Castrating ???

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SKF

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We have always castrated our calves when they are real young before they are weaned. Now we have a calf that is 650lbs and seven months old that we left a bull but now we have a kid who wants to buy him as a steer. Is there anything that we need to do differently with him when we have him castrated? What about bleeding will there be a lot more bleeding? Do any of you castrate your calves when they are bigger? Any help is appreaciated!! Thanks!!!! ::)
 

linnettejane

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we always wait and castrate when ours are that size....we like to show them as bulls at the county fairs and then kids will want to buy them and steer them and use them for markets....it has worked pretty good for us....find someone who is good and there will be little blood...make sure they cut the bottom of the sack off so there is good drainage.....the only trouble with doing it this time of year is flies....we spray ours pretty good with screw worm spray to keep the flies away....
 

kanshow

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When we have any that we do at that size, we've had good luck using a calicrate bander.  Be sure to give a tetenus shot when you band. 
 

txguy

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I wouldn't recommend banding this time of year simply because of the heat and stress. Go ahead and cut him it will be much quicker and he will get over it sooner. Get a bottle of vitamin K and give him a shot according to the dosage. The vitamin K will help make the blood clot you need give the vitamin K injection about 20 minutes to 30 minutes prior to castrating him, and also get a farmers almanac and watch for the signs as to when it says is the best time to cut this should leave you with minimal bleeding. 
 

linnettejane

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never heard about the vitamin k thing...cool! 
we always used to wean our calves by the farmer's almanac....worked good for that...:)
 

ba

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Rockville Indiana
When weaning or cutting get the sign futher below the heart down to the feet the better.
Their is something about the light/dark of the moon but I don't know what that is.
 

olsun

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I have castrated cattle, horses and hogs of all ages and sizes. There should be no problem if done properly. The only calf we ever had bleed to death was a calf on clover hay. Clover is said to slow clotting. Hope this helps.
 

Freddy

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The rule i go by in cutting calve's came from my uncle about forty year's ago , make sure they have good drainage out of the sack like one of the guy's said.  Also use disinfectant for knife an we throw some on the bag before an after, there is a disinfectant that help's with the healing, an we use those small rubber veterinary glove to reduce infection an keep hand's clean. When you go to pull the cord,an this is more for the older calve's three mo, to  one year do one at a time an pull steady an try to get it to snap way back in the calf ,  I wrap the cord around my finger's to help pull steady , some times if I Donny have glove's it will get tight enough to cut my hand.    One of the vet's told me that as long as that calf is not a year old it has enough elasticity to snap that closed.    DO NOT use a  knife to CUT OR HELP IT BREAK.If it would happen to break early an you can see any hanging out of bag or up in it try to pull more out. This will happen some time's. Also when you firs grab cord you might need to push back some of the flesh or fat to get down to the cord. I've used this for about forty year's or more an I think Might have lost one calf.  We cut about fifty calve's a year this way an they are 6 month's an older.  Ask RSC ,I cut 8 head of Friction ,Carnac an Heat Wave embryo Cale's last year that we were partner's on.  Freddy  PS-  Put these calve's that are just cut out where they have plenty room to exercise an prefer on grass to keep it clean.
 

RSC

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Freddy said:
The rule i go by in cutting calve's came from my uncle about forty year's ago , make sure they have good drainage out of the sack like one of the guy's said.  Also use disinfectant for knife an we throw some on the bag before an after, there is a disinfectant that help's with the healing, an we use those small rubber veterinary glove to reduce infection an keep hand's clean. When you go to pull the cord,an this is more for the older calve's three mo, to  one year do one at a time an pull steady an try to get it to snap way back in the calf ,   I wrap the cord around my finger's to help pull steady , some times if I Donny have glove's it will get tight enough to cut my hand.    One of the vet's told me that as long as that calf is not a year old it has enough elasticity to snap that closed.    DO NOT use a  knife to CUT OR HELP IT BREAK.If it would happen to break early an you can see any hanging out of bag or up in it try to pull more out. This will happen some time's. Also when you firs grab cord you might need to push back some of the flesh or fat to get down to the cord. I've used this for about forty year's or more an I think Might have lost one calf.  We cut about fifty calve's a year this way an they are 6 month's an older.  Ask RSC ,I cut 8 head of Friction ,Carnac an Heat Wave embryo Cale's last year that we were partner's on.   Freddy  PS-  Put these calve's that are just cut out where they have plenty room to exercise an prefer on grass to keep it clean.

What Jamie(Freddy) says is what I would listen to.  He's been around the game along time.  We cut our partnership calves last year during hot muggy weather and got along great.
One of the calves, 5-6 months old wasn't set back a bit and 1 1/2 months later was one of the top selling steers on our sale.

RSC
 

chambero

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I hate banding.  I've seen more messes with banding than I ever have a blade.  I cut about 100 bull calves a year and the last one we lost was almost ten years ago now.  We do cut at around 3 months of age though.

If you are worried about it with one that big, let a vet do it.  We'll sometimes do that on the random big one we cut.

I will point out the tools we use.  Knives work just fine of course, but we decided to be lazy.  I take the bags off with surgical scissors (less chance of stabbiing/cutting me or the calf if they jump around) and use emasculators (they look like pliers) to cut the cords.  On bigger calves, make sure you pull out as much cord as possible because after cutting, the bleeding end will go farther back in their belly to allow it to clot easier.  At least that's how I've been taught.
 

sawboss

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Nacogdoches, TX
I just had our vet cut one that weighed 650 lbs., the only thing I would add to the prior advice in the threads is he tied the cords off to reduce bleeding.  It worked like a charm, two days later you could hardly tell the procedure was done due to lack of swelling.  On a side note I almost passed out when I went in to pay at the office, he charged me a whole $8.00 for his time.  I should not have told my sons about this, now they do not want want to cut any since he did it so cheap and took all the risks.
 

bcosu

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i told some one that we had weaned some calves this summer on a certain day then they told me i did it a week early according to the farmer's almanac. they then told me that these calves would bawl more and have more stress. it was probably one of the easiest weanings i've ever had. those calves were quiet almost the whole time and started on feed with hardly any problem. i can't really say that i am a farmer's almanac believer.
 

Freddy

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On cutting these calve's I have a question , do the show people prefer that you hand cut these calve's rather than band. Someone told me this, we have banded some anonly had trouble when the bands were either no good or old. That was a mess but have done it since an got along fine, but we alway's give tetanus shot with it........I forgot to tell you of a tool we use catarating  , the  VEt's have a stainless steel instrument they call mulberry to cut calve's with an I feel a lot safer with it.  It's kinda like a big vice grip with a replaceable blade in the end of it.  It also let's you get some distance , if you cut directly behind calf.  I feel is a lot safer than some of these knife's I have that proably just cut something it wasn't designed to an are not very sharp or made right.
 

inthebarnagain

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Freddy said:
On cutting these calve's I have a question , do the show people prefer that you hand cut these calve's rather than band. Someone told me this, we have banded some anonly had trouble when the bands were either no good or old. That was a mess but have done it since an got along fine, but we alway's give tetanus shot with it........I forgot to tell you of a tool we use catarating  , the  VEt's have a stainless steel instrument they call mulberry to cut calve's with an I feel a lot safer with it.   It's kinda like a big vice grip with a replaceable blade in the end of it.   It also let's you get some distance , if you cut directly behind calf.  I feel is a lot safer than some of these knife's I have that proably just cut something it wasn't designed to an are not very sharp or made right.

It is a Newberry castrating knife.  Don't buy a cheap one though, I made that mistake with my first one.  They work great and there is very little chance of you getting cut, especially on a big one.  They are hard to use on a real small one though, not enough room to get in there!  Make sure you go in halfway up the bag so it will drain good, it pushes the testicles up and out of the way so that isn't a problem.  If you make the cut too low then you have a tougher time getting the testicles out. 
 

BCCC

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Freddy said:
On cutting these calve's I have a question , do the show people prefer that you hand cut these calve's rather than band. Someone told me this, we have banded some anonly had trouble when the bands were either no good or old. That was a mess but have done it since an got along fine, but we alway's give tetanus shot with it........I forgot to tell you of a tool we use catarating  , the  VEt's have a stainless steel instrument they call mulberry to cut calve's with an I feel a lot safer with it.   It's kinda like a big vice grip with a replaceable blade in the end of it.   It also let's you get some distance , if you cut directly behind calf.  I feel is a lot safer than some of these knife's I have that proably just cut something it wasn't designed to an are not very sharp or made right.
I have been told that when you knife cut them they look better as fats because they fill with cod better or something
 

inthebarnagain

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The newberry knife slits the bottom of the sack, it doesn't cut anything off, that is why you have to go about halfway up the bag so they don't seal back shut with a little cut. 
 
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