Hornex - first time advice

[tim z]

hi,used hornex dehoner for the first time today on our newest dexter a day old heiffer ,i followed the instructions fully ,but the area where i put the paste seems very weepy.i did put a barrier cream around the area.how long should i leave it before putting on an anti -sceptic spray as there are a lot of flies about .
thanks tim z ???

[Rutherford]

Sorry Tim, I can’t answer this one, but since nobody else has, I thought I had better say in this country we usually use a hot iron and not paste to disbud calves. In America where it is commonly used, I understand they usually bandage the calf for the first 48 hours. Is there an overseas breeder who can give a more comprehensive answer? Or a goat-keeper?
Beryl (Woodmagic)

[Louise Badcock]

I used paste for the last 2 years and it has worked well. no signs of weepiness. are you sure it is not the melting vaseline.
Louise

[tim z]

the horn bud area looked much better today,as suggested could have been the vaseline .i did spray with purple antisceptic spray this morning anyway.flies are everywhere ,how old should cattle be before you can use fly repelents?

[Steve]

Hi Tim
We used Hornex paste successfully for several years, but found in hot weather it was difficult to control where the paste ended up resulting in calf ear with a chunk missing from it where the caustic paste had burnt it! Poor thing. We now use a dis-budding iron which is powered by lighter fuel, which does a very good job. (Tuition is required in administering the anaesthetic & use of the iron) We apply fly control (ie Spot-on) immediately after de-horning just on top of the head, & antiseptic spray or wound powder to the actual wound too. Hope this is of use - Steve

[Steve]

Hi again Steve
We have put small amounts of fly repellant on the top of a calf head at 2 days old before now 'cos the poor thing was being so badly plagued with head flies - Steve