De horning paste

[valtraman]

ive bought some calves in to rear, they are 4 week old. They have little horn stumps I can feel. Can u use the paste on them ? Never used it before , work with Angus so no horns

 

[Matt77]

We buy in stores, buy some from an old chap regularly, he uses paste, I’d say 50/50 success rate! But I will ad to that that I think the mums lick it off, it must work as some are fine, I’ve a few calving cows too, personally I don’t think you can beat a good old iron, do them young, takes no time at all and I normally do in the pen while just holding them.

 

[had e nuff]

ive bought some calves in to rear, they are 4 week old. They have little horn stumps I can feel. Can u use the paste on them ? Never used it before , work with Angus so no horns

Only recommended to be used up to 7 days old. We tried it once and I couldn't get away with it.

 

[Sharpy]

You will almost certainly get a halfway job. We have gone back to the dehorning iron after a few failures and the resulting halfsized easily damaged horns. And by the time you realise its a failure its an apple cruncher job.....

 

[Farmer Palmer]

I used to use Hornex before I changed to Angus bull 15 years ago, great stuff had nearly 100% success out of 70 calves a year. We had a good system when we used to let the cow out of the calving box for silage in the morning giving us an hour to tag and put paste on. Has to be done within the first couple of weeks def. and keep the cow away for an hour or 2 she will lick it off for sure!

 

[roscoe erf]

I used to use Hornex before I changed to Angus bull 15 years ago, great stuff had nearly 100% success out of 70 calves a year. We had a good system when we used to let the cow out of the calving box for silage in the morning giving us an hour to tag and put paste on. Has to be done within the first couple of weeks def. and keep the cow away for an hour or 2 she will lick it off for sure!

do the same here so much easier

 

[valtraman]

Okay might not bother with the paste as they are 4 weeks .

 

[M-J-G]

Go in at 24 hours, tag and jag with local takes 2 min, go back to the start and beguin de-budding, takes a further couple of minutes.

Paste takes a couple of minutes, then keeping the cows away and returning them to the calves takes a couple of minutes.

There's little differnce in time taken, but the iron is more reliable.
I see no advantage to paste.

 

[valtraman]

I don’t have an Iron, wasn’t sure how old u could do calves , they don’t have mothers to lick it off

 

[Sharpy]

Go in at 24 hours, tag and jag with local takes 2 min, go back to the start and beguin de-budding, takes a further couple of minutes.

Paste takes a couple of minutes, then keeping the cows away and returning them to the calves takes a couple of minutes.

There's little differnce in time taken, but the iron is more reliable.
I see no advantage to paste.

The advantage to paste is you only catch the calf once and no faffing about waiting for the iron to warm up for one calf. Which are the reasons we gave it a try. But yes the iron is superior.

 

[Matt77]

I don’t have an Iron, wasn’t sure how old u could do calves , they don’t have mothers to lick it off

Is there an iron you could borrow, they are cheap as if you get the one that goes on a bottle but for 4 it’s not worth you buying, maybe a contractor if such exist???

 

[Matt77]

Is there an iron you could borrow, they are cheap as if you get the one that goes on a bottle but for 4 it’s not worth you buying, maybe a contractor if such exist???

Sorry misread, 4 weeks old not 4!!
Look up an iron that goes on gas bottle, very cheap

 

[valtraman]

Is there an iron you could borrow, they are cheap as if you get the one that goes on a bottle but for 4 it’s not worth you buying, maybe a contractor if such exist???

Yeah my neighbour will have one