Do young goats horns continuously break off and grow until established?

I have a young billy goat and he tore his buttons off a couple months back, now his horns are growing in and are about an inch long. But they are fragile and very loose. He actually tore one off today. Will his horns grow back and become thick and stable. Or will he be a one horned goat?

Do young goats horns continuously break off and grow until established?
Are they horns or scurs? Bucks that are disbudded as babies will often grow scurs (partial horns). Scurs don%26#039;t grow in solid like regular horns, and they will occasionally knock them off with headbutting things. Scurs will often grow back after being knocked off, but they will never be solid like regular horns, and some goats will knock them off and regrow them throughout their lives. It%26#039;s normal.





If he was never disbudded and has a full set of regular horns, I%26#039;ve never seen anything like you are describing. Sometimes the horns will shed their outler layer as they are growing but they usually don%26#039;t completely fall off. Do you have goat minerals available to him at all times? Weak horns could be a sign of a mineral deficiency. It may or may not grow back.
Reply:They may or may not grow back.





Some goats just never get their horns back after they break them, but I have seen some grow back.


He is young so their may be a chance.





As for the fact that they aren%26#039;t strong, I%26#039;m not so sure that they will grow back stronger, they may but there is probably a reason why his aren%26#039;t growing in properly.





You could just totally dehorn him and then there would be no more worries, but If you want him to have his horns I would try and put him on some sort of nutritional supplement to help strengthen his horns.


Horns and feet can sometimes show that something is lacking in the diet.


Not to say that, that is the issue or that your goat isn%26#039;t healthy, he may just be missing those few extra minerals.





And be very careful that his horns dont grow back incorrectly and start twisting the wrong way, as toward his skull where that can lead to major issues.





Good Luck and I hope everything turns out well.



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