Castration....How big is too big to Knife?

[cornstalk]

Hey board,

Looking for opinions / experiences with this....

Consider a steer calf that turns out to have one nut intact,(failed banding, or only one nut was in the sack when band was installed) the remaining testicle is somewhat recessed and has been un-noticable. Suspicion arizes at 10 months of age (750lbs) when the "steer" is seen bulling a herdmate heifer.

How would you handle this situation? The testicle is not easily accessible as it is recessed, and traditional banding is rather out of the question on a critter of this size.

Thanks for any insight.

 

[D.R. Cattle]

Is this a show animal, or a butcher steer? We butchered one not too long ago that had one recessed nut. Even though I would prefer a steer, the meat was no different than the steers hanging in the cooler with it. The folks who got the meat said it ate real good too.

 

[msscamp]

Knife castrate him - if you're not comfortable doing it, take him to your vet. The biggest potential problem is going to be that the older an animal is when castrated, the greater the chances of excessive bleeding so you might want to keep an eye on him for several hours, another potential problem is it might knock him off feed for a day or so.

 

[BC]

This is a good reason why banding is not as good as knife cutting especially young animals.

 

[Howdyjabo]

We do it ALL the time-- and we cuss the bugger than can't count to two

Recessed nuts--Might not be something that a person who hasn't alot of experience cutting and hasn't a good tailing person on hand-- to take on. They can get to be a real handful getting them out and thats if the calf is cooperating.