Curious question - bleeding horns *PICS added*
Oct 4, 2014 11:34:54 GMT -5
elia and dunderi like this
Post by hoperefuge on Oct 4, 2014 11:34:54 GMT -5
Bunny, a yearling horned heifer, was in a major fight this morning. (We've had a few weeks with several different herd upheavals & it was just a hierarchy dispute between two very stubborn girls ) After it was over & they settled down a bit, I was checking them over for injuries & found none, except that there was blood on Bunny's horns. There is no obvious break or anything visibly wrong with them, just a slow drip of blood.
She's at the age when that rough, outer layer starts peeling off to reveal the shiny, smooth, pretty horn underneath. Hers are peeled off about half-way down the horn right now, and it's at that point, at the loose edge of the rough outer layer, where the blood is coming from. It's dripping from in behind the outer, peeling layer. It SEEMS as if she may have caught those loose edges while fighting and pulled that outer layer loose back farther than it was ready to go (like pulling a scab that isn't totally healed) making it bleed. But I don't know enough about the structure of the horns & how they grow to know if that even makes sense or is possible.
So now I'm curious to know what exactly might be going on in there, and hoping somebody, like milkmaid or simplynaturalfarm or somebody else who has more experience with horns than I do, will be able to explain why they would be bleeding there. Not that there's anything I'll be able to do about it, although if it might mean some sort of deeper trauma, that would be nice to know especially if I need to expect other consequences as well. Just my curious mind needs to know sometimes.
Thanks!
Kim
And by the way, comments to the effect of dehorn her asap because it's not safe since she's fighting, blah, blah, blah really aren't welcome. I have horns in my herd, I'm fine with that & know what I'm doing, and she's keeping them.
She's at the age when that rough, outer layer starts peeling off to reveal the shiny, smooth, pretty horn underneath. Hers are peeled off about half-way down the horn right now, and it's at that point, at the loose edge of the rough outer layer, where the blood is coming from. It's dripping from in behind the outer, peeling layer. It SEEMS as if she may have caught those loose edges while fighting and pulled that outer layer loose back farther than it was ready to go (like pulling a scab that isn't totally healed) making it bleed. But I don't know enough about the structure of the horns & how they grow to know if that even makes sense or is possible.
So now I'm curious to know what exactly might be going on in there, and hoping somebody, like milkmaid or simplynaturalfarm or somebody else who has more experience with horns than I do, will be able to explain why they would be bleeding there. Not that there's anything I'll be able to do about it, although if it might mean some sort of deeper trauma, that would be nice to know especially if I need to expect other consequences as well. Just my curious mind needs to know sometimes.
Thanks!
Kim
And by the way, comments to the effect of dehorn her asap because it's not safe since she's fighting, blah, blah, blah really aren't welcome. I have horns in my herd, I'm fine with that & know what I'm doing, and she's keeping them.