Portable dehorner for cattle

Anyone on here raise cattle and have a portable dehorner? I'm getting one, just not sure what one yet.
Here is one that I saw in a book, http://www.valleyvet.com/ct_detail.html?pgguid=710641b2-49a4-4076-bea1-2a0f27e425e8


Here is another I really like, http://www.animart.com/store/express-dehorner/

Hope those links work! If not, just copy and paste them in your address bar. Anyone use either one? I'm looking for some feed back.
Thanks!

yup, mine are portable to. Dont even need to recharge them, just need to recharge the operator with a coffee once in a while.

Jeez, you must have a death wish dehorning animals large enough to need one of those.

Catch 'em when they weigh around 100lbs and burn the bud before it becomes a full-fledged horn. It's a whole lot easier, though it does smell like burning hair for a while afterward.

The worst is when we usually do it, too large to cauterize, too small to just chop off. You have to core them out, then they bleed like stuck pigs. Then you get to fish through the pool of blood with a needle nose pliers looking for the vein to rip out.

(quoted from post at 20:59:19 02/19/13) yup, mine are portable to. Dont even need to recharge them, just need to recharge the operator with a coffee once in a while.

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Yep, those would work, but not in my case. I raise calves for a local farmer, and I dehorn them around 4 weeks old. I tried the dehorning paste, and didn't like it.

On the rare occasions, that I need to dehorn, I have borrowed a set of hand loppers from my friends dairy. I mostly have polled angus and herfords, but did get carried away and bought 8 head at the auction last month, and one hiefer had little spike horns, which she used to muscle her peers away from the feed. She didn't care for the squeeze chute, or the dehorning, but has a completely different attitude now!

These are used on mature animals such as cows and bulls. There are smaller tools to use on younger animals.

donald

This is what I have used in the past, it works good on wet calves, once the horn is showing its too late for this instrument.

Nate
Horn Stop

(quoted from post at 22:16:43 02/19/13) This is what I have used in the past, it works good on wet calves, once the horn is showing its too late for this instrument.

Nate
Horn Stop

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I see you can do 15 calves on a charge.How long does it take for the battery to recharge?
I'm going to be doing 600-700 calves a year

Curious as to why you didn't like the paste? I used it on over 30 Holstein calves with 100% success. Quick and easy in my opinion.

(quoted from post at 22:44:26 02/19/13) Curious as to why you didn't like the paste? I used it on over 30 Holstein calves with 100% success. Quick and easy in my opinion.

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I just didn't have the best of luck with it, some rubbed some of it off, and later the horn grew. The ones that didn't rub it off, it worked great.

From the manufacture:

1. Normal: Remove Hornstop and mains power charger from package, plug charger into wall socket, and push the small plug into the Hornstop socket, midway along the housing. Note: the initial charge duration is 24 hours, and subsequent recharging requires approximately 30 minutes per dehorned calf. However, except when in use, the Hornstop should remain attached to the charger. Fully charged, the Hornstop can dehorn at least 15 calves before recharging is necessary (while in operation a fading of the LED light indicates a low charge status), provided that after multiple applications the battery is allowed sufficient recovery time (i.e minimum 5 minutes after 10 calves).

2. Rapid: As a limited alternative, for those who need to dehorn more than 15 calves in the same day, the Hornstop can be recharged via the supplied cigarette lighter adaptor (12 V/earth negative). Recharging in this manner requires approximately 6 minutes per dehorned calf. Note: To protect the long life of the Ni-Cad battery pack, not only should the initial charging never be performed in this way, but even temporary rapid recharging should be kept to a minimum (the adaptor and Hornstop will heat up). Neither should the Hornstop ever remain connected to this adaptor for longer than 30 minutes at any time (before reconnecting always wait until the cigarette lighter adaptor has cooled down completely.)

I was using this on an 80 cow dairy so it wasn't an issue with recharge time, we left it plugged in to 110v all the time.

Nate

I have used one like this to do hundreds of holstein calves. They say once the horn breaks the skin it is too late to use it but I have done a few like this with success.
I usually try to get it done early because it is easier to hold them down and really like it because it is a no blood operation.

Any one ever hear of, see or use a dehorner that uses some
sort of bands, SIMILAR TO BUT NOT the castrating tool? Our
butcher tried to say he's used something of that nature, but I
was told second hand, and couldn't find any such.

It is NOT simular to a castrating tool.
It IS a castrating tool.
Its more of a goat thing when it comes to horns but you could use it on a cow.

One I have heard used was the XL bander. You need something with big strong bands. You might even have to file a grove in the horn to keep the band in place because the cow will try to rub it off.

If you are going to try it you better give a tetanus toxoid shot first and have something to kill flys. Some kind of anti inflammatory shot might also be used.

While I will use bands to castrate I would never use one on a horn. Its more of a homesteader taking care of Betty the bottle calf type of thing. It works but the jury is still out on if it works well.

You can get a good hot iron like I pictured below for about $60. Within seconds the calf feels nothing and it works well. Then on the other hand banding is used on cows with horns already and I guess it is better the gouging.
XL Bander

When I was younger, my G-dad was a vet and had a set of the guillotine dehorners like Steve's below. Since I've been farming, I've only had to dehorn about a dozen critters. I liberated a set of cable cutters from the phone company and forgot to return them. They were made to cut a 3" cable, and work fine on horns. Latest one was 'Fiona', the dawters Scottish Highland heifer. She was chasing the other cows out of the feeders. Taking half of her horns off has made a BIG difference in her attitude...

I have an Express dehorner similar to the one you are looking at except mines straight not a pistol grip style and I really like it no cords to trip over or fumble with

I raise baby bull holsteins and we burn them with the burner shown on a previous thread. Everytime we run 100 through, I end up sick the next week. I even stay out of the fumes, I must be allergic to the smell or something. We have a new batch coming through this weekend. I guess I will be sick next week..

Oh, I see. I always tie them up on a short halter rope for about 1/2 hour after applying it so they can't rub their heads on anything. I can see where it wouldn't work very well if they had a chance to rub it off.

(quoted from post at 03:56:33 02/20/13) I have an Express dehorner similar to the one you are looking at except mines straight not a pistol grip style and I really like it no cords to trip over or fumble with

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You cut the hair off around the horn? Some say you have to, but I would think it would just burn through it?

I haven't done cattle but I've done lots of goats. You don't need to trim the hair. Feel for the bud with your fingers and put the iron on it for a second. The hair will be burnt off and you can see exactly where it goes. Apply the iron with a twisting, circular rocking motion until you get an even, bronze colored ring around the bud. The cap of the bud will often pop off as you do it. It takes a lot longer to write about it than to do it, maybe 8-10 seconds. If you don't get a good bronze ring around the bud you'll get horns scurs, little misshapen horns.

My iron gets heated by a torch, is copper and I get it hot enough to glow red before even trying.