I did it....

I feel like a criminal right now.

I dehorned my calf today.

A dear friend lent me her dehorning supplies, but I didn't want the supplies unless she was included in the deal!! ;) I know how to dehorn animals with the 'dehorning iron' and that's not so bad; it stinks of burnt hair and the animals scream, but once it's done, it's done. This time, I was using dehorning paste, which I have never done, so I wheedled and pleaded with my friend to come and help me do this.

For those who are not familiar with using paste to dehorn an animal, the paste is extremely caustic and slowly burns away the horn, but you have to put it on before the horns emerge, so the paste burns through skin and then the horn. Ouch.

So with fear and trembling, my friend and I tied dear Poppy up and went to work.

Alas, since this was my first time, I was too slow! Poppy began to feel the burn before I had finished the second horn bud, so our dehorning erupted into a rodeo! I don't even remember most of what happened, all I remember is my friend trying to keep her still while I put the paste on bare handed (gloves got paste on 'em) and then my turn holding Poppy still while she (friend, that is) began frantically wrapping duct tape around Poppy's head, so that none of the paste would rub off.

We put Poppy into a small stall, where she wouldn't hurt herself, and watched as she thrashed and flailed in pain, trying to get the burn to stop. Thankfully, after maybe ten minutes she calmed down and dozed off....

Whew! Did I mention that I prefer the iron over the paste!? ;) Of course, it wasn't until after we were done that I had the lightbulb idea of "We should have put her in the milking stanchion!" Why didn't I think of that before? So, lesson learned: if you have a goat stanchion, use it!!

This is my poor girlie with her duct tape "helmet" on. Very stylish, don't you think? ;)

I haven't checked to see if the paste worked yet. I sure hope so, or else we'll have to do everything all over again...

~Caitlyn