interesting article about castration age

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It's a worthwhile read. Thanks. I was somehow under the impression that the industry had moved away from banding calves at birth. But apparently that's still recommended.
 
We generally castrate at weaning.. not because it's recommended, but because that was always the easiest time to do it!
 
With commercial calves we do castrate before going to grass but with bulls that decision is held until weaning.
Easier to take them off later than put them back on.

Jeff
 
Good reading dun. I like the point about the ideal time to castrate after the first belly full of colostrum, but as it suggests, sometimes its tougher to get the calf after it has been 24 hours. Although I have banded my calves as late as 3 days old, I try to get them the first day.
 
The main comparison they are making in this article, as I read it, is

1) Castration "under 3 months of age" (not necessarily right at birth)

to

2) Castration at weaning or 500lb or heavier.

The article also says "Castration at less than three months of age is a reasonable alternative to castration soon after birth."

Personally I like the "3 months of age" time. Surgical cutting at about 3 months old then letting them out on clean green grass to heal quickly lets you get them all at the same time. "3 months of age" would mean calves born in April would be cut in July. They can be run thru the chute and all done at one time, safely, along with weighing, shots and poured. They will then be mostly in the 2 to 3 month old range.

This also avoids trying to catch newborn calves and banding them, often in springtime mud... Granted however it might be easier for some operations that calve in a confined area in the spring then let the calves roam large stretches of rangeland over the summer to get the job done right at birth than to try to round them all up in July.

If you have some keeper bull candidates and need to let them grow out a bit would be the main reason I can see for delay for breeders.

Thanks for the link, Dun.
 
thats about right. i have also been trying to let em''hang'' til 3 mos to see if it helped with growth. didnt notice the diff..but my shins did..alot harder to do it when they can whip yer butt than when they cant get up and run off
 
for our spring born calves we like to castrate at 2 months. We usually get them in for fly control and worming/setting up ET on the mommas. We also use that opportunity to give pinkeye shot and implant those not being considered for breeding.
 

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