Dehorning calves

Big Vern

Well-Known Member
Do you stock (cattle) farmers do your own dehorning.

Or do you have some one in or just not bother, am investigating the possibility of providing a service to go to farms and do the dehorning. I appreciate most of you fellas on here are across the water but just wanted to gather a consensus on whether it would/could be worth presueing

Have done a few costings and about £1200 would see me set up with a decent one man system, crush gas iron , sharps etc, have found a college to get coursed up ( nice to have a certificate)

General feel in my part of the south west is there's a market, as many farms are 1 man or just don't have the time.

Any thoughts or comments

PS I am talking about young calves here not mental 5 - 6 month old suckler calves with a death wish for me..
 
Do you stock (cattle) farmers do your own dehorning.

Or do you have some one in or just not bother, am investigating the possibility of providing a service to go to farms and do the dehorning. I appreciate most of you fellas on here are across the water but just wanted to gather a consensus on whether it would/could be worth presueing

Have done a few costings and about £1200 would see me set up with a decent one man system, crush gas iron , sharps etc, have found a college to get coursed up ( nice to have a certificate)

General feel in my part of the south west is there's a market, as many farms are 1 man or just don't have the time.

Any thoughts or comments

PS I am talking about young calves here not mental 5 - 6 month old suckler calves with a death wish for me..

Hmm, possibly. Am over the water Btw, but see around these parts that there's more and more jobs being sub contracted. We have a service over here called Farm Relief that provide casual labour to assist at busy times. We do all our own calves, will have 100 in the spring hopefully, and will be done at 2-3 weeks of age. I wouldn't consider getting someone in, but I know some people that probably would.

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Do you stock (cattle) farmers do your own dehorning.

Or do you have some one in or just not bother, am investigating the possibility of providing a service to go to farms and do the dehorning. I appreciate most of you fellas on here are across the water but just wanted to gather a consensus on whether it would/could be worth presueing

Have done a few costings and about £1200 would see me set up with a decent one man system, crush gas iron , sharps etc, have found a college to get coursed up ( nice to have a certificate)

General feel in my part of the south west is there's a market, as many farms are 1 man or just don't have the time.

Any thoughts or comments

PS I am talking about young calves here not mental 5 - 6 month old suckler calves with a death wish for me..
Very hard to gauge from over here but it is a hateful job and I can see some of the larger farms would be happy to have it contracted out. Might be hard to get it started though. I definitely wouldnt be going in with 1200 to start with anyway
 
Do you stock (cattle) farmers do your own dehorning.

Or do you have some one in or just not bother, am investigating the possibility of providing a service to go to farms and do the dehorning. I appreciate most of you fellas on here are across the water but just wanted to gather a consensus on whether it would/could be worth presueing

Have done a few costings and about £1200 would see me set up with a decent one man system, crush gas iron , sharps etc, have found a college to get coursed up ( nice to have a certificate)

General feel in my part of the south west is there's a market, as many farms are 1 man or just don't have the time.

Any thoughts or comments

PS I am talking about young calves here not mental 5 - 6 month old suckler calves with a death wish for me..

Great idea and the best of luck with it :thumbup:
Over the water aswell but im sure youl get a good bit of work from large dairy farmers in your area
Theres a lad in my area Who does alot of dehorning big cattle,scanning and aí hes very populer and never short of work !
 
It seems to be getting more popular around here year after year as there is less help with farms getting bigger etc.

It is probably the kind of thing that if you build it, they will come if you catch my drift.

how does cost 1200 to get in to it.
 
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No suckers here but I like the idea, I think there is an opportunity for this type of service, but as said earlier it would be an ideal service to add to an existing business, I'd be happy to pay good money for a good stockman to help out at certain jobs, a good tractor driver is hard found a good stockman even harder imo.
 
It seems to be getting more popular around here year after year as there is less help with farms getting bigger etc.

It is probably the kind of thing that if you build, it they will come if you catch my drift.

how does cost 1200 to get in to it.

Dehorning crate, ( decent one,) dehorning iron. Gas spare tips, sharps, spares, cool box for your anaesthetic, few hurdles to make a pen pens etc,
If I'm gonna do job wanna make it as easy for me as possible, already got trailer to lug all about, oh and a bit of insurance,,,,, just in case.
 
Dehorning crate, ( decent one,) dehorning iron. Gas spare tips, sharps, spares, cool box for your anaesthetic, few hurdles to make a pen pens etc,
If I'm gonna do job wanna make it as easy for me as possible, already got trailer to lug all about, oh and a bit of insurance,,,,, just in case.

Its a job I don't mind doing its just finding the time,I calve all year round so only have about 10/month (the rest are angus:thumbup:)
 
for £1200 to start up, you don't have much to lose TBH! Go for it, wasn't long ago that every farm did their own feet, now look!

You could probably sell all of that in two years time and not be much the worse for it!

I know plenty of lads who are struggling to catch up with everything so....

Is there a crate you could castrate in as well? (or does castration need to be done by a vet nower days???)
 
Rubber banding said calves would be a good service to add alright.
If you could get the farmer to supply black leg vaccine and you administer it for them while handling too.
If you could keep it local you would be able to provide a better service.

Have you come up with a pricing structure? Say first 10 calves includes your call out fee. Or are you thinking of a contract price to do a whole herd?

Be a good service to compliment AI, sale of straws, scanning and sales of doses & vaccines. Perhaps milk replacer and other calf health products. Maybe partner with a veterinary supplies shop and get a little commission while you are already on the road.

Good luck wrestling with the calves:fighting::lol:
 
Rubber banding said calves would be a good service to add alright.
If you could get the farmer to supply black leg vaccine and you administer it for them while handling too.
If you could keep it local you would be able to provide a better service.

Have you come up with a pricing structure? Say first 10 calves includes your call out fee. Or are you thinking of a contract price to do a whole herd?

Be a good service to compliment AI, sale of straws, scanning and sales of doses & vaccines. Perhaps milk replacer and other calf health products. Maybe partner with a veterinary supplies shop and get a little commission while you are already on the road.

Good luck wrestling with the calves:fighting::lol:

:thumbup: Good plan's there!
 
hoof care man does mine, did 20 calves a few weeks ago, also did around 6 cows feet and 3 older animals with big horns, 190 euro the lot, i hate hate hate dehorning calves, so money well spent, took about 2 hours to do the lot and i helped him with the calves
 
Rubber banding said calves would be a good service to add alright.
If you could get the farmer to supply black leg vaccine and you administer it for them while handling too.
If you could keep it local you would be able to provide a better service.

Have you come up with a pricing structure? Say first 10 calves includes your call out fee. Or are you thinking of a contract price to do a whole herd?

Be a good service to compliment AI, sale of straws, scanning and sales of doses & vaccines. Perhaps milk replacer and other calf health products. Maybe partner with a veterinary supplies shop and get a little commission while you are already on the road.

Good luck wrestling with the calves:fighting::lol:

Yes I have some rough figures in mind and it would be a minimum fee, then per head over that figure, the crate I am looking at has a belly strap and over strap , I am looking at bloodless cat ration.

Sale of semen AI services is well covered in our area, but I don't know of any one offering- doing dehorning, couple of blokes doing foot trimming,

Plan is if I make the set up good enough I won't be doing too much wrestling..:fighting:.. Had too much of that as a callow youth ,holding calves that where too big as the old boss man whiz zed the hot iron around and burnt me fore arms, then usually managed to to flic the still steaming red hot bud down me welly... :thumbdown::scared:


Massey Man - there would be more dairy than suckers in my bit of Somerset, how ever I would travel a bit if the numbers added up,

Thanks very much for all the help full suggestions, I will hopefully keep you posted as to how ( or not) it turns out... Like you say angles it's not a massive fee ( in the grande scheme of things) and I don't give it a go..

This time next year Rodderz etc etc
 
Sorry to bring back an old thread but what dehorning iron are people finding the best at the moment. Mine is gone very tired and I'm in the market for a new one
 
I wouldn‘t pass one of these now, like a hot knife through butter, after struggling for years with various gas types I wouldn’t take a present of them now.
That dehorner and a new crate transformed that job
 
Portasol dehorner here. Bought a new one last year after having the first for 15 years and dehorning a lot of calves with it. Couldn't imagine going back to an electric dehorner. The portasol is filled with a lighter gas can, gets red hot in about 3 minutes and its small and handy so that you never have to worry about cables. Irish made. New tip for it it a tenner - only had to put 2 new tips on the old one over 15 years.
 
Portosol are made in Carlow and have a factory on the O Brien road. Two people that worked for Braun making gas powered hair straighteners set up their own factory to make soldering irons .
 
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