# Castration methods



## Dani-1995 (Mar 11, 2011)

I got to thinking today, when I do have goat kids born I'm not sure how I want to castrate. Some wethers I have bought banded have been nightmares with infections and such. The wethers I'm getting in a couple days were cut a week and a half ago. 

What's your prefered method and why? The wethers I have will be show goats, so they will be castrated later than if we were a commercial farm. Which brings up another question, when cutting does the sack shrink up? I know with pigs the shrink to be almost unnoticable. But goats are designed a little different. 



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## TDG-Farms (Jul 12, 2013)

Burdizzo is the one I like best. The pain lasts longer then banding but there is no cutting so no chance for secondary infections. A couple of crushes on each side and done. Now we dont do that. We have the vet come out and do it. So if you are thinking of one to do yourself, banding is always going to be the easiest. Now if you are looking at pet wethers rather then butcher ones, then you might look into a calf banding tool and rings.


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## wildegoats0426 (Aug 30, 2013)

We had some banded for us and the breeder told us they would just fall off. Well it got infected so I called my other breeder and she said just take some scissors and snip them off. So I did, it was completely dead so they didn't feel a thing. I feel like I could band and then cut them a few weeks later. But the boys did go off feed for a few days, they hated it. 


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

I remember looking at options and found banding to be the only one we could go with. Since the kids are showing market wethers in 4-H, they have to be banded/completely removed.
We did our first banding last year, everything went well, no infections. They fell off after a while, so we never had to do anything other than watch them.
Before we banded, we did clean them really really well with cotton ball and alcohol. 
I did notice that when we did '1', he handled it really bad, but when we did the a few others together, they seemed to deal with it together.

We need to band 2 boys tomorrow, possibly 3. Praying all goes well, especially with the crazy year we've had so far <thanks to the crazy weather of course!>.


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## MsScamp (Feb 1, 2010)

I band mine. We already had all the tools to do it, and I'm a total weenie when it comes to knife castration - not to mention a total clutz! I would probably cut my hand off. So far, I haven't had any problems with infection or the kids going off feed. They cry for maybe an hour, then they are running around like nothing happened. But, I will not band them if the pens are wet, mucky, or the weather is cold or stormy.


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## milk and honey (Oct 31, 2010)

I went with banding.. Just because that is what everyone around me did. But I have castrated piglets, and it isn't too bad. Not pleasant, but do-able...


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## packhillboers (Feb 2, 2011)

We band ours between 8-10 weeks. I know a lot of people say that it may effect their size or growth but our wethers at 1 year last year were bigger than some bucks at the same age and they muscled up nicely. Banding is our preferred method because the risk of infection is not there as much. It is the easiest and less pain for the bucks. 
I have read on here about terrible banding jobs and I can not see how unless the bands were not tight enough or the animal had lay down in very dirty like conditions while the band was cutting into the skin. I just keep an eye on each one we band and if somethings looks like it is oozing around the band, I put iodine on that area. We make sure our bucks have had their CD-T before we band. So far - no problems for us at all and I would think that it should be rare unless the banding is done on older animals, then I think there could be some problems.


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## Scottyhorse (Feb 11, 2013)

We band as well. Boys were pretty sore for a few days after (not wanting to walk as much, but who could blame them?!?!) but all went well


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## eqstrnathlete (Mar 16, 2013)

I also band. But I also check daily to ensure there is no infection starting. Prior to banding, I dip the tool and band, and balls, in Betadine. Never have I had an issue. Some may not approve but I have also banded a dog and a cat with success. (Though the cat was very tricky)


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## Dani-1995 (Mar 11, 2011)

Well my horror stories with banding are like this, and this is only last year mind you. One wethers ended up coming home with a huge open spot after his jewels fell off that was very infected, almost like the band was too high up. Another one only had one testicle banded and the one that was banded, the sack and band came off of it, leaving a very small testicle still. I ended re banding the remains testicle and then sending him back to the breeder since he wasn't a full fledge wether. 

I've cut pigs before as well. Over all it wasn't too bad as long as you did it right. I only cut my self once but if I chose cutting for the goats I'd have a vet do it since they would be far more developed than the pigs. With that said, sometimes a pig would get missed at 3 days old and we'd have to castrate him at 3 or 4 weeks old when we finally saw it.... that was not as easy and usually bleeding was much higher. 

These kids I'm getting tomorrow haven't lost near the amount of weight kids I've previously gotten that were banded. The breeder says they went off feed for a day and then acted like nothing ever happened

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## Dani-1995 (Mar 11, 2011)

TDG-Farms said:


> Burdizzo is the one I like best. The pain lasts longer then banding but there is no cutting so no chance for secondary infections. A couple of crushes on each side and done. Now we dont do that. We have the vet come out and do it. So if you are thinking of one to do yourself, banding is always going to be the easiest. Now if you are looking at pet wethers rather then butcher ones, then you might look into a calf banding tool and rings.


Honestly, I'm looking for the best way to keep wethers on feed, lower chance of infection or probability of it it not being done correctly. I've looked into burrdizo before but I'm not sure we have a vet here that does it... everyone I've talked to says either band or cut.

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## nchen7 (Feb 25, 2013)

we got the vet to cut our buckling last year. he was sore for about a day, but still ate well.

I'm pretty sure you read this, but I'm posting anyway: https://fiascofarm.com/goats/buck-wether-info.htm#neutering


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## kccjer (Jan 27, 2012)

We had a couple 4H goats that we ended up cutting because we didn't get them banded. The sacks did not shrink or fall off or whatever. They had to do a physical check at fair to make sure there were no testicles because it looked like there were. We band when we can because it does tend to be a cleaner method for us. We'll be banding a little guy probably this week....he's right at 10 weeks. Another will be going to the sale intact because I was once told (and it makes sense) that it gives you an extra pound of "meat" for sale! LOL


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## Dani-1995 (Mar 11, 2011)

kccjer said:


> We had a couple 4H goats that we ended up cutting because we didn't get them banded. The sacks did not shrink or fall off or whatever. They had to do a physical check at fair to make sure there were no testicles because it looked like there were. We band when we can because it does tend to be a cleaner method for us. We'll be banding a little guy probably this week....he's right at 10 weeks. Another will be going to the sale intact because I was once told (and it makes sense) that it gives you an extra pound of "meat" for sale! LOL


That's what I was wondering. I know it's just a cosmetic thing, but I don't want the sack there.... looks odd to me. The breeder cuts since they stay on feed better and they have too many to keep watching and spraying iodine until they fall off.

My home bred kids will likely be banded though

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## RhinoWhite (Nov 17, 2013)

I'd be fortunate in the sense that our local markets doesn't demand castrated goats. They want the uncut version. I think it's for some religious reasons that they reject castrates.


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## Dani-1995 (Mar 11, 2011)

RhinoWhite said:


> I'd be fortunate in the sense that our local markets doesn't demand castrated goats. They want the uncut version. I think it's for some religious reasons that they reject castrates.


It is. Usually middle eastern cultures will prefer intact males. I forget why but they generally do. I had a man tell me that by castrating we were ruining the meat

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## Barnes19 (Sep 8, 2013)

I have to admit that when I do castrate I use bands.

I do not recommend it.

There was a study done on lambs, castrated by all 3 methods (different lambs of course lol).

When they autopsied them a few days later, the group that was castrated by banding had all bled internally.

Some of the worst had more than a liter of blood in the abdominal cavity. I think that may be why they look so sad for a few days afterwards ... the pain from the band should just go numb within an hour.

The ones that were banded very young had least ill effects ... a day old is ideal.

The risk of infection due to banding has already been covered ... while most cases won't, it can easily be nasty, or even lethal.

I don't castrate at all as a general rule ... my lambs and any goats I'm intending on eating I don't anyway.

I've personally never tasted any 'male' in an animal less than a year old, and I'm pretty fussy on meat flavor. As such I see no point in spending bands and risking their health on it.

If I'm selling a kid as a pet, then I'll band it. Thats the only time I castrate anything.

Although I have never used it, I'm a bit squeamish, the best way is the knife and I'd recommend that.

The once in a blue moon occasions that I do castrate anything I use bands because they're there and they're easy, and for just one animal every couple of years I haven't established the stomach to use a knife!

The Burdizzo they say is good, but it has the disadvantage of leaving the libido intact ... meaning stinky hairy randy which is no good for a pet, therefore useless to me.

Could make a good teaser ...


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## Dani-1995 (Mar 11, 2011)

Well for my purpose I don't feel Burdizzo is good. Can't have show wethers acting bucky, very frowned upon. 

I had heard about the internal bleeding which can't be good. I havent ever heard much on it and with wethers being terminal I don't what long term affects it would have. 

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## ptgoats45 (Nov 28, 2011)

I've only ever banded mine. I find they do a lot better if you band them younger than if you wait until they are bigger. I just banded a few 2 week old kids and will see how it goes. They didn't seem to mind too much. The big advantage I can see doing them younger is there is going to be a much smaller "wound" area when they do fall off and they should come off faster. 

I watched a show on TV a week or so ago about calving management (obviously with cattle). The vets on there said it was a lot better to band or knife a calf at or soon after birth than it was to wait. They said the whole "he'll be bigger if you wait" thing has been proven to be untrue. Even though the animal may be bigger, once you do cut or band them they will lose more weight, have more chances of problems (much higher chance of bleeding to death if you knife them) and have a higher chance of needing to be medicated. Doing it as a calf they didn't have as much weight loss (if any) didn't go off feed and grew out nicer than calves that were cut later. They also said that is has been shown that calves that are cut right away and implanted as calves were heavier than intact calves of the same age. 

One of the vets even said "the more attached the testicles are to the calf, the more the calf is attached to his testicles". Basically they do better, grow better and have fewer side effects being done younger


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## TDG-Farms (Jul 12, 2013)

It only takes 2-4 weeks for a buck who has been castrated with a burdizzo to have the sperm and testosterone be absorbed or leave the body. If dont correctly you can think of it doing the same thing banding does expect with no wound. The vessels and tubes on the inside of the sack are vastly weaker then the skin of the sack. The burdizzo is more or less glorified pliers. By squeezing the tool, you are crushing the vessels/tubes on the inside of the sack, fusing them together. The skin on the outside will have indentations but will be whole and intact. The nuts will shrink slowly over time to little or nothing is left but all bucky side effects are gone withing the first month.


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