horny dr. kimble

the other day the ivy’s pointed out to me that my calf, dr. richard kimble, was the only calf in the herd who still has horns, adding yet another element to his “just let me be me” attitude. 

dehorning is a very common practice in the cattle industry.  horns are generally (hopefully) removed at a very young age to reduce the trauma, stress, and chance of injury/infection.  in the high stress, fast paced life of a cow at the sale barn, making his way to a midwest cafo and to a hamburger bun near you, horns can cause all sorts of damage to the bottom line.  bruising and injury that results from horned cows has resulted in over eighty five percent of cows nationwide being dehorned.

there are a few options for dehorning, all of which sound shitty.  a caustic chemical can eat away at the young horns, a specially fitted tube can lop it (and the skin below it) off, or they can be sawed off by hand.  as you can imagine this can be quite painful, especially for an older cow.  at best, a cow will bounce back to its pre-dehorning weight after a few weeks of recovery.  at worst, an older cow can die from loss of blood (although admittedly rare).

needless to say, both dr. kimble and i are quite pleased he’s the horny little bastard you see above.