Repair Jobs For Hornless Longhorns

Repair Jobs For Hornless Longhorns LIVESTOCK Beef What! A Texas Longhorn with no horns? Just think how Fred Bohn Liberty Mo felt when he took his prize heifer to the vet s to repair a broken horn and returned to find blood dripping down both sides of her head
The vet had fouled up by sawing both her horns off so they d match!
The sickening part of our polled Texas Longhorn story is that there might have been some hope in saving the broken horns Don Zavislan Texas Longhorn breeder from Pueblo Colorado has several tips for breeders who might find an injured horn
The first sign of a loose or damaged horn will be blood coming from either side of the nose It may appear to be alright but these small cracks or slight breaks can start a horn growing crooked or cause the shell to fall off if not treated according to Zavislan
So you ask When can the horn be repaired depending on how bad the break is?
Zavislan claims that most breaks can be repaired with plaster casts even when they re just hanging by the skin Of course the sooner they re repaired the better chance you have of saving the horn Immediately is best he says
The result is a cow with a horn that has a slight growth ring where the cast was but with equal horn length on both sides of her head There s no price depreciation on our cattle because of an injured horn!
If you re in doubt of whether or not the horn is repairable go ahead and repair it We ve never had one fail and we ve had some bad ones says Don
Now the types of breaks I m talking about are breaks at the base of the horn If a horn breaks at the tip your chances of saving it are next to none The best thing to do if a tip breaks is to cut off the damaged part as far out as you can
The horns will wear anyway with normal horn growth but if they re shattered and not cleaned up they ll continue to shatter until they re all the way down to the core If you rasp-off the broken part you ll be surprised how they ll eventually blend in
Applying the casting material is a simple procedure The material needed is inexpensive and consists of four-inch wide rolls of plaster cast You ll need a minimum of three rolls of plaster cast each time you cast a set of horns If the cattle are going to be roped be sure and use half-inch wide rebar to reinforce the casting Rebar is the material used in construction that reinforces concrete If the cattle will just be turned out rebar isn t necessary
Don says he has repaired some pretty bad breaks even when the horn is hanging clear down the side of the cow s head The trick to the whole thing is getting there soon enough to repair it before an infection sets in or the blood supply has been damaged
Owen McGill of Wheatland Wyo had a Texas Longhorn that shelled a horn completely He was there when it happened put the horn back in place and casted it immediately The cow is now fine and her horns are still growing even though this happened over three years ago
Reprinted with permission from Texas Longhorn magazine Walsenborg Co

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