. They have hard heads! 

Curly's horn broke off when he was fighting with Zeek.
It didn't bother Curly very much because his horns are 'scurs.'
They aren't strong horns.

A 'scur' is what's left when we remove the horns from goats. We don't like horns on dairy goats, so we remove them when they are young. The horns on boy goats grow back a little, but not as big and strong as if they weren't removed.

When Curly and Zeek butted heads Curly's horn broke off. I sent Curly's horn to school, too.

How is the cow's horn different from the goat's horn?

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Look at how the chicks are growing up!
They look like little chickens with all their feathers.
They still sound like chicks, they don't cluck like the mama hens do.
They still follow her around everywhere.
The mama hen still finds food for them, too.

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Here is our tom turkey.
He still doesn't have a name!

One reader likes the name Chuck.

Can you think of a better name? Let your teacher know your ideas and I'll pick my 5 favorite names. The First Graders can vote on which name they like the best.

Have a Happy Halloween!