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Alberta | Just wanted to update my post last year about how I take the crystals out of Dominion Dehorn paste. I mentioned that I boil in a double boiler on low heat and shake for a few days. Well after some googling this year, I found that the sodium hydroxide in the paste crystalizes at about 12C to 15C or 53 to 59F. I am guessing vendor storage temps or trucking may be the cause of the crystallization. the crystals melt at 600 something F, but past is not 100 percent sodium hydroxide. After a brainwave or 3 because I was tired of boiling my bottles for 2 days, I thought this year I would try a pressure cooker instead of a double boiler because a pressure cooker can get temps up to 121 C/ 250F. That did the trick. A couple hours boiling in a pressure cooker, instead of a couple days in a double boiler, the paste and the crystals dissolve and it will spread like cream cheese. Warning though, any plastic on the bottle will extremely soften and may melt on any of the bottle plastic that is not in the water and the bottle will leak in the pot. Momma might not be happy. In case someone wants to know why I do not use the Brown bottle paste that does not crystalize, I like the white bottles because the paste is 42% sodium hydroxide vs the 27% in the pink dehorn paste in a brown bottle also made by Dominion. The plastic bottles do a better job of taking horns off and if done right I can get 100 percent zero horns, no part horns or stubs. The sodium hydroxide is what eats the horn bud. And I am not a fan of horn burners because of the leftover buds if not done right or they are to big, and, yes I know there are polled bulls and Angus bulls do not give horns, but I am not picky about horns on my cattle if I can get ride of them as baby calves and not have a bunch of stubs or one horned cows. | |
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Crystalized Dominion Dehorn Paste Update From Last Post in 2025
