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[EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>]

Marie McHarry wrote:
> The main drawback I see about horns is that, if you have cattle 
> panels, goats will stick their heads in and then panic totally so
> they can't get out. Of course, you hear the screaming at inopportune
> times. Both ways have advantages. I'm now down to 4 does, and they
> are fairly smart about cattle panels. All are mostly Saanen with
> fairly gracile horns.

One other disadvantage that a horned milker presents is that when you do
get a great milker with a nice udder, you risk losing her udder to
someone else's head butt. I guess if you have a lot of goats, it
wouldn't matter to lose one, but I know I could not afford a vet bill if
I saw an udder half ripped off.  I'd have to put her down.  This has
never happened to me, but it has happened to two people that I know.  It
is not a pretty picture.  Both incidents happened during herd
transition, one when a new goat was introduced and they all were
determining pecking order, and the second incidence was when the queen
was sold and again, the pecking order butting took place.   Under normal
conditions, goats generally don't get too rough with each other.

I should say that goats born here were disbudded, but I bought three
that were horned early on.  They were Alpine types, part Nubian too, and
I just did not care for the horns.  One I kept up for about a year, one
went into the freezer, and the other one was sold at the sale barn.
Aesthetically, to me, they just look too masculine for a girl.<g> On
another occasion, I bought twins does that had been improperly
disbudded, and they had to be dehorned.  I had a purchased buck dehorned
as well, because his scur would get hung up on stuff and he would rip it
off and bleed profusely.  Of course, it would grow back and the same
thing would happen.  So, I've had it all three ways....
I'm no authority though, I just had goats for about 6 or 7 years, so I
will defer to Marie and James...

--
"The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public
debt  should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered
and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed
lest Rome become bankrupt.  People must again learn to work, instead of
living on public assistance."

--Cicero, 55 BC
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