Goats With Horns or Not
Reading Time: 5 minutes
To have goats with horns or not to have goats with horns?
That is the question:
Whether ’tis nobler for a goat to flourish
His crowning glory in outrageous fashion,
Or to take a disbudding iron against a sea of troubles
And by removing, end them….
What do we do about goats with horns? Keep the horns or remove them? Each option has problems, so the topic often elicits exceptionally strong opinions from goat breeders. However, each choice is valid and depends on your particular needs. If you wish to show, the choice may be made for you. Fiber goats are typically shown with horns, dairy goats are shown without, and rules for meat goats vary. If you want to show, do your research and plan accordingly.
If you don’t show, goats with horns, or without, are largely a personal preference. I raise dairy and pack goats, and my herd contains goats with horns and without. In my opinion, horns are beautiful and serve some practical purposes. On the other hand, many goat producers believe goats with horns are obnoxious at best and dangerous at worst.
Let’s look at some pros and cons of disbudding and horns so you can make the best choice for your herd.
Safety
The strongest reason to disbud goats is safety. Goats with horns are not necessarily more aggressive, but their aggression is more likely to cause injury. Dairy goats with large udders are especially vulnerable to being dangerously gouged by a horn.
Aggressive personalities must be treated with far more prejudice than in a hornless herd. Goats cannot effectively kick or bite, so hornless goats are more defenseless than most house pets. This makes them generally safe around everyone, including young children.
A goat’s head is face-level with children, and a careless horn (or careless child) could result in serious injury. If you plan to have horned goats around children, you must be extra vigilant about training both human and caprine kids. There’s no room for carelessness when horns are involved!
Facilities
Next, consider your setup. Stanchions, feeders, fences, and shelters aren’t usually built with horns in mind, and can be expensive to replace. Young goats often stick their heads through fence squares, but kids with spikes can’t pull them back. Eventually, the horns grow too large to fit through fences (a huge benefit to horns!), but this takes many months. Your barnyard must be safe for horns.
The size of your goat area is also important. Horned goats need more space. You need wider doorways, larger shelters and pens, and feeders with enough room for everyone to eat without clacking.
If you frequently keep your goats penned up, horns are probably not for you. Penned goats fight and look for things to destroy. Horns heighten a goat’s ability to injure others and damage property. On the other hand, if you have ample space, you’ll find that horned goats usually get along fine, and they don’t destroy the barnyard.
Consider Your Market
If you sell kids, then you must consider your buyers’ needs. Nearly all potential dairy goat buyers will want disbudded doelings. If you sell pack goats, most buyers will want horned wethers. If you sell to 4-H kids who will show, their goats must be disbudded. Cater to the market. A nice dairy doe shouldn’t end up on a slaughter truck simply because she has horns.
One of the downsides to disbudding is the procedure itself. Disbudding kids is almost universally considered one of the most unpleasant aspect of raising goats. None of us want to apply a hot iron to a kid’s head and hear it scream. Thankfully, it’s over quickly and rarely has complications. Most kids bounce back from it immediately.
Scurs
The most common problem is an incomplete disbudding where the goat develops scurs. These are deformed bits of horn with no bone inside, so they’re prone to being knocked off periodically. This can be painful and often causes profuse bleeding and occasionally infection. Scurs can be very sharp and dangerous and may need to be removed if they’re growing inward or otherwise causing problems. Most goats object strenuously to having scurs removed. Scurs are pretty common in males, particularly bucks. Bucks can develop large, wicked scurs, which can be more troublesome than full-fledged horns.
Defense
Another problem with disbudding is that horns are a goat’s only real defense. All goats are vulnerable, but horns give them a chance to repel a dog or other predator. Horned goats are more likely to stand their ground than hornless ones, and a predator is less bold if a goat presents its horns instead of running. This is an important consideration for goats used as pack animals, kept on large acreage, or used for brush clearing.
Cooling
Climate is another point to consider. Horns contain a large sinus cavity with many blood vessels that act as a thermostat. When a goat needs to cool off, it pumps blood to the horns to dissipate excess heat. Heavy-coated fiber goats are prone to heat stress, so their horns are rarely removed. Pack goats also typically have horns to help prevent overheating on the trail. In hot climates, goats of any breed can benefit from having horns to help regulate their body temperature and allow them to scratch flies away.
Handling Horned Goats
If you keep horned goats, make safety a priority. Use halters to control the head so you can control the horns. Never lead a goat by its horns. This is dangerous to you and disrespectful to the goat. A goat is more likely to become aggressive if you handle its horns. Wear eye protection when medicating a horned goat, and be especially careful of silly, spike-headed youngsters. Their horns are sharp! Always watch where your goat’s horns are, and train your goats to give people enough space. A goat should never accidentally brush you with a horn when he walks past.
Do What is Best for You and Your Herd
Whatever you decide about horns, do your research and make sure it’s what’s best for your situation. Despite some people’s strong opinions, it’s neither cruel to disbud nor cruel to leave horns intact. It’s also possible to keep both types in one herd. My horned and hornless critters coexist quite peacefully. Both types have legitimate places in goat management.
NAN HASSEY and her husband Phil live on 40 acres in Rye, Colorado, where they breed pack and dairy goats. They bought their first pack goat in 2002 and started their own breeding program in 2012. They love Alpine/Nubian crosses and have trained their wethers to pack and to pull carts and carriages in single and team hitches. www.Goatorama.com
Originally published in the Winter 2024 issue of Goat Journal.
