What About Horns?

It seems that those interested in purchasing/raising goats seem to have a preference as to whether their goats have horns. Not all goats have horns. Occasionally one will be what we call "polled" or hornless by nature. For the most part, though goats do have horns. Horns can be a bit dangerous if you are not careful. We have never had difficulties with our horned goats...but we are careful about where their horns are when we are down on their level. O'Malley is one of our polled goats and she will gladly show you her lovely head....
Quite often we get requests to remove the horns on the goats that we sell. Our answer is emphatically "no". And for good reason. The surgery to remove horns on a goat is extremely painful to the goat. The horns grow from the goat's skull. In order to adequately anesthetize a goat to prevent the horrific pain of this surgery, it requires doses of local anesthesia that are toxic to the goat. Therefore, most goats who have their horns removed suffer horribly. We refuse to do this to our goats....or any animal. So, Bee Haven Acres goats remain horned. If you ever purchase a goat...give good thought to this fact. And remember, a little caution is all that is required around their horns. If you have small children...perhaps you might want to purchase a goat that is polled.