Bethany Marcks
2015 Outagamie County
Dairy/Livestock Summer Intern
 Visited
46 farms
 Performed dehorning at 22 farms
 Trained a total of 50 people
 Dehorned a total of 179 calves
 Dr.
Naylor’s or Dr. Larson’s Dehorning Paste
 Steps:



Clip hair
Apply paste
Cover, if desired
 Butane
Dehorner or Electric Dehorner
 Pain Management:


Lidocaine
Meloxicam
 Steps:



Give pain meds
Clip hair
Hot iron dehorn
 Polled


Bulls
Homozygous: calves 100% polled
Heterozygous: calves 50% polled
 List
of Polled Placings was given to 39
farmers.
 Some farmers were already using polled
genetics prior to visit
 Surveys
were sent to 46 farms
 Feedback on dehorning visit




Understanding of concepts before and after the visit
Use of pain management before and after the visit
Methods of dehorning before and after the visit
Use of polled genetics before and after the visit
 Received

14 surveys back
12 had dehorning performed on the farm
Before Visit
Very
High
(4)
High
(3)
Low
(2)
After Visit
Very
Low
(1)
My understanding of
the:
Very
High
(4)
High
(3)
1.88
Benefits of pain
medication on
minimizing stress
responses when
dehorning or
disbudding calves
3.5
2.11
Importance of
disbudding calves
before 3 days of age
3.86
2.25
Availability of
polled dairy
genetics
3.13
Low
(2)
Very
Low
(1)
 Of




the 14 farms
3 farms went from burning to paste
3 farms increased paste use
3 farms continued burning but burned at an
earlier age
5 farms did not change methods

2 farms already using paste
 Two
farms increased use in lidocaine and
meloxicam
 One farm increased use in polled genetics
 Calves
don’t fight as much when given
lidocaine
 The paste is a lot easier than I thought
 Burn the horns when they are smaller
 Polled bulls don’t have high enough type
numbers
 Dehorn
calves at an earlier age
 Work with your veterinarian on a dehorning
protocol
 Use pain management on older calves
 Introduce polled genetics to the herd