# Peeling horns in youngsters...nutrition



## StockDogLovr (Apr 13, 2009)

I'm posting for a friend who has noticed that the horns on her babies (between 3 and 7 mo old) are "peeling." I imagine that to mean they are "shelly." Has anyone here seen such a thing an dif so what did you do about it? Her goats are in a two acre pasture they moved to a year ago, and aside from the grass within, they get hay and periodic forage time outside the enclosure, though not often enough. They get goat minerals, mineral salt block, baking soda...

I'm thinking the mineral profile of the pasture its out of whack. Does anyone know of an NRC guideline excel file to calculate things? I have one for horses and dogs.


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## Laverne (May 25, 2008)

http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/showthread.php?t=364126&highlight=horns+peeling

Hopefully they're getting alfalfa and other supplement like calf manna, grain, since they are still growing. I think a protein deficiency could make a normal condition like the peeling worse than it should be though. Horn is nearly all protein.

http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/showthread.php?t=141055&highlight=flakey+horns


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## Goat Servant (Oct 26, 2007)

My gang has access to great goat minerals & the young uns horns go through that stage of peeling. They literally grow out of it.


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## Ark (Oct 5, 2004)

I was told it was a protein deficiency too. 
Ever since I upped the protein my kids get, they havent had this problem. Most of our kids are disbudded (the Nubians) but we raise quite a few Boer orphans every year and dont see this problem with the flaking horns any more.


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## Cheribelle (Jul 23, 2007)

Well, I look at it like this.... The horns are growing, too. They have to shed off the outer, smaller, shell in order to grow. Make sense? Seems perfectly normal to me.


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## Caprice Acres (Mar 6, 2005)

Horns don't grow from the inside out. They grow out of the horn base. Goats don't 'shed' horn layers like insects or other animals with an exoskeleton shed their outer shells. 

I would say nutritionally, it's lack of protein. To fix the problem, I'd sand the horns with sandpaper and apply a bag balm, as it's likely the dryness that is causing the poorly formed horns to flake.


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## Geiss (Apr 15, 2010)

This always happens with youngsters, it's perfectly normal. They will smooth out and look good soon enough.


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## Goat Servant (Oct 26, 2007)

Besides loose minerals we feed high quality alfalfa along with 17% protein level in their grain & horns still peel during the time period the OP described.


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