Anyone tried this?

[kenny thomas]

As most of you might know I buy junk bull calves. Bought a 5wt last Saturday that had very large nuts. I normally knife cut everything but because of the heat thought I would band him. When I did I didn't like the looks of it. I went ahead and knife cut him and a couple others after placing a band on them. They have done better than just knife cutting and far better than banding. Any thoughts?

 

[ohiosteve]

As most of you might know I buy junk bull calves. Bought a 5wt last Saturday that had very large nuts. I normally knife cut everything but because of the heat thought I would band him. When I did I didn't like the looks of it. I went ahead and knife cut him and a couple others after placing a band on them. They have done better than just knife cutting and far better than banding. Any thoughts?

I'm no veterinarian or anything but I like the idea. Did you use a tri bander on the 500 pounder?

 

[kenny thomas]

Yes, had to work the nuts down through the band one at a time.

 

[Aaron]

Put band on and just slit the sack, no need to pull nuts out. Do it all the time, prefer it to both methods. Dry up and fall off in couple weeks. Calves go right to eating just like knife cut and no risk of bleeding out.

 

[True Grit Farms]

Put band on and just slit the sack, no need to pull nuts out. Do it all the time, prefer it to both methods. Dry up and fall off in couple weeks. Calves go right to eating just like knife cut and no risk of bleeding out.

Where and how do you slit the sack?

 

[kenny thomas]

Put band on and just slit the sack, no need to pull nuts out. Do it all the time, prefer it to both methods. Dry up and fall off in couple weeks. Calves go right to eating just like knife cut and no risk of bleeding out.

I done one like that for a friend but didn't like how it looked hanging down. Just went ahead and castrated it. When I done this one I thought of that. My thought is that if the band is on first it will cut off the blood so no bleeding.

 

[HDRider]

That is what our vet recommends

 

[kenny thomas]

That is what our vet recommends

Your vet recommend to leave them hanging?

 

[Aaron]

Put band on and just slit the sack, no need to pull nuts out. Do it all the time, prefer it to both methods. Dry up and fall off in couple weeks. Calves go right to eating just like knife cut and no risk of bleeding out.

Where and how do you slit the sack?

1-2" high from bottom of sack in middle, splitting the raphe, using Newberry knife. Just need to exposed the ends of the testicles enough for air flow/drainage, not that they are falling out. I should do a video on it. If you just band them at 5-6 months, it is irritating for about 5-6 weeks and they don't gain very well. But if you slit sack after applying the band, many drop after 10 days. After about 5 days they are dried out. I have cut calves before and they act just the same as cut calves.

I never believed it at first. Was all the rave on NAT. So I tried it one year and was amazed by the difference. You get the benefits of weight gain on intact bull calves, but without the weight loss/issues of castrating older calves.

 

[HDRider]

That is what our vet recommends

Your vet recommend to leave them hanging?

Not sure

I got this thru my neighbor. He just said band and cut.

 

[True Grit Farms]

Put band on and just slit the sack, no need to pull nuts out. Do it all the time, prefer it to both methods. Dry up and fall off in couple weeks. Calves go right to eating just like knife cut and no risk of bleeding out.

Where and how do you slit the sack?

1-2" high from bottom of sack in middle, splitting the raphe, using Newberry knife. Just need to exposed the ends of the testicles enough for air flow/drainage, not that they are falling out. I should do a video on it. If you just band them at 5-6 months, it is irritating for about 5-6 weeks and they don't gain very well. But if you slit sack after applying the band, many drop after 10 days. After about 5 days they are dried out. I have cut calves before and they act just the same as cut calves.

I never believed it at first. Was all the rave on NAT. So I tried it one year and was amazed by the difference. You get the benefits of weight gain on intact bull calves, but without the weight loss/issues of castrating older calves.

Thanks Aaron I'll have to try that. I was wondering if you could just band then cut the whole sack off nuts and all. Tearing the spermatic cord hurts them the worst. IMO

 

[gcreekrch]

Put band on and just slit the sack, no need to pull nuts out. Do it all the time, prefer it to both methods. Dry up and fall off in couple weeks. Calves go right to eating just like knife cut and no risk of bleeding out.

Thank you, one should learn something every day. Done that today!

 

[Beefeater]

Don't want to sidetrack the thread, but I tried the California bander on a couple 600lb calves a few months back and was really impressed with how easy it was to use.

I'll be trying the band and cut next go around.

 

[Aaron]

Just make sure you guys use the Tri or XL bands before you go the cutting route. I don't want to imagine the god awful mess you would have if you used the sheep band/green Cheerios and it broke afterwards.

 

[cow pollinater]

Aaron is dead on. I worked at a feedlot briefly where we did a couple hundred at a time. We lost the scalpel on one set of around a hundred that had probably sixty bulls in it so we didn't slice the sack on them and pens we brought in a week later of the same type cattle healed noticeably faster.

 

[kenny thomas]

Castrating one earlier tonight and didn't turn the Immobilizer up high enough. The second the scalpel touched the nut he kicked me in the stomach. Knocked me down. I got up and turned it up until he couldn't move and finished the job. Sure is sore where he kicked me though.

 

[SmokinM]

When you do this are you still doing tetanus shots before hand? When you cut them did you pull till it breaks as normal or did you just cut the cord? Those big ones are hit and miss to cut without setting back so thanks for the info..

 

[Hootowl]

When you do this are you still doing tetanus shots before hand? When you cut them did you pull till it breaks as normal or did you just cut the cord? Those big ones are hit and miss to cut without setting back so thanks for the info..

Right or wrong I give the tetnus antitoxin no matter which way I do it

 

[Aaron]

When you do this are you still doing tetanus shots before hand? When you cut them did you pull till it breaks as normal or did you just cut the cord? Those big ones are hit and miss to cut without setting back so thanks for the info..

Absolutely keep up to date on the tetanus shots. All you are doing is putting band on and slitting sack open. You don't pull on testicles whatsoever.

 

[JMJ Farms]

Castrating one earlier tonight and didn't turn the Immobilizer up high enough. The second the scalpel touched the nut he kicked me in the stomach. Knocked me down. I got up and turned it up until he couldn't move and finished the job. Sure is sore where he kicked me though.

Be careful Kenny. Could've been your shin or even worse, your face. Seen people get hurt pretty bad from a kick like that. Glad it wasn't worse :tiphat: