[sweetgoatmama]

I love the look of horned goats, but they can be dangerous for beginners. Alice uses her horned goats, so we mix the two often. She doesn't have any hesitation to use the horns as a restraint.

I've read that this is a no-no but the goats we've had and worked with since birth, don't get at all aggressive about being handle them, so I think, like many things it's a matter of early training to put up with the handling. So many things we thought at first were absolute no-no's turned out to be not so and I suspect this is another of those.

My goats are dehorned but my hired hand's goats were all horned when she was here, and ALice's all are, so we have plenty of them around.

 

[sweetgoatmama]

The horn blood supply theory doesn't seem to have held up in practice. People who are using both don't see much if any difference in horned vs' dehorned. And if you are about to become dinner, you are going to run making horns less useful than one would expect since they are on the wrong end of the goat at that point.

They do offer some protection but so does a dog.

Everyone has their preferences but it seems to be one of those things where everyone has an opinion too. And what was believed at first, doesn't seem to have held up in practice. So we can all go on believing in our pet theories but I suspect that's all they are. And I don't plan to turn a vicious dog loose in my herd to test it. :? That's what my Pyrenees is for, and she does a great job.

Some people I sold a goat to lost that goat and another one, their neighbors lost 5 goats that their pyr couldn't get into the barn with the rest of the herd, which she saved, and their neighbors lost some sheep. All in one night a couple of days ago. Neighborhood dogs packed up and went on a kiling spree. The ones with the pyr managed to save most of their herd, since the pyr got them into the barn mostly and then defended them till Bill got out there.

I had a drunk try to cross my pasture the other night and the pyr went ballistic. If you've ever heard them they scream like a wildcat when the S*** hits the fan. You KNOW you better run or someone is going to die, and it's not going to be the dog. They seldom do it but it makes the hair stand up.

I grabbed the phone and the .38, didn't know if I'd be shooting the guy or rescueing him, either way the dog was handling it and he turned tail and left. The cops came and got him a little later. Turns out he'd wrecked his car and was trying to find a phone.

 

[sweetgoatmama]

Horseback riding is considered one of the most dangerous sports there is, right up there with black diamond skiing. Despite the fact that I have worked in the horse industry for 30+ years, I still have a huge respect for something that large with a brain the size of a mouse.

I have had more than one friend die or be permanently injured from horses. And none of them were doing anything that could have been considered risky in the context of horse handling in general. Goats are way more user-friendly, horns or not.

Here I get about the same percentage of requests for horned or dehorned kids as the poll is showing. I think you pick what you will feel comfortable with and if horns aren't it, there are other ways to protect your stock.

Personally, I love the way they look, but after having been bashed by Alice's horned goats a few times I just don't want to put up with it.

 

[sweetgoatmama]

In defense of Alice's goats, they are not very well socialized and kind of brats. They know they are horned and they have no compunction against using them to push people around. She knows how I feel so she'll have to defend herself. I have been knocked down and fairly seriously hurt by three of her goats, or was it two and he got two cracks at me? :evil: Can't remember, she has gotten a lot tougher with them since these incidents.
I, on the other hand, have gotten a shock collar. :twisted:

 

[sweetgoatmama]

THis is the first year I have had no call for horned goats, not one. When you sell 30-40 goats a year that usually translates into about 1/3 horned at least, but not this time. Fortunately I have disbudded everyone so far.
My hiking partner has all horned so we go with about half and half. Everyone does fine together.