When cows are born they don't have horns (thankfully for the mother!). They grow from bits called horn buds, starting almost as soon as they are born. These horn buds attach to the skull at 2 months old. So if you want to stop the calf growing horns it is easiest to do it before this age as you can remove the buds and stop the horns growing. After that the horns can be removed but it is a more painful procedure for the cow.
It is a difficult choice, but we decided that Jerseys without horns are safer and more likely to lead a long happy life as a milk cow. Bluebell does have horns and they are pretty dangerous when she swings her head about. We have trained her not to butt us (mostly) but accidents still happen when she gets excited.
We remove the horn buds with caustic paste, having tried this and a hot disbudding iron (which failed to work properly on Bif so he had horns, just wonky ones). It is obviously very uncomfortable for the calf, as we put some paste on which will burn an inch diameter patch on each side of their head where the horns would grow. Six hours after the paste goes on it is all over and they are back with their mums. The frazzled bit that is left takes a few weeks to fully heal, but doesn't obviously bother them.
We did Venus at 6 weeks and Myrtle at 5 weeks. Unfortunatly Venus managed to smear the paste about a bit and burnt a patch on her ear too. The hair should grow back leaving no scar we hope.
We are however leaving Bear's horns to grow as we are hoping to sell him for stud and they need horns so they show how magnificent they are. The abattoir will not be pleased if he ends up going there.
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