I disbudded my first kid recently. It was a clumsy job. I decided to do it again a couple of days later with slight improvement. For the novices I can offer the following advice:

i. don't rush. I did. It all seemed to be going smoothely so I thought, "ok, we can be finished in just a few more seconds". Big mistake. On finishing, I could see that the job was incomplete. Take time. Examine the job carefully. (Easily said if you are a novice.)

ii. I mis-identified the center of the bud. A small arc of horn protruded from the kid's head. I assumed that this was the center. It was the edge of the bud. Accordingly, I burned off-center.

iii. In my other post I noted that my helpers nearly suffocated the poor kid holding while it down. A breather (literally) with time to examine the job would have obviated this peril.

In summary: carefully identify the center of the bud by feeling all around. It won't be the little ridge sticking out. (Like a tooth, it doesn't grown out from the middle.) Secondly, do it in stages. Take a minute or two, rather than a few seconds to get it done.

-- gregory barton (gbmillion@hotmail.com), May 06, 2003

Answers

I clip the hair on the top of the kid's head before I disbud. Makes it lots easier to see the hornbud and the scent glands on a buckling if you're descenting too. Plus...that hair really stinks when it burns :-)!!

-- Marcia (HrMr@webtv.net), May 06, 2003.

I did clip around. But I didn't realize the extent of the bud until I had burned the flesh away from it. Only then did I see that I had taken the edge for the center.

-- gregory barton - thailand (gbmillion@hotmail.com), May 07, 2003.