Castration question

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

My husband used to scalpel cut all our male calves (vs. band). After losing my husband, my nephew moved in with me. We band anything that we decide at birth will be a steer. But, I taught him how to castrate by cutting. I tail the calf, he castrates.
Hubby always pulled down 1 testicle & cut the outside sheath & popped the testicle out and then either pulled the cord til it snapped (young ones) or used the emasculators to crush & cut the cord.
Do you take the outside sheath off the testicle? I am not referring to the scrotum - bottom 1/3 of scrotum is cut off. I have seen on Vet TV shows that they just take the testicle out whole. What are your thoughts?

 

[MRRherefords]

Personally, I band, but most that I know take the testicle out whole.

 

[Fire Sweep Ranch]

This is how we do it, with a Newberry Knife

https://youtu.be/7kpaNQpeF7Q

 

[True Grit Farms]

I use a pocket knife to cut the bottom of scrotum off, and pull - squeeze one nut out at a time, wrap the cord around my finger and pull the nut till the cord snaps. No or very little blood if you castrate on the dark of the moon.

 

[Son of Butch]

I use a pocket knife to cut the bottom of scrotum off, and pull - squeeze one nut out at a time, wrap the cord around my finger and pull the nut till the cord snaps. No or very little blood if you castrate on the dark of the moon.

:nod:
+1

 

[talltimber]

I use a pocket knife to cut the bottom of scrotum off, and pull - squeeze one nut out at a time, wrap the cord around my finger and pull the nut till the cord snaps. No or very little blood if you castrate on the dark of the moon.

x2, but with a scalpel. Plus, with any cord left hanging out of the scrotum, I put a little tension on it to stretch it out, abrade with the knife to sever it at the scrotum so it snaps back up in there, no clean cuts with a sharp knife on the cords. I don't want any cords hanging outside the healing bag.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

How big a calf can you do that? (pull the cord instead of crushing/cutting) Weight ? Great to hear you don't have to take that sheath off - just adds a lot of time to the process and I feel there is less swelling (and bleeding) if done quickly.

 

[M-5]

I use a hook scalpel same as others and I just pull everything out no matter the size

 

[talltimber]

How big a calf can you do that? (pull the cord instead of crushing/cutting) Weight ? Great to hear you don't have to take that sheath off - just adds a lot of time to the process and I feel there is less swelling (and bleeding) if done quickly.

I'm not sure. I wouldn't want them to be too much bigger than 4-500 pounds myself. I am cutting mine when they are around 250-300 pounds or so. Some of the bigger ones are getting hard to pull by then, and I think if it's hard on me, it's got to be worse on them. Although I would hate to band any, I have heard of some folks buying bulls and banding them as big as 600 lbs. I am not experienced with them, but they say a clamp is the ticket on larger bulls. Idk about the success rate though.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

talltimber - yes, agree. We band up to about 250-300#. Depending if he can "fit" them into the little band. I was thinking over 4-500# they might not be very easy to "snap". Thanks all, for this info.

 

[talltimber]

Well, banding, you could go with a calicrate or the XL bander. I was thinking, cutting them, how big would it be ok?

I'm sure there are guys here who have cut, banded, clamped about any size you would want to talk about.

 

[M-5]

Ive cut bulls up to nearly a yr old , big enough that one nut was a meal

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

We have cut bulls up to 7-800#. I only have the one size bander for small calves. There is going to be lots of different opinions on here, but all the research shows any method for newborn is very little stress. As they get older, cutting is less stress than banding. I know if I HAD to lose a finger, I would want them to lop it off quickly, instead of letting it die a slow death with a band. ouch

 

[callmefence]

I use a pocket knife to cut the bottom of scrotum off, and pull - squeeze one nut out at a time, wrap the cord around my finger and pull the nut till the cord snaps. No or very little blood if you castrate on the dark of the moon.

x2, but with a scalpel. Plus, with any cord left hanging out of the scrotum, I put a little tension on it to stretch it out, abrade with the knife to sever it at the scrotum so it snaps back up in there, no clean cuts with a sharp knife on the cords. I don't want any cords hanging outside the healing bag.

I use a sharp blade on my pocket knife or scalpel to cut the bottom half of the sack. Nut in my hand cord between my index finger and middle finger and pull like he'll. On a big calf I use the dull blade(. The one I use to scrape my boots off before going in the house) to scrape the sheath up until it gives. To sharp a blade here can cause a mess.

 

[Son of Butch]

I use a hook scalpel same as others and I just pull everything out no matter the size

Yup. I view hanging cords as a hi-way for bacterial infections and with slow pulling pressure remove till it snaps.

 

[Farm Fence Solutions]

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=ca ... &FORM=VIRE

Seems fitting.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Hopefully that dull blade used to clean your boots get sterilized! LOL

 

[Red Bull Breeder]

Jeanne if its a tuff nut to pull out doing it like your husband did makes it easier. Nothing wrong with doing it the way your husband did it. My dad did it that way.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Thanks Red Bull. Just thought it looked a whole lot easier taking everything out, but didn't want nephew to try it until I heard it was OK to do that way.

 

[callmefence]

Hopefully that dull blade used to clean your boots get sterilized! LOL

I wipe it on my shirt between each one. :hat:



I drop the whole knife in a pan of alcohol between each one..