Hi
Most cattlemen raising horned breeds choose to dehorn their stock, since horns in the herd can be a nuisance and a hazard. The younger the better; dehorning a small calf is not as hard on the animal as waiting until the horns are well grown, with a large blood supply. But sometimes the stockman has no choice, as when purchasing yearlings or older animals that still have their horns. Care must be taken to avoid serious blood loss when large horns are removed. But an animal can be dehorned at any stage of its life if removal is done properly.
Dehorning young calves is easiest, for the horn buds are small. Some stockmen dehorn at birth, using a caustic paste that kills the horn buds, applying it when the calf is a few hours or just a day or two old. This usually works if the paste is applied properly. Some cows will lick it off their calves, however, and cow and calf may have to be separated temporarily to avoid having the cow lick off the paste before it has done its work. Also care must be taken to protect the calf from wet weather that might cause the paste to run down the face.
A lot of calves are routinely dehorned during the first few months of age, at the time of their spring vaccinations. At that age, the horn buds can be scooped out with a special tool, or seared with a hot iron to kill the horn producing cells. Electric dehorners are often used for this, for they create a high, even heat. If using an electric dehorner, choose one of proper size for the calves. A dehorner too small may not be adequate for larger horns and won't kill all the horn cells resulting in horns on some of the calves, or deformed horn stubs. A dehorner too large is difficult to use on small horn buttons, and you either do a poor job of dehorning or end up burning a lot more tissue than necessary, making the calf's head sore longer and slow to heal.
When using any electric dehorner, make sure it is working properly and heating fully and consistently. If it fails to get back up to full heat between calves, or has some other problem, you may end up with some horns or horn stubs. Horn cells that are damaged but not killed can produce unsightly, abnormal horns (short, heavy, thick stubs, or horns that grow crookedly and perhaps curve around into the animal's head as they grow). Make sure you apply enough heat long enough to completely kill the horn bud. The outer shell should come off, and heat should be applied again to the underneath tissue and its surroundings.
Dehorning calves with a hot iron (such as an electric dehorner) is bloodless and you have no risk of excessive bleeding. But the burned area will be sore and painful for a few days. You can minimize the extent of the burn, however, if you clip the area first. We use electric clippers to get rid of extra hair around the horn buttons. Then there is less burning hair and damaged tissue around the horns, which is often what hurts the calf the most and takes so long to heal. Any time there is burning hair, the area becomes much hotter, with a deeper and more painful burn over a larger area.
On large calves or weanlings, the horns are usually too big to kill by burning and searing, and some type of horn clipper or nipper is generally used to cut off the horn at a fairly deep level (to get the horn growing tissue at the base, so the horns won't regrow). If the horns are good size, the arteries supplying them with blood are also fairly large, and there may be quite a bit of bleeding. Some stockmen use blood stopping medications to help coagulate the blood and get it to clot and slow; others use tweezers to "pull" the bleeding vessels and clamp and crush them. A torn or crushed vessel always stops bleeding quicker than a clean cut one; the edges draw together better and blood clotting is swifter.
Regards
Ashwini
