I have used 3 of these Lenk dehorners/disbudders and was not satisfied with either of them. Always left a mess and the iron dosen't hold up, and it never gets hot enough to do a quick and thorough job. I tried all the work arounds, and eventually wound up heating the end with a propane torch, which is highly unsatisfatory for an electric appliance. I invested in a Rhinehart and have had perfect and happy results ever since. Save yourself the trouble, pay for the more expensive Rhinehart, in the first place and save yourself the aggravation and expense of an iron that just dosen't work well. I have used many different methods of disbudding, have bred Swiss breed dairy goats and calves for over 45 years. My advice is don't waste your money on the Lenk.
Excellent dehorner which we have used for 20 years. The trick to getting it hot enough is to make sure the tip doesn't rest on anything while it is heating or when it is in use. Also, use a copper brillo pad to repeatedly clean the tip and make sure you shave the skull close to the scalp before starting. For bucks, remember their horn bud is more oval and larger than a doe kid.
I have used this disbudding iron for the last 15 years, having used the rhinehart 50 for 10 years before that. (I actually have 2 rhinehart-50's for sale-won't use them). I am on my 2nd lenke-2oo as the first one was run over by the plow on the tractor (long story why it was in the road) but I never even thought twice about pulling out one of the old rhineharts- just went and ordered another Lenk 200. So much easier to use for my small hands and arthritis, plus I get wonderful clean heads without scurs or skull/brain damage from too much-too high heated surface. area.
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