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banding horns

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SCMO

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SCMO
Nieghbor is wondering if I could band a 3 year old cows horns. I told him I have heard of it but not done it myself. I used the search and came up short. Will this work and where should the band go and any other comments. TIA
 
Worked on a hereford ranch, horn brands and no ear tags, irons are brass about an inch high, careful not to get them too hot, will be there forever :)
 
Didn't take long for this topic to go off on a tangent :wink: :lol: :lol:

SCMO take a look at the Calicrate website they claim their machine works great on horns but never tried it myself.
 
Yep, banding and branding are just not the same :p


I know of a guy that banded some longhorn steers. It took a while, but the horns did fall off. The bigger problem was getting the steers in the headgate!
 
several dairy guys in our area, band instead of dig. They've said it works well, takes a few weeks. Also said they gotta be real tight, sometimes have to use a dremel to create a groove for the band.
 
I have a Calicrate bander, never tried it on horns but I know that they work on them
 
How tight to the head would you band them? I am surprised you could get tight enough. Learn something new every day. :?
 
A neighbor of ours banded some horned cows one fall. He used a callicrate bander and made sure the bands were at or a little above the hairline. I saw the finished result and it did a good job.
He did say the cows went a little goofy for a few days.

Leo died of a heart attack a few years back so I can't ask how long it took for them to fall off.
 
never heard of banding horns.

i remember working for another hereford outfit when i was in grade school. the guy had probably 50 or so mature cows that had untouched full racks - I thought they were beautiful and he wanted to get rid of them. So we sorted those cows out and i was expecting to maybe cut them off with something. the first cow gets caught in the chute and this guy tells me to get back and he swings a big old sledge hammered over his head and cracks those horns right off. i could not believe how well it worked with very little blood - very quick job of it too.
 
yes bands will work on cattle,matter of fact,one ole geezer banded a billy goat,he said horns fell off pretty slick,so I guess once you cut off the blood in living tissue,its history.
good luck
 
Hereford76 said:
never heard of banding horns.

i remember working for another hereford outfit when i was in grade school. the guy had probably 50 or so mature cows that had untouched full racks - I thought they were beautiful and he wanted to get rid of them. So we sorted those cows out and i was expecting to maybe cut them off with something. the first cow gets caught in the chute and this guy tells me to get back and he swings a big old sledge hammered over his head and cracks those horns right off. i could not believe how well it worked with very little blood - very quick job of it too.

I am now curious how he casterated !! samauri sword?
 
The way I have done it is to take one calicrate band and wrap around both horns. Sawzall the horns off above the band leaving 1/2 inch of horn. Leave them in overnight and remove the band the next morning. The band cuts the flow of blood from the big artery down the back of the horn and once it clots in the head, there is no chance to bleed to death.
I did some yearlings once with sheep bands with limited success. They did go nuts for a couple days and some of the horns kept growing so when the band popped off what was above it there was still a stub.
 
I have banded quite a few adult longhorns this way and it worked well. We would put a Callicrate band on as close to the head as possible and as tight as possible, then saw the horn off. Never worried about taking the band back off.
 
I have banded about 50 hd over the years mostly longhorn cross cows (big Racks) i put it on as close to the head as possible past the hair line if possible then as tight as possible about 4 or 5 wraps on a callicrate bander then let them go. In about a month or so the horns just fall off. Works great makes a horned cow a dehorned cow.
 
Obstetrical wire with a handle on each end works well. It cuts the horn off, cauterizes it as it goes, and provides good aerobic exercise to the cowboy doing the dehorning, all in one fell swoop. :wink:
 

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