RCVS has just clarified the legal position on disbudding of goats, click here for the full press release.

We've become used to calves being disbudded by non-vets the theory being that this can happen if it's done by suitably-trained staff. I suspect the reality is that this training isn't monitored that well as I see lots of cattle that have been dehorned badly.

It hurts enough to be dehorned by somebody who doesn't know what he's doing, but at least calves are a bit more robust than kids.

Kids have thin skulls and if they're disbudded by people who don't know what they doing there's the potential not just for suffering but also for long-term damage.