1. Summer Dehorning Project
Bethany Marcks
2015 Outagamie County
Dairy/Livestock Summer Intern

2. Farm Visits Visited 46 farms Performed dehorning at 22 farms
Trained a total of 50 people
Dehorned a total of 179 calves

4. Caustic Paste Dr. Naylor’s or Dr. Larson’s Dehorning Paste Steps:
Clip hair
Apply paste
Cover, if desired

5. Hot Iron Dehorning Butane Dehorner or Electric Dehorner
Pain Management:
Lidocaine
Meloxicam
Steps:
Give pain meds
Clip hair
Hot iron dehorn

6. Polled Genetics Polled Bulls
Homozygous: calves 100% polled
Heterozygous: calves 50% polled
List of Polled Placings was given to 39 farmers.
Some farmers were already using polled genetics prior to visit

7. Survey Surveys were sent to 46 farms Feedback on dehorning visit
Understanding of concepts before and after the visit
Use of pain management before and after the visit
Methods of dehorning before and after the visit
Use of polled genetics before and after the visit
Received 14 surveys back
12 had dehorning performed on the farm

8. Results of Survey Before Visit After Visit 1.88 3.5 2.11 3.86 2.25
Very High (4)
High (3)
Low (2)
Very Low (1)
My understanding of the:
1.88
Benefits of pain medication on minimizing stress responses when dehorning or disbudding calves
3.5
2.11
Importance of disbudding calves before 3 days of age
3.86
2.25
Availability of polled dairy genetics
3.13

9. Changes made Of the 14 farms
3 farms went from burning to paste
3 farms increased paste use
3 farms continued burning but burned at an earlier age
5 farms did not change methods
2 farms already using paste
Two farms increased use in lidocaine and meloxicam
One farm increased use in polled genetics

10. Comments from Farmers Calves don’t fight as much when given lidocaine
The paste is a lot easier than I thought
Burn the horns when they are smaller
Polled bulls don’t have high enough type numbers

11. Recommendations Dehorn calves at an earlier age
Work with your veterinarian on a dehorning protocol
Use pain management on older calves
Introduce polled genetics to the herd

12. Questions?