I never thought I'd be able to say I had ever castrated an animal before, but this weekend I did it for the first time. Our bull calf Meatloaf needed the procedure done, so rather than pay a vet, I figured I'd give it a shot. We're learning to do a few of the easier vet practices here, like palpating, giving injections, drawing blood, and castrating. Since it costs $25 just to have the vet drive out here, we're saving a little on cattle costs. The procedure went very well. I opted for the bloodless band castration method. It's simple and less gorey. We locked mom out of the barn and tied Meatloaf to the calf pen. He struggled very little, and didn't even protest when I put the band on. I made extra sure I had both of "the boys" in there before I put it on, as I didn't want to have to call a vet out to fix my screw up later. I'm confident they're both in there. From what we've read, it takes 10 to 20 days to work, and it's a little easier on the calf because they don't lose any blood and are less prone to infection.I can mark that off my list of farm experiences had. How many people can say they've ever castrated a bull? Sounds like a good ice breaker to me.
2 comments:
Derek, How exactly does this work? Just curious. I understand that you put it on and it works in 10-20 days. What happens?
Sorry for the late reply. In short, it falls off. Pretty gross, I know, but it beats the other way, which would be cutting them off.
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