I have seen the surgery performed. The vet makes the incision on the belly by the navel area. He dissects the tissue connected to the outside layer of skin to free the navel stump. The stump is then pushed back up into the hole. My vet then sutured the hole closed, put in a second set of sutures to close the dissected tissue and then a third set of sutures to close up the outside skin. I watched this procedure on both a heifer and a bull calf. The heifer was a Brahman, so there was a lot of skin involved. The bull calf was a Shorthorn. He did not spay or castrate either animal, and both were on a course of antibiotics, but recovered very well. The first days were a little rough, but not too bad. You might want to get it done before it gets too hot and the flies get bad. As far as cost goes, I paid between $250 and $350 for my procedures. The vet I used did not have a fancy set up, just did it outside in as sterile conditions as possible. Good luck!