Castrating calves

[OzssieDave19]

So a quick question?

Are we happy with putting a green marking ring on a new born calfs testicles at the same time as ear marking?

I have four cows and its easier than doing them in the race later on. More importantly safer for me.

I tried one last year it seemed ok.

 

[wbvs58]

Probably the optimum way of doing it as long as you are carefull to ring the two nuts. Some say you miss out on a bit of growth but there are always implants if you are worried on that front.

Ken

 

[OzssieDave19]

Yeah i didnt feel i missed any or much growth. I like the idea of easy for me and no fuss for the calf.

 

[elkwc]

I'm not able to band when they are born. In the past on the young ones I have continued to knife cut them and use a Callicrate bander on the calves around 300 up. This year I just banded everything. It seems to work the best for us.

 

[MRRherefords]

We band our calves with the cheerios early on. They don't even miss a step. It is easier for us to do it early and not have to worry about it later on.

 

[Lucky_P]

Millions, if not billions, of them have been done that way.
As previously stated, you need to be able to count to TWO.

Just a caution... tetanus can and does happen. Administering a dose of tetanus antitoxin - or better yet, annual vaccination of dams with a polyvalent Clostridial bacterin/toxoid containing tetanus toxoid, so that they provide colostral antibodies against tetanus to the calf - should prevent the tetanus issue.

If not implanted, you WILL give up growth and pounds at weaning, vs. what you'd have gotten had the calf been left intact or implanted. You might not notice it... but it will impact your bottom line; improved weight gains may be anywhere from 4 to 20% higher in implanted steers.

 

[5S Cattle]

All my buddies said I'll kill the calves if I band them at birth. I told them I'll band/cut later as long as they're there to help me. I have no takers so far, so I catch them when they're wet still. A lot easier on me being by myself 90% of the time and no lost calves yet

 

[cowgirl8]

We do it when our cows are finished calving over the 3 months of calving season...So we'll band babies up to 3+ months...We always give tetanus vaccine and any age does well... This year was the first year we implanted since the 90s... It was a very good grass year, so its hard to tell it the implants made them grow good or the belly deep grass all summer.. One herd averaged 651 with all the ages mixed...other herds were more like 550
Next year I might experiment with zip ties....someone posted a zip tie with a surgical tube on it for castrating. They were very expensive but looked easy to make.. That would sure be easy.....

 

[BRYANT]

All my buddies said I'll kill the calves if I band them at birth. I told them I'll band/cut later as long as they're there to help me. I have no takers so far, so I catch them when they're wet still. A lot easier on me being by myself 90% of the time and no lost calves yet

your ''buddies'' don't know what they are talking about.

 

[Fernowranch]

I band mine about a mouth old
if I think its a going to be a good bull ill wait a couple of months.
if don't work out to be a good bull
I cut them and give them a tetanus shot.

 

[Midtenn]

Newborns are hard to break. Much easier to lose 500 pounders if not done right (too hot, stress, signs wrong, etc.)
Before we had good facilities I always tried to catch them and cut with a knife while they were still wet, then I went to banding. I was younger then.
We hand feed all our cows at least every week or two, so now I just wait until first time they come in the corral I get the calf and band/tag in a separate pen from the mother.....much safer.
Occasionally, one gets by and is cut with a knife at 2 or 3 months old when vaccinating

 

[Dave]

I have done it but don't prefer it. I find it harder to make sure that you have two at that age. I castrate when I work them at 1-3 months. I vaccinate, brand, and castrate all at the same time.

 

[Silver]

We band them as soon as they are dry enough to get a grip on. Used to knife cut at birth too. Always felt it was a lot less stress on them to do it then. I only switched to bands because at a day or two of age they need to walk about half a mile from the calving area to where we feed the pairs and it seemed to me that the knife cut steers were harder to get to make the walk. I still don't like the look of a banded calf.

 

[SPH]

When we had a few commercial cows the crossbred males we cut with a knife around a week after birth. Now with an entirely registered purebred herd we don't castrate any bulls till a few weeks after weaning as we'll keep the top bulls intact and sell as yearlings and have the vet cut the rest that we usually retain ownership and send to a feedlot to finish off and collect carcass data on.

 

[5S Cattle]

All my buddies said I'll kill the calves if I band them at birth. I told them I'll band/cut later as long as they're there to help me. I have no takers so far, so I catch them when they're wet still. A lot easier on me being by myself 90% of the time and no lost calves yet

your ''buddies'' don't know what they are talking about.

:clap:

 

[bird dog]

I'm with Dave. Let them get some size on them and work them in the chute. I personally don't care to have the mama cow standing over me making sure I do it right.