Nose Ring Placement

Proper placement of a nose ring helps prevent subsequent loss of the ring associated with ripping the ring through the muzzle during restraint. Rings are commonly placed in young bulls as they reach puberty and begin to show dominant or aggressive tendencies. It may be necessary to install a larger nose ring as the bull approaches maturity. Nose rings of several sizes are available commercially. The ring selected for an individual bull should be large enough to allow it to be grasped easily with fingers or a bull leader and yet not so large as to become easily tangled on objects and torn out.

The nose ring is designed to facilitate restraint, leading, and management of bulls. Without a nose ring, it is impossible to manage individual bulls safely. Group-housed bulls, as observed in some Al studs, do not have nose rings installed because their collective activity and aggressiveness risk trauma that could rip out the ring. Nose rings are inserted as bulls leave the group to be managed individually.

Particularly aggressive or difficult-to-catch bulls may require a short chain leader attached to the nose ring to allow the ring to be grasped more easily.

Nose rings occasionally are installed in heifers that are thought to be sucking teats in group housing situations. These nose rings have a “picket fence” aluminum plate attached that acts as a prod to the heifer being sucked so that such heifers no longer stand and allow the problem heifer to suck them. Nose rings are rarely applied to adult cows but have been used to make particularly aggressive show cows more manageable in the show ring.

Proper installation of a nose ring requires that a nose lead be used to extend the bull’s head straight forward. The bull’s head should not be turned. With the head fully extended and the nose lead tightly fixed, a scalpel blade attached to a scalpel handle is quickly directed through the nasal septum. Keeping pressure on the nose lead ensures that the ring will be placed as far forward in the nasal septum as possible. This avoids the septum cartilage and potential complications from cartilage injury. Special nose ring pliers that act as combined nose leads, scalpel, and insertion guide are available commercially.

After the septum has been incised, insertion of the nose ring is easily accomplished by projecting the tapered end of the open ring through the incision, closing the ring tightly, and placing the small screw that holds the ring closed tightly in position.

Proper placement of nose rings minimizes the likelihood of nasal and muzzle tears/lacerations caused by the ring being pulled out. Improper placement or excessive tension on a ring can cause this drastic injury and creates an injured bull without any practical means of being restrained or led. Repair of nose ring pullout lesions is indicated for valuable bulls. Sedation of the patient is coupled with local anesthesia provided by blocking sensory innervation through bilateral blocks at the infraorbital foramina; large mattress sutures of steel or other nonabsorbable material are used in the repair.