castrating calves

[jt]

i cut a 300# angus cross calf 3 days ago. i noticed a lot of fat like stuff in his sack and in fact when i turned him out this fat hung out. i have seen this before in a small way, but this calf had so much of it you could have mistaken it for me having cut the bottom of his sack off and turned him out, leaving him intack otherwise. i ran him back thru the chute today, and this substance was like fat, not bloody or nothing but 2 big globs of a firm fat like substance. i cut them off even with the bottom of his sack and turned him loose. he did not bleed much from this.

my only thoughts as to why this happened would be if i had cut too much of his sack off, but i dont think that is the case. i guess i could have gotten a little too much, since he has this problem, but i have cut lots of calves and not expericed too many problems in the past.

do i have a problem brewing or should he heal up ok?

advice appreciated,

jt

 

[Fred]

Some calves have more fat than others. Some have a lot of fat and some have hardly any. I cut off as much fat as I can while castrating. I don't think you cut off too much sack, probably a little less than you should. Occasionally I have had a calf that the sack healed shut and swelled up big. I had to go back and split the sack so it could drain and heal.