# Removing wattles question.....



## Milk n' Honey (Aug 14, 2005)

We were told that you can tie some dental floss tightly around wattles and they will fall off....sort of like banding a buck kid. It cuts off circulation and falls off, I guess. On kids less than 6 months old, can you do this? Has any of you ever tried it? I know the best things to do is snip them at birth but I have a couple of doe kids that are already past that point. I was just wondering if there was anything I could do (besides leaving them on - LOL). Thanks!!


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## HomesteadBaker (Feb 8, 2006)

Sorry, I think "goat jewelry" is cute. I left them on my goats. Why would you want to remove them?

Kitty


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## Milk n' Honey (Aug 14, 2005)

HaHa...goat jewelry is a new term on me....that is cute. I don't like them personally. I don't know. I just like a smooth clean line down the neck. I've also heard of them getting caught on things and getting ripped....ewwww. As they get older, they get a pretty good size vein going down into them and I can't think you'd be able to remove them at that point. I guess it is just my personal preference mostly.


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## Vicki McGaugh TX Nubians (May 6, 2002)

We just snipped them off Lamanchas at birth...if you wait any longer anyway you take them off will leave you with a tuft of hair on them. Can you do little minor surgeries yourself? Shave the neck around the wattle well. Cut a ( ) connecting at the top and bottom around the wattle through the skin. Cut off the wattle and cauterize it, then suture the skin together with two stitches...spray with fural...viola.

You can simply band them they will come off...but it won't be as clean if you just snipped and stitched. Vicki


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## chamoisee (May 15, 2005)

I wish my goats had wattles. : pout :

The ones I had before never ripped them or got injured.


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## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

That ranks right up there with cutting dogs ears and tails when they are puppies. :flame: 

Just my opinion.


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## BlueHeronFarm (Feb 9, 2007)

My understanding is that they are essentially skin tags - so it is not as severe as tail docking or ear bobbing.

...dunno - I have Nubians - no weird wattles.


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## sancraft (Jun 7, 2002)

Two of my ladies had wattles. I thought they were cute. They loved me to stroke them. My little Daisy, I thought looked like Little Bo Peep. I once tied ribbons to her wattles, but she got hold of one and was eating it. I couldn't get her to stay still enough to get a pic.


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## reese (Jul 6, 2004)

In all the years of goat raising, I never had a wattle ripped off. Never even heard of such a thing, and definatly never heard of anyone removing them for cosmetic purposes. :shrug: 

Guess times have changed. 

Reese


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## Feral Nature (Feb 21, 2007)

People who show goats commonly remove them in order to give the goats the appearance of a cleaner longer neck. I don't show anymore, it's been since the mid 90s and that was a few local dairy goat shows with my children and that was when we had Nubians. About half of my LaManchas are born with wattles and I do not remove them, I like them and leave them. If a customer had a deposit down on a doeling and wanted them removed, I would do it with no problem. I agree that they are not like docking tails or cutting ears on dogs....but when I raised Aussies, I had their tails docked as teeny tiny puppies, without feeling one bit guilty.


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## HomesteadBaker (Feb 8, 2006)

BlueHeronFarm said:


> My understanding is that they are essentially skin tags - so it is not as severe as tail docking or ear bobbing.
> 
> ...dunno - I have Nubians - no weird wattles.


I have a half Nubian buckling who has them, his twin didn't. Their mother is mostly Saanen, and she has them.

Kitty


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## BethW (May 3, 2007)

I just love the way wattles look. My Tango will go into a trance when I scratch them. He's all white and I think they add, not detract, to his appearance. Of course, he's already got a lovely long neck.


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## Feral Nature (Feb 21, 2007)

I have disbudded LaManchas and the wattles are just about the only things coming out of their heads....besides bad ideas, LOL!


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## APPway (May 27, 2005)

Rose said:


> That ranks right up there with cutting dogs ears and tails when they are puppies. :flame:
> 
> Just my opinion.


Do you Dis Bud your goat kids
That is alot more pain then docking a dogs tail 
and when ears are Croped they are under antistetic (sp) so they dont feel as much as dis budding.
and alot more pain then removing wattles.

Just my opnion also But why make a part of a breed standards sound so cruel


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## APPway (May 27, 2005)

Milk n' Honey said:


> We were told that you can tie some dental floss tightly around wattles and they will fall off....sort of like banding a buck kid. It cuts off circulation and falls off, I guess. On kids less than 6 months old, can you do this? Has any of you ever tried it? I know the best things to do is snip them at birth but I have a couple of doe kids that are already past that point. I was just wondering if there was anything I could do (besides leaving them on - LOL). Thanks!!


You can Tie them off and they may fall off but you must watch for infection.
As Vickie said they are snipped of at birth and there is no problem.
They dont get ripped off very often but they can. The biggest trouble with them is while they are in the kid pens with the other bottle babies the other kids can and will suck on them and that can cause swelling and real soreness. They are not any problem other wise if you want a cleaner looking neck on your show stock remove them but I have seen many Champion does that have them, The other draw back is they can be a pain in the butt when shaving the goat and are easier to nick.
Just my 2 cents


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## Starsmom (Nov 7, 2004)

Our Herd queen has wattles. I personally think they are cute and everyone always ask about them. None of the others have them and none of her offspring has yet either. I always say they are "goat jewelry" as well. I have heard of people burning them off when they are disbudding. I guess what is a little more pain after having your head burned? Never heard of any problems with them..claims of them getting ripped off have been told, but never experienced it or heard of anyone every experiencing it. Personally, I'd just leave them.


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## Milk n' Honey (Aug 14, 2005)

Hmmmm....my post didn't make it on here last night. OK, well, I guess I'll leave them alone. In the future, if their offspring has them, I'll probably take them off at birth. I won't enjoy it but I'm just not a fan of them. I know one thing, if one of those did get ripped, it wouldn't be good. Have you ever felt how huge the vein is that going into one of those on an adult? Yikes!! I was thinking...NO WAY I would ever try and remove any wattles of an adult. As far as dog tails go, many breed standards require they be removed so it would be difficult to raise puppies of certain breeds and be able to sell any offspring without the proper "look." I don't agree that snipping wattles is the same however. Wattles are hanging by a thread at birth. Dog tails are thick and you actually have to cut through one of the tail joints.....ouch. There are no bones in wattles. Puppies usually get a stich in the end of their tail also. One thing I'm a true believe in is removing dewclaws on puppies. I don't think anyone who raises puppies should overlook this procedure. It is much more simple than tail docking and you can actually do this at home, if you can handle it. The vet doesn't do anything special for these. You do it at around 2-3 days old and you just use a pair of ***** and then you can use that surgical glue to seal it off. This is very beneficial. Dogs do rip them and this isn't uncommon. They can get ingrown, infected and irritated. They really serve no purpose other than to possibly cause problems later. Talk about nasty.....waiting to have these removed later (usually by neccessity) is alot more painful. As a dog groomer, I've seen many cases of problem dewclaws. OK, that might have been a little off the subject but someone brought up the tail docking so I thought I'd just add my 2 cents!! LOL!! Thanks for all the insight.


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