Burdizzo

[Hpacres440p]

Other than the fact that you don't end up with "two on the ground", what are the drawbacks of Burdizzo vs bands? Knife cut is obvious. Not selling through sale barn generally, as we finish our few steers for beef sales. I'm looking at fly irritation from sloughing and pain levels impacting gain. This would be for 3-4 month old calves. Do the calves need to be a little older to have large enough spermatic cord to crush?

 

[redcowsrule33]

This is what we do. I like to do it while they are still on the cow as they are moving around more and seem to have less stress. There was a study in Switzerland that suggested waiting until they are over 16 weeks was best. Biggest drawbacks are operator error and a sprung tool. They warp easily and should not be stored clamped shut. Buyers tend not to like them unless they have been castrated long enough to be really shriveled since if you don't do it right the nuts are still functional. I like to double check after a month just to make sure. One year I had two failures and in checking the tool it was sprung. No problems since I switched tools and I check it every time before using it.

 

[Hpacres440p]

This is what we do. I like to do it while they are still on the cow as they are moving around more and seem to have less stress. There was a study in Switzerland that suggested waiting until they are over 16 weeks was best. Biggest drawbacks are operator error and a sprung tool. They warp easily and should not be stored clamped shut. Buyers tend not to like them unless they have been castrated long enough to be really shriveled since if you don't do it right the nuts are still functional. I like to double check after a month just to make sure. One year I had two failures and in checking the tool it was sprung. No problems since I switched tools and I check it every time before using it.

With the failures did you just repeat?

 

[redcowsrule33]

Yes with a better tool.

 

[coachg]

Used it one year a long time ago with my grandfather and my uncle on a group of calves we owned together . Calves laid around for days not nursing, not grazing, just acted sick . Never used it again . I either band or cut depending on the season .

 

[gcreekrch]

Bands at birth. Easier to catch and easier on calf.

 

[Hpacres440p]

Used it one year a long time ago with my grandfather and my uncle on a group of calves we owned together . Calves laid around for days not nursing, not grazing, just acted sick . Never used it again . I either band or cut depending on the season .

How old were they?

 

[gcreekrch]

I have always hoped the inventor of the Burdizzo used a good one on himself as a trial before he multiplied. The contraption has created more stags than any other method of changing bulls into steers.

 

[wbvs58]

My neighbour had always used a burdizzo on his bull calves until a couple of years ago and now his livestock agent comes around and cuts them all for him so I assume the agent had too many complaints about the steers he sold for him so now he makes sure they are done right.

Ken

 

[Hpacres440p]

I suppose the fact that it isn't used much should be all the explanation needed. Thanks all

 

[Ebenezer]

We used them for years and took all of the above precautions. Never had the stag issue but there are some steers that never absorbed the testicles as well and the scrotum would always look in between a steer and a bull in length and shape. The real issue for me is working along. I can use them and yet it takes some extra efforts that a 3rd had makes so simple. Now I band and get it done 2X faster and with less grief to myself in that process. Easier for me - so I switched but kept my old one just in case.

 

[Ebenezer]

Maybe we ought to remember that this was a valuable tool during the years of the screwworm.

 

[Hpacres440p]

Maybe we ought to remember that this was a valuable tool during the years of the screwworm.

That makes sense. My dad said that that's how they used to do it because of screwworm.good reminder

 

[SBMF 2015]

I worked with a vet who claimed that he could flip the testical over to make sure it was a good clamp job.
He clamped a group of calves on a farm that then got sold. They had the farm name on their ear tags. The new owner had us cut all the bulls and the vet was complaining about whoever did a bad clamp job on those strs.

 

[Nick Wagner]

My preferred method, used by my father and granddad. No wound, no infection, no tetanus, no maggots, calves recover in about 4 seconds. Clamp each cord individually, take your time, I count to ten before releasing each side. I've had 2 stags I know of in 40 some years, makes a success rate somewhere around 99.9%.

I swear by burdizzo brand clamps. Grandpa bought some other brand once as a second tool, had yellow handles, it would cut a twine string but missed a number of times. Burdizzo clamps will not cut a twine.

Had a calf unload on me one time, just as I closed the clamps. I don't know how, but somehow kicked my cheekbone and rearranged my face. When I looked straight ahead, my left eye pointed down and to the right. Wife wanted to call an ambulance, then compromised, wanted to take me to the hospital. What are they going to do I asked, put a cast on my head? Took 10 or 12 days, every day it moved a little bit back towards normal. Wife always tailed for me. We had bought a new chute. Old homemade chute had horizontal bars she could use for leverage. New chute had vertical bars. I never gave it a thought, until then.

 

[greybeard]

I gave our old set away as a gag gift several years ago. (To my niece who was divorcing her husband at the time) That pair Belonged to my father bought at the old Thomas Bros Feed in Liberty County Tx in the early 60s and were Burdizzo brand but I hadn't used them in a very long time. To be honest, I didn't think anyone still used them. Their use was still taught in vocational ag in the highschool I attended in the mid to late 60s but I bet they aren't even mentioned nowadays.
They had their place and time, but in my opinion, both are gone. Banding (IMO) is so much easier and faster.

I may be completely out of it here but I seems to remember they had different sizes for different animals. One size for calves, another for sheep and even one for horses, with the handles being different lengths and the distance from the crimping jaws to the pivot point different too.??

 

[greybeard]

Clamp each cord individually, take your time, I count to ten before releasing each side.

This is how I was taught to do it too. I do remember the ag class having to go out to a farm over near Cedar Bayou and catch a calf that had somehow got up and run off with the burdizzo clamp still hangin...

 

[Dave]

Back a few thousand years ago when I was a kid everyone in the area used them. I used them a time or two. But now you couldn't give me one. I have 2 different banders and a sharp pocket knife. They work faster and more reliably.

 

[coachg]

How old were they?

It's been awhile but I think they were 3-4 months old . Not babies

 

[Nick Wagner]

Back a few thousand years ago when I was a kid everyone in the area used them. I used them a time or two. But now you couldn't give me one. I have 2 different banders and a sharp pocket knife. They work faster and more reliably.

Guess I don't change easy. I've cut my share of hogs, including some pretty good sized ones, just always clamped calves. When the kids started 4-H, fair vet said calves had to be cut or banded so I tried banding and buried a calf that developed tetanus. After that I paid a vet to do them, never thought about cutting them myself. As I type this, I'm asking myself why I didn't. How, what technique, do you use to cut them. The vet that did fair calves for me used a scissors to cut off bottom third of the scrotum, a laborious process, then pulled testicles out. Could you just make a slit, just like doing hogs?