Badly dehorned goat issue

Turns out, Sven wasn't dehorned very well.  He has, how to say, slices of horn coming through.  They are very thin, maybe 3mm thick, and they wiggle like a loose tooth.  I think they bug him because he rubs them against things as much as he can, like he's trying to break them off. 

Do I need to get him re-dehorned (FYI, I HATE the concept of dehorning, no offense to those who advocate it) or do I need to pinch/pull them back out for the rest of his life or leave them or...?

Any advice is appreciated.

Ta.

They are probably just scurs, if a person dehorns an animal and doesn't get the growth ring it will continue to grow again. Scurs are not that bad, they grow a little but then stop, they are not attached so easy to take off if you want or just leave them. If they do attach then the little horns will grow, probably misshapen and you will have to watch to make sure they do not curl into his skull.

We purchased a heifer this year with horns, and since we plan to use her as a nurse cow we had to remove them, they can get pretty nasty towards their foster calves and horns are a no go. So we opted to take her to the vet take them off so they were done correctly and so she had the proper pain control while getting it done, and even my hubby was impressed with how well it went.

You could buy a couping saw and just saw them off.
I take the tips off my goats when they are about a year
and it goes through like butter both horns done in 30 seconds.
You don't want him to break them off as they may bleed
leaving an open wound.  How old is the goat?
Glad to hear you preffer horns.

Thanks Hidden, I will google this spur thing and how to remove them.

I prefer horns for a few reasons.  I've seen the dehorning processes, and I fall apart every time, just watching the process brings me great pain.  Its the same with de-clawing cats.  I've owned declawed ones, but after seeing the procedure, I'll deal with claws.  They're also sooo much easier to catch with horns, you have something to hang onto.  And, it's natural.  I've seen some nasty scraps with the queen and her, also horned, and I'm surprised there hasn't been any cuts or gouges, but goat hierarchy is not a simple or easy going thing from what I've observed.

That said, I don't wrong people for doing it.  It drives me absolutely APE when it's done wrong because I've seen the odd horn growth and whatnot and heard how it can grow back and kill them.  Also annoys me to see the process on TV vet shows and the cows are bouncing, screaming and frothing and they have the audacity to say "It doesn't hurt, it's just uncomfortable."  C'mere, lets see how uncomfortable it is.

"Scurs" Sweetened.

Goats regulate their temperature through their horns.  I dock my dogs but would never dehorn a goat.  If you are worried about safety just pop a couple tennis balls with slits in them in your pockets and stick them on the horns when needed.

Thats a great idea Sue!  Will have to try to remember that  

I got a goat last year that was dehorned improperly.  She looked like a unicorn with one just flat, curled over pathetic horn that was barely noticeable and one straight horn.  Well about a week after getting my very first goats I was talking to the neighbours in the yard and she came over for a pet.  My heart stopped for a minute when I realized my brand new goat had a huge gap in the top of her head!  Threw a big horse sized telfa pad over and vet wrapped her all up.  It was serious fly season and she was rubbing her head on everything.  Phoned vet who said it seemed like the best thing to do.  Vet came 3 days later to wether my unicorn goats son and everything had healed up nicely.  We never did find that little wimpy horn so still not sure how she lost it.  She's still a unicorn   Anyways, watch out in case it happens to you and have some vet wrap ready it sure comes in handy for lots of things and so many pretty colours LOL

I much prefer goats to have horns but if it has to be done it should be done properly

Sweetened wrote:Turns out, Sven wasn't dehorned very well.  He has, how to say, slices of horn coming through.  They are very thin, maybe 3mm thick, and they wiggle like a loose tooth.  I think they bug him because he rubs them against things as much as he can, like he's trying to break them off. 

Do I need to get him re-dehorned (FYI, I HATE the concept of dehorning, no offense to those who advocate it) or do I need to pinch/pull them back out for the rest of his life or leave them or...?

Any advice is appreciated.

Ta.

I don't know anything about dehorning but I do know that male goats rub their heads on everything they can, horns or no.  They have scent glands up there.

My new male goat ( 4 years ago) was de horned........or should I say they tried.
His horns grew and were small at the start. He mostly rubbed them off and things were fine. I noticed that that as he grew older the horns that grew back were thicker and so harder for him to rub off.
The 3 year I had him his horns were thick and curled back towards his head. I was going to take him into the vets to get it sorted, but he must have caught the tip in the fence and it was hanging sideways the next morning, with blood every where all over his white body.

He spent the day at the vets where I paid more money for them to find the blood vessels in both horns so that it would not happen again.
He came home looking a mess the vet had to cut through over an inch of flesh to get the horn off. His head has large holes where horns should be. It was fly season and was told to leave his head alone it would heal and heal it did. Mind his horns grew back.

I will see if I can find the pictures on my phone what I toke of my boy what a mess. I will now never buy any goat that has been de horned.

My Oberhasli is naturally polled, and I think she looks strange, for one LOL.  She's also hard to catch because there's nothing to reach out and grab, so if you have to maneuver her somewhere she's not interested in going (which is super easy besides), it's made exceptionally difficult because you can't hold onto anything but her neck.  

I will stay away from polled ones in the future, where I have the opportunity.  This one had what felt like horn buds when we bought him, but I think they my have been burn scars under the skin.  Live and learn. 

And Fowler, thanks for the info.  It must be coincidental that he started rubbing his head on things when they came out.

Sweetened wrote:
And Fowler, thanks for the info.  It must be coincidental that he started rubbing his head on things when they came out.

I don't know that either.  You could be right.  The horns might bother him.  I just know that I had a naturally polled fellow who practically sanded the whole inside of my barn with his head.  It's still all very smooth to this day.

Hope you sort out your goat horn issue. That problem is one of the reasons I choose not to de-horn. Of course there are more