POLL OR NO POLL THAT IS THE QUESTION?

[NHR Shorthorns]

So whats the deal with all these bad poll jobs ive been seeing lately? Seems to me sometimes its just better to leave them horned, than to see them mangled. I know everybody wants there poll to be as nice looking as the next guy, and not to say that i havent seen some nice ones. But come on if your gonna pay 3,4, sometimes even 5 thousand dollars on an animal at very least take them to someone who is gonna do a SWEET job as I like to say. So with that said I say use polled bulls and just to hell with it all. Peace im out!

 

[shortyjock89]

Uhh, alright lol.  Polled bulls do a good job of knocking the horns right off of one, thats for sure, but I take my horned calves to the University of Illinois Large Animal Vet and they do a great job. 

 

[TJ]

I think that this shaggy rascal will vote NO POLL!     (lol)

 

[charlie4s]

i love a good dehorning. the vet i use is an ex shower and the only vet that has ever ask how i like the look before he sews up his handy work.
he will keep working at it until i am happy with the finished product.

Have fun and enjoy life
Charlie

 

[charlie4s]

TJ
you wont believe it but i have a friend that has bout 5 of those shaggy creatures and breeding them to mainetainer bulls to get that extra hair

Have fun and enjoy life
Charlie

 

[red]

well I like using polled bulls. Hate to dehorn cattle. We take ours to OSU vet clinic in Marysville, Ohio. Bimbo (that's his name) is the best!

Remember just because a bull/cow has been surgically dehorned it does not make them polled. They are still horned. I think that's why we get so many surprises from supposedly polled bulls.

common sense- did you tell me the IA Maines were having a talk on just such issue's?

Red

 

[Rocky Hill Simmental]

Sometimes it's worth getting them polled just for safetly reasons. However, I don't think I saw very many ones that actually looked so great later in life. A lot of times, one of the horns grows back. Then sometimes all they do is slice the points off. I have one of the ends of the horn from one of my old heifers.

We've been selling all our horned cows just because of the lack of hay (the horned cows got more hay because they had weapons).

If the picture works, it's of one of the cows we recently sold. She stabbed the poor bull in the eye with one of these one day and it was swelled up for about a week. 

 

[red]

we had a heifer that someone else was showing. They took her to get dehorned some place other than we use. she's got scurs now. did a terrible job & what was once a heifer w/ a beautiful face looks like a bull dog. It made me sick.

How does everyone do their commercial herd for dehorning? We've used the paste for the Holstein bucket calves & also the electric dehorner thing that burns them off.

Red

 

[kanshow]

Our commercial herd is mostly polled by the bulls!      When we are looking at commercial heifers back into the herd, we do give a polled heifer more 'credit' than a horned heifer. 

We use the cutter type dehorners that cut the horn below the hair line.  There is a knack to it so you don't get scurs back.  We used to use the electric dehorner on the baby calves when we worked them at branding time.  We don't do that any more because the cattle have changed...  we aren't feeling horn buds that early anymore.   

Now here is a question..  what about loose scurs that never were horns? 

 

[renegade]

I prefer polled cattle and my bull is polled but my red steer has horns. Right now they are just like 1/2" spikes. The guy that i am working with this year is a trimmer for cattle and he said he will use the hoof trimmer (the sander type thing) and take the horns down a few times, he said you take them down till you get just a little blood and they wont grow any more

 

[TJ]

TJ
you wont believe it but i have a friend that has bout 5 of those shaggy creatures and breeding them to mainetainer bulls to get that extra hair

Have fun and enjoy life
Charlie

Actually, I do believe it & that was one reason why I posted what I did.  It may be the 2nd or 3rd generation before they get where they want to go with that cross, but I actually think that it could work. 

TJ

 

[showsteerdlux]

They say that the bull Rocky Balboa has hair like a highlander. Any chance that he goes back to one a couple generations back?

 

[KDSC]

Doubtfully, they probally just say that he has hair like a highlander, but if any of you know what highlander hair is like you wouldnt want to be breeding your cows to one that has hair like that :'(