Cutting Calves
 

Where could I find a catalog that sells Burdizzos? I checked Valley Vet and they don't seem to carry them. ???

Also, we clamped a 6 month old Longhorn bull this weekend using some borrowed Burdizzos, and could only find 1 testicle. ??? For you people that are cutting quite a few calves, is this a common occurrence? I figured they would both be descended by 6 months?? On this particular calf, we just clamped the one side because that's what the owner wanted to do. ???

Re:Cutting Calves
 

We do occasionally have a calf with only one nut but I would say it is less than 1% of the time. We band ours the day they are born and never have any problem getting them both. We do occasionally miss a couple and then we just cut them when we brand. It does make a big difference how the calf is laying when you are castrating. On an older calf like that you shouldn't have any problems so he might of only had one. We just band them anyway because if their would happen to be the one left it would be left up and in theory should never be able to breed anyway. Hope this helps.

Re:Cutting Calves
 

[quote author=packfan25 link=board=10;threadid=18807;start=0#msg176436 date=1061827378]
It does make a big difference how the calf is laying when you are castrating. On an older calf like that you shouldn't have any problems so he might of only had one. [/quote]

On this calf we just roped it and pulled it into little temporary pen to keep mama off of us. It was the only calf in the pasture that needed cutting, and we didn't have a chute and head gate close by. We threw it on the ground and snubbed it up to a post and then crimped the one cord. Calf was laying on the ground.

I was thinking the same thing about the position of the calf, so after only finding one, I let it up for a minute and tried reassessing the situation. Still could only find 1 while standing.

Re:Cutting Calves
 

We don't ever crimp the chords just because you can't be certain you have done the job. On our older rams (sheep) that we decide to cut (around six months) we take strips of inner tubes to use as bands (if the bags are to big for bands). We just tie them really tight around the bag and that works great. This way you actually do not have a bag for a testicle to fall back down into if you miss it (as with the calve you are talking about).

Re:Cutting Calves
 

[quote author=packfan25 link=board=10;threadid=18807;start=0#msg176468 date=1061832484]
We don't ever crimp the chords just because you can't be certain you have done the job. [/quote]
I coudn't agree more, I have seen to many claves that have had Budizzo's used on them and are still able to breed. We either knife cut them when we brand or if we get some yearlings that haven't been cut yet we will use a Calicrate Bander(Sp?) on them and give them a tetnus shot(toxin or toxoid, can't remember of hand) because you are causing an anarobic environment in the sac and can cause tetnus. On the subject of one nut dropping this is not uncommon. We have 2-3 every year out of 1000 calves(=500 bull calves) that will only drop one.

Re:Cutting Calves
 

Oh man- I was thinkin veal ::)
Boy am I hungry..... [laugh]

Re:Cutting Calves
 

In the past few years, we've had a couple of calves that we'd thought had just one, but on both of them, one nut was still up inside. I had to reach in and pull it down. They were at least 5 month old calves. In the past years that I can remember, we've had at least 3 with one nut. We cut all ours and spray a little Furox or whatever it's called now, on them. Haven't lost one as far back as i can remember, and I'm 26

Re:Cutting Calves
 

[quote author=TXBobcat link=board=10;threadid=18807;start=0#msg176409 date=1061823820]
On this particular calf, we just clamped the one side because that's what the owner wanted to do. ???
[/quote]

Some of the old cattlemen swear by leaving a nut up you get the growth of a bull calf and the look of a steer, but in practice it leads to dark cutters and a knock when you rail 'em.

We've switched away from castration to using those big banding tools (can't for the life of me remember the name). You can get bands that'll do from 400 lbs all the way up to a yearling. They work great, and never had a slip yet, although we don't have but one or two to do in the fall (we band at birth).

For you castration guys, absolutely nothing beats good old creolin on an open wound. No infection, no tetanus, no worries. ;D If you accidentally get yourself with the knife, don't stick your hand in the creolin mix though :'(

Rod

Re:Cutting Calves
 

I did not know the banded sheep [eyecrazy] ???
DM01