Dehorn Goats with Bands and File
My farm had field fence surrounding it when I bought it years ago. Hurricane Elena in 1985 felled so many trees that tore down the fences in so many places I had to sell all my cows and bull because the fences could not contain them, and I could not drop everything to do extensive fence repair. After the fences were repaired later I restocked the farm with goats and sheep.
I soon found out that horned goats got caught in the field fence when they stuck their heads through the fence mesh to eat on the other side of the fence and their horns caught on the horizontal portion of the fencing wire mesh, and they could not pull their heads back through the fencing. I had to untangle several goats before I thought of a possible way to solve the problem ...... dehorn the goats. After I lost one goat caught in the fence to a broken neck I decided to try dehorning the goats.
I was not aware if any others (years ago) had tried this method, but I decided to give it a try. I knew castrating bands would cause testicles and tails to lose their blood supply and they would eventually fall off. I had used bands on cattle, sheep, and goats. I thought why not give it a try on mature goat horns (bands can "cut" through the bones of tails, so maybe they would also do horns). I initially put the constrictor bands on the horns close to the skull; but most moved toward the tip of the horn and came off. I then thought of using a round quarter-inch file to make a groove on at least two sides of the horn to have a place for the band to grip and stay. The groove enabled the bands to stay on; after a length of time (about 3 weeks) one goat bumped its horns at a feeding trough and one horn fell off, releasing a fair amount of blood. The other fell off later without much blood loss. The horn stubs healed over and the goat went about its daily business without getting its head caught in the fence again.
I find that researching the internet now (2012) that some were having problems keeping the bands on the horns. I suggest using my trick of years ago --- a round file to make grooves to hold the bands in place near the base of the horns.
Adrian R. Lawler, (C) 2012 --
Monday, February 27, 2012
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Scarab Larvae in Gardening Containers
Scarab Larvae in Gardening Containers
I recently noticed that four of my container garden beds had surface soil being disrupted almost daily. Two of the beds contained onions, the third had leaf lettuce, and the last had rutabaga. Part of the regular garden (not in containers) also had evidence of soil disruption and 3/8 inch to over 1/2 inch holes at the surface. All of the disruption noted was on the east side of the garden area.
One of the onion beds was really doing poorly, with the onions wilting and dying. I suspected scarab beetle larvae. I transplanted (10 Feb 12) the onions to another container; they all lacked roots or had roots badly damaged.
I removed (15 Feb 12) the dirt from the onion container (an inner drum from a washing machine) and recovered 55 large 1 1/2 to 2 inch long scarab beetle larvae (grubs). All the larvae were at, or near, the bottom of the container, about a foot below the surface of the dirt. None where found touching each other. The larvae were not identified but I suspect they were larvae of green june beetles, which I had previously seen in the garden area.
These larvae were highly disruptive in containers:
---Turning over surface soil almost nightly.
---Uprooting sprouting, or young plants.
---Eating on plant roots and either weakening plants or killing plants.
The 55 grubs were in a container 21 inches in diameter; the surface area was pi r squared or 3.1416 x 10.5 squared = 346.36 square inches = 2.40 square feet. So there were 22.92 grubs per square foot. This would appear to be a high concentration, probably because a batch, or more, of eggs were laid in the container and the larvae were thus trapped inside the container during their larval life.
An estimate of the number of grubs in the regular garden soil from a count of the holes at the surface gave 0-2 grubs per square foot of garden. In prior years the grubs were 0-1 per square foot in the garden area.
It is not known why grub production appears to have increased in 2011. I have raised part of my garden in containers for over 50 years, and never previously had such a problem with scarab larvae.
Adrian R. Lawler, (C) 2012 --
I recently noticed that four of my container garden beds had surface soil being disrupted almost daily. Two of the beds contained onions, the third had leaf lettuce, and the last had rutabaga. Part of the regular garden (not in containers) also had evidence of soil disruption and 3/8 inch to over 1/2 inch holes at the surface. All of the disruption noted was on the east side of the garden area.
One of the onion beds was really doing poorly, with the onions wilting and dying. I suspected scarab beetle larvae. I transplanted (10 Feb 12) the onions to another container; they all lacked roots or had roots badly damaged.
I removed (15 Feb 12) the dirt from the onion container (an inner drum from a washing machine) and recovered 55 large 1 1/2 to 2 inch long scarab beetle larvae (grubs). All the larvae were at, or near, the bottom of the container, about a foot below the surface of the dirt. None where found touching each other. The larvae were not identified but I suspect they were larvae of green june beetles, which I had previously seen in the garden area.
These larvae were highly disruptive in containers:
---Turning over surface soil almost nightly.
---Uprooting sprouting, or young plants.
---Eating on plant roots and either weakening plants or killing plants.
The 55 grubs were in a container 21 inches in diameter; the surface area was pi r squared or 3.1416 x 10.5 squared = 346.36 square inches = 2.40 square feet. So there were 22.92 grubs per square foot. This would appear to be a high concentration, probably because a batch, or more, of eggs were laid in the container and the larvae were thus trapped inside the container during their larval life.
An estimate of the number of grubs in the regular garden soil from a count of the holes at the surface gave 0-2 grubs per square foot of garden. In prior years the grubs were 0-1 per square foot in the garden area.
It is not known why grub production appears to have increased in 2011. I have raised part of my garden in containers for over 50 years, and never previously had such a problem with scarab larvae.
Adrian R. Lawler, (C) 2012 --
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Coyote Hit by Car
Coyote Hit by Car
On 7 Jan 2012 I took pictures of a young female coyote apparently hit by a car. It had extensive road rash, sections of skin rubbed off of both sides of the body, from apparently getting dragged along the road by a car. Although the coyote had a rank odor about it, none of the many wounds appeared to be infected. The wounds were dry and healing. Scientists might want to look at the immune system of coyotes to find out why so many wounds were not infected in this one.
The coyote appeared to have adult teeth, and since they were very clean-looking the coyote is presumed to be a young adult. It was estimated to weigh 30-40 pounds.
This was the first coyote I have seen in this area of south Mississippi (I have lived in Ocean Springs, Mississippi for over 40 years.).
Three pictures are included below.
Adrian R. Lawler, (C) 2012 --
On 7 Jan 2012 I took pictures of a young female coyote apparently hit by a car. It had extensive road rash, sections of skin rubbed off of both sides of the body, from apparently getting dragged along the road by a car. Although the coyote had a rank odor about it, none of the many wounds appeared to be infected. The wounds were dry and healing. Scientists might want to look at the immune system of coyotes to find out why so many wounds were not infected in this one.
The coyote appeared to have adult teeth, and since they were very clean-looking the coyote is presumed to be a young adult. It was estimated to weigh 30-40 pounds.
This was the first coyote I have seen in this area of south Mississippi (I have lived in Ocean Springs, Mississippi for over 40 years.).
Three pictures are included below.
Adrian R. Lawler, (C) 2012 --
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