banding questions

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jt

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i use a california bander on larger bull calves, mostly in the 6-8 weight range. when i band, i cut a slit in the sac, if i dont forget.

i have heard of folks cutting off the sac after banding.

my questions are,

how long after banding do you cut the sac off? if i remember correctly, i think i had heard at about 2 weeks, but am not sure.

do you cut it off just below the band and leave the band or at the band and take it off?

what is the risk of having one of the steers open up and have a problem?

thanks

jt
 
Now we band at birth, but know a guy that bands just before weaning. He put the band on the bull calf and gives it a tetnus shot.
2 weeks later he brings them in and cuts the sac off.
If you want to cut off the sac cut below the band, do not cut above. If you cut above you will open up the abdomen. Know of another guy doing that. His calves died.
 
It seems to me if you are going to band then band. If you are going to cut, then cut. Why do both? Maybe I'm missing something? Don't forget the shots with the band, tetanus I believe. Sounds like a good question for a vet rather than a vote. Jim
 
Dieselbeef if you knew the guy, you wouldn't be surprised. I was just surprised that no one helping him stopped him after the first calf.
 
Agree...there are always idiots out there that failed to "graduae" from elementary school...lol.

Anyway...

Band, tetanus shot, then the scrotum shrivels up and drops off on its own in 2 to 3 weeks.

Problem solved.
 
SRBeef":2ky5bggb said:
It seems to me if you are going to band then band. If you are going to cut, then cut. Why do both? Maybe I'm missing something? Don't forget the shots with the band, tetanus I believe. Sounds like a good question for a vet rather than a vote. Jim

not looking for a vote. looking for someone who has experience it what i asked about.

why band at this size? several reasons. on some i want to give them a chance to deternmine whether they will make a good bull. others are for other folks who ask me to. cutting at that size, especially when it is hot, really sets em back. they dont miss a beat when i band them. i did cut several 4 wt calves at the time i banded bigger ones and wished i had banded the 4 wt ones too. it was really tough on them with the heat.

i have had them fall off in 2-3 weeks, but usually it takes 4-6. a guy i banded some for about 2-3 weeks ago wants to sell them now and that is what prompted this question. they were anywhere from 5-8 wt bulls. didnt set em back any. i have banded em at about 1000 #s with no problems.

i did cut the sac off of one of my calves earlier in the year. cut it about 1 inch below the band and left the band for about another week and then took it off. just wanted to make sure. was just wanting to find out on here how others with more experience did this, so that is why i asked.

lol, it goes without saying i figured, but, yes, you cut below the band, and yes give tetnanas shots (2)
i band on the booster shot.

thanks

jt
 
Banding at birth is simply to easy for me it seems.

The California bander (used on cows belonging to others) works fine all on its own. If you cut, are you not just making a place for flies to infest? Cutting and banding makes no sense to me. Flies are bad enough as is.
 
backhoeboogie":axnahuii said:
Banding at birth is simply to easy for me it seems.

The California bander (used on cows belonging to others) works fine all on its own. If you cut, are you not just making a place for flies to infest? Cutting and banding makes no sense to me. Flies are bad enough as is.

flies are a problem for sure, but they also can be a problem around the band because it is continually cutting into the sac until it falls off. not arguing that point at all, because it is a good point.

i am just trying to see what others, who do cut the sacs off, do because i have a man wanting to sell several of his banded bulls now and he is not sure if he wants to cut the sac off or wait.

somewhere way back in my ever forgetful mind, lol, i seem to recall that some of the feedyards would cut the sacs off instead of waiting. but i just cant remember exactly anymore what i read. so, i was looking for some help here.

thanks

jt
 
It seems to me if you want the best value out of your calves and you want to sell at this time of year you need to band earlier. I have ranched all of my life and have seen calves banded and litterly thousands knife cut. I can tell you that I do not know a single buyer that wants to buy calves that are not completely heeled up. No one wants someone elses problems. That is why freshly banded or cut calves are discounted. If you cut the scrotum off below the band, anyone who sees the calves should be able to tell if they are not heeled up. Just my point of view. I would not sell anything until they are in reputable condition ( meaning healthy all the way around).
 
1 week and cut the sacks off. No blood no mess, much more than a week and the bags will start to run down there legs and buyers will no they are fresh banded. Have done it this way before and will likely do it agin.
 
well if ya really want to make some money on your steers just do like we do and when ya band em push one of their nuts back up in their belly and it gives ya some added growth and them thar boys at the yards can't tell they ain't steers
is just like givin them suckers an implant and ya can still sell em as ALL natural cause they really are just minus one nut
we been doing it for yrs and works for us
 
Yeah I've cut a bunch of those one nut wonders and I say the whole time I'm doing it " I'd like to get my hands on the guy that did this".

Larry
 
Hoofs and Horns":18vk248b said:
well if ya really want to make some money on your steers just do like we do and when ya band em push one of their nuts back up in their belly and it gives ya some added growth and them thar boys at the yards can't tell they ain't steers
is just like givin them suckers an implant and ya can still sell em as ALL natural cause they really are just minus one nut
we been doing it for yrs and works for us

Well, I know that most of the folks on here are truthful, and of course that statement is so far from being truthful with customers. Why would you do that? If they do not know, those calves can still breed heifers, and in the end, it causes many problems for the feedyard. I guess you sell all of your "steers" (if you want to call them that) that way? Where do you take them?
 
Hoofs and Horns":1uhgkask said:
well if ya really want to make some money on your steers just do like we do and when ya band em push one of their nuts back up in their belly and it gives ya some added growth and them thar boys at the yards can't tell they ain't steers
is just like givin them suckers an implant and ya can still sell em as ALL natural cause they really are just minus one nut
we been doing it for yrs and works for us

Did you get the ethics award this year?
 
greatgerts":1y588ek8 said:
Hoofs and Horns":1y588ek8 said:
well if ya really want to make some money on your steers just do like we do and when ya band em push one of their nuts back up in their belly and it gives ya some added growth and them thar boys at the yards can't tell they ain't steers
is just like givin them suckers an implant and ya can still sell em as ALL natural cause they really are just minus one nut
we been doing it for yrs and works for us

Well, I know that most of the folks on here are truthful, and of course that statement is so far from being truthful with customers. Why would you do that? If they do not know, those calves can still breed heifers, and in the end, it causes many problems for the feedyard. I guess you sell all of your "steers" (if you want to call them that) that way? Where do you take them?
We usually sendsem up to Canada thems buyer up there will buy anything and we always gets top dollar cause sometimes we even dye em black rights before we sell em so we's gets us a premyum for them thar black hides
used to use stove black but yas gots to watch if the weathers wet cause it runs so nows we gets us sometype of nuclear waste oil from a power plants stuff don't wash off and will soak plum thru the hide and tehn they really are black hided , sure don't wont to gets it on your skin tho cause it will geev ya some weird side efecks for week, last time manual got some on heem his pee turn green and glowed in the dark for a couple a days , we curedheem tho we's gave him a coupel doses of Naxcel cc per dose and then some baytril 100 a single dose of 8cc and he cleared rightup altho he does have a few spasms now and then
 
grannysoo":11x0mqam said:
Hoofs and Horns":11x0mqam said:
well if ya really want to make some money on your steers just do like we do and when ya band em push one of their nuts back up in their belly and it gives ya some added growth and them thar boys at the yards can't tell they ain't steers
is just like givin them suckers an implant and ya can still sell em as ALL natural cause they really are just minus one nut
we been doing it for yrs and works for us

Did you get the ethics award this year?
Naw we don't get no awards for ethnics cause we only has one and that is Manual and I thinks he is from over round North Platte
We's did have a few of them ethnics for awhiles but them govment boys came in and gave the boss'n a teeket and took all our Ethnics away, scept Manual and he hid out in the grain bin
 
flyingS":1r95m8ht said:
It seems to me if you want the best value out of your calves and you want to sell at this time of year you need to band earlier. I have ranched all of my life and have seen calves banded and litterly thousands knife cut. I can tell you that I do not know a single buyer that wants to buy calves that are not completely heeled up. No one wants someone elses problems. That is why freshly banded or cut calves are discounted. If you cut the scrotum off below the band, anyone who sees the calves should be able to tell if they are not heeled up. Just my point of view. I would not sell anything until they are in reputable condition ( meaning healthy all the way around).

i agree 100%. but these are not my calves. i had told the guy several months back to take care of em.

thanks everyone for the replies.

jt
 

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