Husbandry procedure
Hot-Iron Dehorning
Burning out the horn bud
What it is
A heated iron tip is pressed onto the horn bud of a calf or goat kid and held there until the horn-forming tissue is destroyed. It is done before the horn has fully grown.
Where it sits in the system
Horned animals injure each other and are harder to handle in confined housing. Removing the horn makes crowded systems workable, so the horn goes rather than the crowding.
Welfare concern
Burning through living tissue on the skull causes acute pain and tissue damage. Local anaesthetic and pain relief afterwards reduce that pain; they do not make the procedure neutral.
Worth being precise about
Disbudding a young animal is less invasive than cutting the horns off a mature one. Breeding hornless cattle and designing housing differently can reduce or remove the need for it altogether.
