Horns of Shame

Herman, sporting the Horns of Shame.  I'm tempted to
hang some little dingle berries or ornaments from the ends.

Penny, showcasing the newest in Horns of Shame fashion.

When researching the horned vs. hornless aspect of goat ownership, I had originally decided on a hornless goat herd.  Our first two goats, Nettie and Chop Suey, were disbudded when we got them.  All subsequent kids born on this farm were disbudded by Paul and I.  After eating a few of the male offspring, I decided that I really, really liked the taste of goat meat so I figured that our next step would be to add some Boers to the mix.  But I've never seen a hornless Boer, so really the only way to get a hornless Boer goat was to buy a very young bottle baby and disbud it.  Enter Pickles.

She was a two day old Boer doeling who was pulled from her mother because she suddenly became ill and wasn't producing milk.  We brought Pickles home and disbudded her and she became the start of our meat goat herd.  But in order for us to get any meat (other than butchering Pickles herself, which I honestly now contemplate at least on a weekly basis) we had to have her bred to another Boer.

Thus I acquired an additional two Boer goats, Herman and Lily.  Who both have horns.  Which I said I would never do, but I just could not find anyone with Boer kids young enough to disbud.  My plan was to have both Pickles and Lily bred to Herman, keep the offspring (and disbud them) and then sell Lily and Herman.  But Lily's doeling is really turning out to be a little chunky-monkey and I think it may be worth it to keep Lily around, even with the horn issue.  Which isn't actually that bad with her as the way her horns are growing down and back, there's less likely of a chance for a horn accident like there was with Penny and Nettie.

Penny was acquired in hopes of doing the same thing; keep her just until she kidded, disbud the kid(s) and then sell her.  But before that happened, we had the "horn incident".  It totally ruined Nettie's udder and almost cost her her life.  Penny has pointy horns and ones that kind'a curve up at the end instead of downwards like Lily's.  Thus she's been fitted with the horns of shame - something I should have done when we first got her.  The hose doesn't stay on all of the time so I'm finding it in the goat yard and having to put it back on, but at least it's some sort of protection.

Herman's horns, on the other hand, are not posing a real threat to anyone except himself as he's penned up separate from the rest of the herd.  Why are his horns a threat to him?  Well, because I want to bash his stupid noggin in because I have to go out and get his head unstuck from the fence about fifteen hundred times a day.  Like, really Herman?  You haven't figured this out yet?  I'll push his head out and five minutes later he's hollering again because he's stuck.  Often I just leave him there for a while if he's not in a compromising position.  Maybe because I'm secretly hoping that a coyote will come chew his head off and then we can eat the bastard.  And it's not like there's anything on the other side of the fence.  He doesn't even get it stuck through the fence with the does, it's the other sides.  Where there is not a single stinking blade of grass or green thing to eat.  I swear to gawd he does it just to piss me off.

So finally yesterday I talked Paul into going into his pen and helping me duct tape a length of PVC pipe to his horns in order to prevent him from sticking his fat noggin through it.  Which he ended up doing somehow anyways as he was bawling about an hour and a half later.  Which made it even MORE difficult to release him.  But after getting my fingers smashed between horn & fence and lots and lots of swearing, I got his head out.  It's now been a full 24 hours since I've had to extricate him.  But now there's the constant click-clack-click-clack-click-clack of the PVC pipe hitting the fence as he runs the perimeter.

Which still beats having to go out there to free him a dozen times a day.

And is still infinitely less annoying than Pickles screaming.