Show discount for horns

I have a 3/4 maine solid black heifer calf I bought her halter broke but didn't know at the time that she had horns and was dehorned. She is also lacking depth but she has some nice length, I was wondering if they would dock her for the horns because I also want to show a steer that had scurrs and was dehorned (tipped off) and I'm not going to break him if hes going to be docked too.

If u mean will the judge penalize the animal for being genetically horned, the answer is no...that should have nothing to do with what's being judged. It could affect the eye appeal of the animal...it just makes their head square and kinda ugly. You can certainly have the animal dehorned without a lot of trouble or expense. From a production standpoint, I would have that done anyway if they aren't already dehorned.

Horned cattle need to be dehorned for the show ring. If they are scurred and not going to get any bigger I wouldnt worry so much. Some judges will make a big deal about it and some will not. If your steer still has the horns he needs to be dehorned. Most guys do it surgically now. It looks nicer when it is said and done. I know our vet is under $50 to get one done. Not really a big deal. As for the depth I would be feeding beet pulp to start with and see how dar that gets you before adding other products like depth charge.

Well I'm glad that horns are not a big deal and yes they are both tipped off so no horns on them. The scurred steer looks big and square headed like you described but on the heifer it wasnt noticeable until I was leading her I saw the stumps of horns or scurrs. I do hope that they were horns not scurrs because if they are scurrs every male calf she ever has will be scurred too but if she's horned she will pass on the reccessive horn gene and horns will not appear because the polled gene will dominate. I've heard of people removing the horns/scurrs surgically but never done it myself. I googled depth charge and it says it helps keep a full appearane for the animal (depth) but it also says its a limiting type of feed so is it just for heifers? Also where would you get beet pulp?

Beet pulp can be found at about every elevator or feed store. I know even farm and fleet and tsc has it. I have only fed depth charge towards the end of last year to a heifer. The other guys here might have better ideas on the depth charge. It seemed to help us quite a bit.

On the horn deal...if she still has horn growth even after being dehorned, somebody didn't do amvwry good job of dehorning. I would have a vet finish the job and do it right. You'll be surprised how much better she'll look, not just in the show ring, but for the rest of her life! Depending on the size of the steer's scurs, you can have them taken off, too. Not a huge deal, and the sooner the better.

leanbeef said:

On the horn deal...if she still has horn growth even after being dehorned, somebody didn't do amvwry good job of dehorning. I would have a vet finish the job and do it right. You'll be surprised how much better she'll look, not just in the show ring, but for the rest of her life! Depending on the size of the steer's scurs, you can have them taken off, too. Not a huge deal, and the sooner the better.

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She does NOT have any horn growth left, I just noticed when I was leading her, her hair covers it and it isnt all that noticeable. The steer too has been tipped off as I stated before I was just wanting to know if once having horns will discount me but I'm glad to hear that it wont. But depth charge and beet pulp sound like an exellent idea. I honestly dont expect to do any better than last as far as steers because these steers are out of comm. cows and pb angus bulls meant for commercial so they are just practice for me because I'm just starting to get into showing. The heifer however should place well because most people in my area have never heard of anything but angus so they show angus or crossbred and I'm showing her as a Maine and she'll have virtually no competition.