Vet on Call: For dairy cows, their beauty lies in the hands of dehorner

James is a successful livestock farmer in Ruiru on the outskirts of Nairobi.

His farm hosts 80 head of dairy cattle of mixed breeds and 100 pigs. He has over the years learned the ropes of livestock farming as his herd increases.

I visited his farm for the first time at the end of January following a call.

“Doctor, I did not call you because of sickness on the farm or production issues,” James told me upon arrival.

Without further explanation, he introduced me to his farm manager, Wafula, a diploma graduate of animal health.

“Wafula will tell you why I am unhappy with most of my cows. He is my technical adviser on livestock,” he said.

At this point, I tried to figure out what the issue could be. It was taking longer than usual for the farmer to explain the problem but it was still below my prompting threshold.

“Mzee is not happy with many of these cows. He says they are ugly and he would like to have cows with nice-looking heads,” Wafula opened up.

“That is the main reason why we called you doctor. I have seen very beautiful cows, with nice cone heads in cattle shows. Some even look like they have palmed hair on top of the head. My cows have square heads,” James interjected.

“Oh, that’s easy!” I mentally exclaimed. I engaged James further before responding to his concerns.

I wanted to understand his passion for aesthetics. It emerged he is a contractor who adores precision and beauty in his work.

He likes things following set standards and show cattle were his benchmark.

I requested him to show me around the farm to have a look at the cattle in the various age groups so that I could understand the genesis of his aesthetic challenge.

POOR DEHORNING TECHNIQUES

I noticed about 90 per cent of the adult cattle had large horn stubs of varying sizes and shapes.

The young stock had heads that were expanding sideways from the level of the eyes.

To achieve his desired shape, the heads should have been widening at the eye level and narrowing above the eyes for the two sides of the head to converge in a cone at the top of the head.

“We remove the horn buds of the calves at the age of two months but they still grow back later,” Wafula volunteered as we concluded the tour.

I explained to James how we could correct the problem in the calves and the young stock below 15 months old.

For the adult cows, I would trim the horn stubs but we would never achieve the beautiful cone-shaped heads he wanted, therefore, he would have to tolerate the site of the square heads.

This is because the cows’ skulls were already moulded to the square shape and set in solid bone that was no longer growing.

However, once I cut the horns at the base of the skulls, the shape of the heads would slightly improve because hair would eventually grow over the horn scar.

James’ problem afflicts many farmers due to poor dehorning techniques.

The horns in dairy cattle are removed, even as early as day or two after birth, in an operation known as disbudding.

The horn bud tissue is extracted using caustic paste, caustic soda pencil, disbudding iron or a hot iron. At this time, the horn tissue is still on the skin and has not implanted into the skull.

Disbudding can be done by veterinary assistants or trained unskilled staff on the farm.

Young stock can also be dehorned fully even when the horn has implanted in the skull. This is a major surgical operation that requires the use of local anaesthesia to control pain.

The operation should be carried out by a veterinary doctor as the anaesthetic is injected above the eyes and the horn is cut very close to the skull to remove all horn producing tissue.

PREVENT FIGHTING AND INJURY

Bleeding is heavy and must be controlled once the horn has been cut.

Poor dehorning techniques leave horn producing tissue at the base of the horn or horn bud, I told James and his farm manager.

The tissue multiplies as the animal grows and produces a horn that is spread over a wider area than normal. This is the tissue that forms the horn stub.

“As the horn stub grows, it implants in the skull and the skull expands sideways to support the base of the horn stub giving the cow a “square” head,” I added.

On the other hand, proper dehorning techniques comprise of complete removal of all horn secreting tissue.

The sides of the head then shrink towards the top of the head and give the animal the beautiful cone-shaped head that James liked.

For some reason, not yet scientifically explored, the hair on top of the head in well dehorned animals grows long and curve over the forehead, giving the nice impression of palmed hair.

Dehorning is done in dairy cattle to prevent fighting and injury among the cows. It also enhances the safety of the people handling the cattle. In addition, there is the aesthetic benefit of the shape of the head.

“I am happy to know my cows are okay. Dr Joseph, kindly organise to train my people on how to give me the beautiful cows I want on my farm,” James concluded as we scheduled the exercise.

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The Clinic

Charles: I am a follower of your well-researched articles and I have been gathering knowledge on how to become a pig farmer.

Kindly, help me with any manual or a copy of any information that I can use to learn how to start a pig farm.

I am happy to know you are benefiting from the column. I will send you pig production material. Stay with us and all the best in your planned pig farming.

Peninah: I have a problem with my Kienyeji chickens.

They are frequently being attacked by flea and dudu dust is not helping.

Dudu dust may work if there are few chickens affected. Use liquid insecticides in the class of pyrethroids.