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Dehorning is indeed a common practice, especially among dairy goats. It helps to prevent injury among themselves, and injury to handlers. It does indeed seem grusome by any method used. When the kids are young however it isnt so bad, because the horn isnt grown yet. It just removes the horn bud, so a horn doesnt grow. When done correctly and proper after care is done the goats turn out perfectly fine. Sure there is initial pain in the beginning but for most its better than being impaled, or getting stabbed on the milking stand by a goat that doesnt know where it's horn is going.

Again with tagging, when properly cared for the tag causes no later harm to the goat other than the inital pain. It provides a means of identification, that can be vital in larger herds, and in the show ring. Its similar to people getting earrings.

I personally tag because i show in youth shows, however i do not dehorn because my goats are Boer, and the breed just doesn't seem right without its horns. Also i do not have the equipment to dehorn.

Yup, very standard practice in both goats and cattle.
I used to do it all the time, when I was still breeding goats. I always felt bad for my little boys though, they got dehorned and banded all in one go. But as soon as you set them down they're fine. I always had a bottle ready for them so I'd get the bad stuff done and then they'd get fed.
I never ear taged my goats, but I did it with cattle, I now do it with sheep, pigs, rabbits, mice and rats. Mainly mice, our sheep rabbits and pigs come in with ear tags now, they didn't used to and that was a pain.
With cattle, sheep, goats, pigs and rabbits it's no big deal unless you hit the artery going down the middle of thier ear. They will bleed like mad if you do, but they have large areas of cartilage, basically the whole ear, that is not going to bleed and will heal nicely. It's no different then a human getting a cartilage piercing, I have one.

I'm new to the farming scene as well. And going to an auction for the first time was the most culture shock thing i've done. for some reason though, i've just eased up to everythign else. None seemed more shocking to me than the other things. And i have since gone to many auctions, and even purchased stock from them. mrgreen

Castrating cattle is indeed very grousome.

I think if i ever de-horn a goat of mine i will use a topical anestetic to numb the area a little, however i'm not sure how well that will work. :/ My mom is a nurse so she can get things like lidocane and whatnot.

how do they castrate calves?? and have you ever been involved with castrating piglets X.x I had to pitty the poor lil dudes,but they didnt squeal too much AFTER they were cut....

Well here's a quick youtube search Here, not the best angle, but you'll get the picture.

And I've done piglet castration. It was part of my VT training. Only done it the once though, the one poor little one that our class did had an inguinal hernia. When we set him down his intestines started to come out of his scrotum. Our teacher (a licensed veterinarian) stitched him up with string from a feed sack that had been soaked in alcohol and a needle that would have been big on a cow. But it's what was available. Little guy survived, no infection, and as soon as we put him back with mom just started suckling away. He grew to his full potential and went to slaughter with the rest of his siblings.

Well mom gets the injectible kind. She takes it out with a needle, and then squirts it on the area with a syringe. Does well to numb the area.

Yup, except horses at least get a local. Of course that's less for the horse and more for the individual performing the castration wink