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Castrating for health on the homestead
I know of three different ways of castrating the bulls and bucks. There is the banding method, where you use a banding tool. The sack with both testicles inside are banded off. You have to make sure both testicles are below the band so you don’t have a animal who could possibly still breed. The band seals the skin and the animals balls die and basically fall off. This is the method we use.
Another method is where a tool is used to crush the nuts. The last method is where the animal is cut open and the testicles are cut out. If we need the testicles cut, we have the vet come out and do it.
Does castrating stunt the growth of an animal?
We are not sure. We hear this from various sources; however, is the information accurate? Technically, it makes sense that a male animal would grow faster and bigger with testosterone. We grow our cows out in 29 months, for they only eat pasture and hay. No corn or other grain mixes. Farms around us that use grain have their animals grow faster. We choose to keep our meat growing as natural as possible. Plus, the studies we’ve seen say that grass fed beef is more nutritional.
On the financial side, it cost less for us to not grain feed. We would only feed non-gmo and organic feed since much of cow feed is corn and soy. If the corn and soy aren’t organic, they are GMO and sprayed with poison. I wouldn’t give my child a bottle of round-up to drink. Why would I give food with it in or on it to my animals? Animals I am going to eat at some point. I wouldn’t.
Knowing your genetics.
We only want the males on the homestead who will breed to be intact. It makes raising animals simpler because we can run them together as one herd with minimal separations. We also want to know the genetics of the offspring. If we run more than one bull in with our cows, we wouldn’t know who the sire was for the calves. For the cows, we’ve done different genetic testing over the years to know what’s in our herd.
For the goats, we want to make sure our main goat is the only one giving us goat kids. When we sell off any of the goats or cows, we want to have the correct information about genetics and parentage to whomever we are selling the animals too.
Separating young calves and castrating young bulls for safety.
The safety of our young heifers is one of our top priorities. A heifer could get bred at six months of age. It wouldn’t be safe for the mom or the new calf. Getting bred this early could stunt the growth of the mom, plus be unhealthy for such a young heifer. The health of the young heifer and its calf could be in jeopardy as well. We could lose both animals, something we don’t want to risk.
When the new heifers are old enough to be bred, but not yet ready, we separate them from the bull. We bring the calves into the barn or a different field during breeding season. We move the bull to another area when it’s not breeding time.
We normally castrate all bull calves around two to three months old. We know some people who castrate at a week old. Yes, it’s easier to handle the calf to castrate. We’ve found it’s harder to make sure we have both testicles in the sack to band. The smaller testicles seem to get sucked up into the body easier. Plus, by waiting a few months, the calf is stronger and more established. Plus, the calf will nurse for a few more months before weaning.
Separating goat kids and castrating kid bucks.
We separate goat kids around three months old to help them ween from the does. Some Does ween their kids on their own while others don’t. It takes too much out of does not to ween their offspring around 12 weeks of age. We breed the does once a year, and they need time to regain their health before breeding again.
We castrate the buck kids at two months old. By waiting until the kid bucks are two months old allows them to be stronger. Plus, they still have another month of nursing for their health.
Decide what is right for your animals and humans on the homestead
Some people castrate their bucks and bulls, some do not. Do what makes sense for your homestead. What makes life easier for the humans, while keeping it humane for the animals.
Happy Homesteading.