tiger hunter
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bull calfs are 3 months old.what is best way to castrate with a band or cut ?
Dodge!dun":1oe6rk7t said:Ford or chevy!
Nerves are pinched and numb in no time. Do not know when he is selling them.......maybe long after they fall off? Then why would a buyer care?jerry27150":1zal39l4 said:most buyers don't like banded calves around here. they want knife cut. my old vet hated bands, he say put one on your finger & tell me there is no pain.
When you're holding two nuts in your hand you know you got both. Sometimes with very young calves you may "think" you got both and only got one. Can happen to the best.branguscowgirl":3mkdnpez said:Andy, I can totally understand that rationale. However if someone is THAT POOR at banding them, they certainly do not have the skills to cut them either. :shock:
I wait a good month or two, and let them get a good start......just always thought it was good to have them up and healthy with some groceries in them. Never had a problem with banding, but I do not deal in high volumes either like some of you do. But if someone can't make sure that they have 2 nuts through a band, I surely don't trust them to "cut" properly either.skyhightree1":3ua300q4 said:I try to band within the first couple of weeks personally.
What kind of cattlemen have you been around. Geeze. We band at around 500 pounds, this is way before weaning so they are steers when they hit the sale barn. No way no how is anyone going to know how that calf was cut, now way in heck they will dock a calf no matter how he was cut.Andyva":3mvn8km5 said:Maybe the buyer has been burned on a load of stags. I saw a bunch come off a place that had 9 stags out of 13 banded calves. I helped work them when the vet fixed them. Two of the 9 had both testicles. If you use a knife, and can count to anything near two, you will never get docked on a stag. Either bands can break off, the testicle squeezes through, or people don't know what they are doing, but banded calves will have stags in them. A stag is a banded calf with a testicle up in it's belly, since it no longer has a scrotum. Usually won't throw calves, but will grow and act, just like a bull. At least with a bull, the buyer has an option of cutting them, stags require a vet, 'cause you have to cut their belly open. If you do band, buy new bands every once and a while. Dry rotted bands are the usual problem. People just wadding a bunch of scrotum up in there and letting go is another problem. My contention has always been, that I can cut quicker than I can band. You make a cut, and the calf kicks, the cut is done. With the band, every time he kicks, you start over, if you are doing it right.
Actually it's pretty easy to tell the difference. With banding there is typically no scrotum with knife cut there is a sizeable portion of scrotum still hanging down and healed up. One feed lot buyer told me that his customers like that section scrotum because it helps them determine the fat the calf is laying on.cowgirl8":142xpa2a said:We band at around 500 pounds, this is way before weaning so they are steers when they hit the sale barn. No way no how is anyone going to know how that calf was cut, now way in heck they will dock a calf no matter how he was cut.
Have you ever heard of hormone implants? If my calves weaned any heavier I'd have to haul them one at a time to the sale.cowgirl8":1a29twsa said:Anyone who argues that head to head a calf castrated at 2 days is going to grow as big as a bull calf to 5 months. You sure havent been around enough cattle to know bulls get hormones and muscle up better than a calf who has had it taken away at birth.
Research shows that calves steered at any age grow just as fast as bulls calves. Study up !!cowgirl8":ctzp3bwt said:Anyone who argues that head to head a calf castrated at 2 days is going to grow as big as a bull calf to 5 months. You sure havent been around enough cattle to know bulls get hormones and muscle up better than a calf who has had it taken away at birth. Sorry, thought you guys knew your cattle better... :? Cutting them out started many years ago when cowboys didnt want to wrestle a big calf, you can get hurt. SO, they did it to baby calves they could handle.
If that is true, why do people replace the hormones?TexasBred":1ggkk2jd said:Research shows that calves steered at any age grow just as fast as bulls calves. Study up !!cowgirl8":1ggkk2jd said:Anyone who argues that head to head a calf castrated at 2 days is going to grow as big as a bull calf to 5 months. You sure havent been around enough cattle to know bulls get hormones and muscle up better than a calf who has had it taken away at birth. Sorry, thought you guys knew your cattle better... :? Cutting them out started many years ago when cowboys didnt want to wrestle a big calf, you can get hurt. SO, they did it to baby calves they could handle.