Silver
Well-known member
I've never had a cheerio band break. Nowadays I throw out all the remaining bands at end of calving season. They are too cheap to take chances on.
When to cut
- Thread starter ragweed
- Start date
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Same thing here.
Maybe just bad luck on my part, but since switching to the thicker tri-bands there hasn't been any issue. Just hate how big the bander itself is compared to others when working in tight quarters. Definitely better when roped and strung out IMO.
Jeanne - Simme Valley
Well-known member
Maybe you need to re-try the cheerios. Maybe bad batch??? Maybe operator error?
Ky hills
Well-known member
We use the little green bands on most. Some times there's calves that are bigger and I have a Tri-bander for those it's not really a lot bigger than the small bander but shaped different and the bands are thicker. For larger size calves up to 700 lbs. have a XL-bander, same design as the tri-bander but bigger with bigger thicker bands. Used it today on a purchased 570 lb bull calf, I'm not sure about the 700lb rating as it was pushing it to band this calf. Another thing that I do is use a tetanus vaccine on all calves I band unless it's a newborn. That vaccine is sometimes hard to find, so if I can't get it, then I use the two rounds of Covexin-8 or Cavalry-9 and band at time of second dose 2-3 weeks after the first.
I use the both sizes of tri-banders and I agree it can be tough with the XL on 700 pound calves, makes it interesting to fish the boys through the hole. I sometimes borrow the neighbors Pro bander if I think I may have a few that will be hard to band.
Ky hills
Well-known member
I rarely use it any more, but have one of those old style EZE banders that uses tubing. It will do for mature bulls, but I've never used it for anything near that big. Just got it years ago before the tribanders for calves too big for the little green bands.
Dave
Well-known member
The best time to cut is when your knife is sharp. Bad deal doing it with a dull knife.
I prefer a single-edge razor blade. Just slice the tip of the scrotum off, pull those little guys out and feed them to the dogs.
When we had the 120-head Corriente herd, we had them all calving in February. We used enough bulls to have them all calve in 30 days + or-. So, when the last one was born, we;d schedule a work day that next weekend, usually 1st weekend in March. So, the oldest calf would be 4-5 weeks and the youngest a couple of days. We'd tag them all, cut the bull calves and spray the wound with blue spray or yellow spray, and turn them out. With this new herd I got in Mexico, some were bred and had due dates all over the place. One calved the day we unloaded and the last one a week ago. So, with these, we will just band any new ones born during that week. Less dangerous for us when we are heeling them in the pasture and stepping down right quick to ear tag and castrate, if we use bands.
The client I bought the 80 Brahmas for worked his yesterday. These were born January and Feb. He has a fantastic covered working facility and we ran the calves through the chute. He was ear tagging, vaccinating, and cutting the bull calves, and I think implanting Ralgro. Not for sure, I was on horseback and was getting the next one while they worked one. He was lucky in that there were about 50 heifers and 30 bull calves. He has already sold all the heifers. About 10 of these calves were by black Hereford bulls, and 2 of them were bull calves. He decided to leave them bulls, because the man that bought all of his heifers said he wanted a black Braford bull.
The client I bought the 80 Brahmas for worked his yesterday. These were born January and Feb. He has a fantastic covered working facility and we ran the calves through the chute. He was ear tagging, vaccinating, and cutting the bull calves, and I think implanting Ralgro. Not for sure, I was on horseback and was getting the next one while they worked one. He was lucky in that there were about 50 heifers and 30 bull calves. He has already sold all the heifers. About 10 of these calves were by black Hereford bulls, and 2 of them were bull calves. He decided to leave them bulls, because the man that bought all of his heifers said he wanted a black Braford bull.
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JJColvin
Well-known member
I buy the 1-12" disposable scalpels but I keep my razor sharp buck knife in my pocket.
houstoncutter
Well-known member
Seldom did I cut unless they were being kept for show steers. Get to 400 lbs and ship them I worked. It made better sense for us as our poor summer grass pastures just didn't get it done. Ran more cows per acre and it was easy on them to get them to that weight
Jeanne - Simme Valley
Well-known member
ALL research proves it produces a better feedlot/finished steer if castrated (banded preferred) at birth up to 3 mos. Anyone that says they need to be older isn't facing true facts. And anyone not castrating is leaving money behind. It literally takes 2 minutes at birth to band a calf.
Named'em Tamed'em
Well-known member
I used the calicrate bander on 3, 5 weights yesterday. I'd rather do them earlier but
gman4691
Well-known member
It is my understanding that getting them early on while the skin is still soft is best for elasticators. Haven't actually cut a calf in a long time but we used to do it when they were still pretty small (probably less than 3 months).
