Echoes of Wild

Ethically sourced cow skull art, antler art and photography.

Horned vs. Polled

Elizabeth Hay1 Comment

As you may have noticed most of my skulls are polled,  or without horns.  This is because most people run a polled herd for herd health management purposes and horns are seen as less that optimal when you consider sorting cattle or loading them in trucks and trailers.  It also means the cattle can't bruise each other as readily if they are polled.  I realize that most people are going to want the horned ones for decor purposes however.  While I have a few (due to some throw back genetics), I will mostly be able to provide polled skulls.  Since I've been looking around and researching this hobby for the last few months, I've found that the majority of horned skulls out there are actually fake.  Wood horns carved and placed on polled skulls with resin or plaster.  Sometimes actual horn caps are used, but the result is the same - the skull itself did not have horns and they were placed there. 

    

     I decided early on that I didn't want to do that and came up with the idea of painting the polled ones for use in a garden setting or using flowers and other embellishments for a "cleaner" and more modern decor theme.  I tried to reflect the market demand in my designs and prices.  Horned skulls are going to cost more due to the demand for them.  I see myself pricing those around $350 (if you price compare, I think you will find this is more than fair and actually under what many people charge for these types of skulls - most people start at $350-400 and can even go as high as $600-700 depending on what's on it!!).  As far as my polled skull creations go, they will be priced at $90-150 depending on what is on them.

     I thought you might like to know why you are seeing what you are seeing as far as my creations go.  I may have horned skulls on here from time to time, but they won't be the majority that's for sure.  But you can be certain if I have one, it's real!

Thanks for reading and even more for Liking my page and for all the kind feedback I've received so far - I truly appreciate it.