muleman
Well-known member
Which brand of electric dehorner is the best and what is the best size for calves? Thanks
Best electric dehorner
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beefy
Well-known member
we tried one last year not sure what brand it was. from my experience i didn't use it this year when we worked calves. for ours some horns were to big and just burned the middle of the horn bud. some were too small and it burned way to big an area. had some aweful unique horns on calves come round up last fall :-\ my suggestion would be get a model for all horn sizes. ill just go back to the trusty old horn tubes. <cowboy>
Shady Lane
Well-known member
For the life of me I can't think of the brand name of my Dehorner, I got a cordless electric model last year and used it on my calves for the first time this spring.
It's black and plastic and comes with a 110V charger, I used the same model years ago when I worked for an outfit back east.
It's designed to be used on small calves, the directions say to use from 7-15 days old which works for me, It's easy to catch a small calf that age and just quickly dehorn them. Although I did use it on some much larger calves that came at the side of recip cows and it appears it has worked just fine. The iron is cold until you press it down and hold it over the horn bud, after a few seconds it will start to smoke and will beep when it is gotten hot enough and you are done, I often scrape the cap off with a pocket knief and they reapply for good measure. I believe it's supposed to do 30 horn buds on a charge (so 15 calves)
Mine looks similar to this one except it's black, I think it's called "Buddex"
http://www.valleyvet.com/ct_detail.html?pgguid=2e87c05b-7b6a-11d5-a192-00b0d0204ae5
I've also used the 110V models and always had a couple different sizes at home.
One of the easiest dehorners for small calves is to just take a short piece of 3/4" pipe (or whatever size your horns are) and weld it to a rod with a T handle welded to the end, stick it in your branding pot witha Tiger torch blowing on it for a few minutes and voila, instant dehorner.
For the very few horned calves that I have a year though the cordless electric way is Slick.
It's black and plastic and comes with a 110V charger, I used the same model years ago when I worked for an outfit back east.
It's designed to be used on small calves, the directions say to use from 7-15 days old which works for me, It's easy to catch a small calf that age and just quickly dehorn them. Although I did use it on some much larger calves that came at the side of recip cows and it appears it has worked just fine. The iron is cold until you press it down and hold it over the horn bud, after a few seconds it will start to smoke and will beep when it is gotten hot enough and you are done, I often scrape the cap off with a pocket knief and they reapply for good measure. I believe it's supposed to do 30 horn buds on a charge (so 15 calves)
Mine looks similar to this one except it's black, I think it's called "Buddex"
http://www.valleyvet.com/ct_detail.html?pgguid=2e87c05b-7b6a-11d5-a192-00b0d0204ae5
I've also used the 110V models and always had a couple different sizes at home.
One of the easiest dehorners for small calves is to just take a short piece of 3/4" pipe (or whatever size your horns are) and weld it to a rod with a T handle welded to the end, stick it in your branding pot witha Tiger torch blowing on it for a few minutes and voila, instant dehorner.
For the very few horned calves that I have a year though the cordless electric way is Slick.
We use the doubled sided Stone model found here:
http://www.stonemfg.net/stone.htm
In addition to having two sizes to work with, the brass end piece is heavy enough to store a lot of heat. The disadvantage is that it can be bulky for small calves and you can easily burn their ears if you are not careful with holding the head. Overall I feel this model works well if used properly.
I agree Shady Lane that getting them early will yield better results. If you wait 3 months or so as we often do they will be left with a sizable scar that you wouldn't want for show cattle.
http://www.stonemfg.net/stone.htm
In addition to having two sizes to work with, the brass end piece is heavy enough to store a lot of heat. The disadvantage is that it can be bulky for small calves and you can easily burn their ears if you are not careful with holding the head. Overall I feel this model works well if used properly.
I agree Shady Lane that getting them early will yield better results. If you wait 3 months or so as we often do they will be left with a sizable scar that you wouldn't want for show cattle.
Shady Lane
Well-known member
Hmmm, I've never seen that dehorner in use before, does it work pretty good?
Definitely the feature of having 2 different size options would be great, only thing I wondered is it looks like it would be diffifult to put a lot of downward pressure on the horn bud with one of those because it is Horizontal and not vertical?
Is that true?
another reason I like to dehorn them as young as possible, and call me crazy if you want because this is strictly an anecdotal observation but it seems to me if you dehorn them when they are very small andbefore the horn bud has had much chnace to grow at all that they seem to have nicer looking heads? It seems if you stop them early you get fewer calves with big ugly, square horned heads?
Anybody else notice that?
Definitely the feature of having 2 different size options would be great, only thing I wondered is it looks like it would be diffifult to put a lot of downward pressure on the horn bud with one of those because it is Horizontal and not vertical?
Is that true?
another reason I like to dehorn them as young as possible, and call me crazy if you want because this is strictly an anecdotal observation but it seems to me if you dehorn them when they are very small andbefore the horn bud has had much chnace to grow at all that they seem to have nicer looking heads? It seems if you stop them early you get fewer calves with big ugly, square horned heads?
Anybody else notice that?
Shady Lane said:
Having not used any other type it's somewhat hard for me to compare. I would certainly guess it to be easier to keep pressure if you were pushing directly down as you point out. However, I feel you can keep adequate pressure with this configuration and having your hand out of the way provides better visibility. My only real compliant is the bulky size of the end piece, which makes easy to burn the top of their ears if the head isn't held correctly.
We do a considerable amount of dehorning each year and this is the dehorner we have: http://www.valleyvet.com/ct_detail.html?pgguid=8dbadefe-2bf0-45b1-a722-1166a5cef4d5
It will only work on calves to about 4 months and it seems to do a good job for us. We learned after the first year to leave it on longer than you think otherwise you get horn regrowth as they get older. What I don't like about this iron is that it is not super strong. I have had it bend when it is really hot and you get a calf fighting alot.
The best advice I can offer on dehorning is to dehorn early and make sure you leave it on long enough. Also, consider dehorning paste at birth. It isn't a perfect science but it does work great most of the time if your situation allows it.
I am kind of liking the stone dehorner, may have to put it on my xmas list!!!!
It will only work on calves to about 4 months and it seems to do a good job for us. We learned after the first year to leave it on longer than you think otherwise you get horn regrowth as they get older. What I don't like about this iron is that it is not super strong. I have had it bend when it is really hot and you get a calf fighting alot.
The best advice I can offer on dehorning is to dehorn early and make sure you leave it on long enough. Also, consider dehorning paste at birth. It isn't a perfect science but it does work great most of the time if your situation allows it.
I am kind of liking the stone dehorner, may have to put it on my xmas list!!!!
