For us vet techs it’s when our calendars are packed with lots of disbudding work, which is a favourite of ours. Days disbudding are filled with calves, banter, great teammates, and amazing farmers.

Disbudding involves sedating and locally anesthetising calves, before carefully and safely burning out their horn buds. We’ll often vaccinate sedated calves at the same time.

Removing the buds while they’re between 2-6 weeks old means they won’t grow sharp horns as an adult, helping prevent injuries to herdmates and handlers. It’s much easier on the animal getting them done young and means you don’t have to worry about it later down the track. We’ll happily pop out to your farm a couple of times as different groups of calves reach the right age.

Disbudding calves can be very physically demanding on techs’ bodies, so it’s important for us to stay hydrated, eat well and rest when we can. 

We can’t wait to catch up with you all out on farm during this crazy time of year! Get in touch to book your disbudding with our experienced vet techs.