[Jacob-list] re: cutting horns

[Victoria da Roza]

We have a mini dremel tool that I use to grind down
the toenails of the dogs, because with a grinder you
can see exactally when you get to the quick.
   I have a 4 horned lilac that from the time she was
a lamb was  consistantly tearing off her side horns. 
When they grew back they grew in a tighter circle that
threatened to grow into the face.  I put a cutting
wheel on the minidremel and put a little piece of
metal ducting near the face so I would not get any
wool and took off 1/4 to 1/2 inch, so there is no
danger of getting living tissue and there is no pain
for the sheep.  Nibbles did not even object to the
process because with the dremel it takes 30 sec.  It
is no longer a problem because we came out to feed one
morning and saw that Nibbles had lost a fight with the
feeder and was soaked in blood on that side of her
body.  Wish I had known about the spiderwebs at that
point!  Now she has 2, three inch, side horns that
seem to have given up the struggle to grow anymore. 
This is also when we went to multiple black rubber
feeding tubs.  Nothing to get a horn there and they
eat downward so not the amount of hay in the wool.
   It is very frustrating to have such pretty side
horns ripped off so often.  Amazingly it never seemed
to bother Nibbles.  The first time a horn broke was 3
days after I got her and it was a top horn in conflict
with a fence and only half cracked at the bottom so I
left it alone and Nibbles trotted off.  Stopped and
raised her back leg and kicked the whole horn off and
went to play with the other lamb.
   Victoria

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