castrate or not,

anthony500_1

What do ye lads do on relation to bull calfs, will have suckler bred calfs either half or full Sim, was chatting to a man today and he recons to castrate them at 3 days old. Do ye think this is madness or has he a point. I'm debating doing it as I might hold onto the calfs for an out farm and would mean a lot less hassle down the line

Who2

anthony500_1 wrote: »

What do ye lads do on relation to bull calfs, will have suckler bred calfs either half or full Sim, was chatting to a man today and he recons to castrate them at 3 days old. Do ye think this is madness or has he a point. I'm debating doing it as I might hold onto the calfs for an out farm and would mean a lot less hassle down the line

what hassle will that save? Simmental bulls only have one option imo and that's to push for under 16 month finish.

DaDerv

Would you not just be missing out on the testosterone by castrating that early?

Bullocks

Who2 wrote: »

what hassle will that save? Simmental bulls only have one option imo and that's to push for under 16 month finish.

I thought the opposit - that they would be slow to finish and would be better off squeezed , but I'm not a finisher .

I don't know about ringing them at three days old , are they meant to get 2 shots of blackleg with that method ?

Who2

Bullocks wrote: »

I thought the opposit - that they would be slow to finish and would be better off squeezed , but I'm not a finisher .

I don't know about ringing them at three days old , are they meant to get 2 shots of blackleg with that method ?

I know a few lads that do it. you have to push early but they kill into big weights.

anthony500_1

That's just it if they are left as bulls I'll have no choice but try push them on and sell as good weanlings, or squeeze them and then give them time to grow, man that was telling me to do it, said he had twin bulls a few years back, done one and left the other, at weaning there was not 5kg in the difference in weight between them.

Unsure about the blackleg either, I'll have to look into it more

greysides

Blackleg is a problem with 'banding' which is done instead of squeezing or cutting at older ages. There should be no problem with 'ringing' at a young age, legally up to 8 days old.

kollegeknight

I was watching Yukon vet there last night and she did a cut castration on a 5 day old bull calf. I wondered would banding not have been better.

greysides

Preferences of technique and age at castration seem to be regional.

Base price

anthony500_1 wrote: »

That's just it if they are left as bulls I'll have no choice but try push them on and sell as good weanlings, or squeeze them and then give them time to grow, man that was telling me to do it, said he had twin bulls a few years back, done one and left the other, at weaning there was not 5kg in the difference in weight between them.

Unsure about the blackleg either, I'll have to look into it more

OP I presume that your market for these weanlings is your local mart or private sale. If that is the case then you are limiting your financial options by squeezing/banding them as calves. Let the next purchaser be it a farmer/dealer/exporter worry about it as they will be still young enough to squeeze/band.

anthony500_1

Base price wrote:

OP I presume that your market for these weanlings is your local mart or private sale. If that is the case then you are limiting your financial options by squeezing/banding them as calves. Let the next purchaser be it a farmer/dealer/exporter worry about it as they will be still young enough to squeeze/band.

Well I've an outfarm there that's rough grazing, roughly 14ac usually buy in stock to keep it grazed, usually 5 or 6 normally heifers and set stock it as it's not suitable for lugging cows and calfs to and fro as no handling facility's etc bar a bad loading pen, but was toying with the idea of banding the bulls this year and hold on to them keep them till 30mts then off to the factory, I've a low input system here that seems to be working so cutting out buying dear heifers would be a huge saving. I refuse to buy bad cattle just to have numbers, I'm bucking the trend and more interested in having a small amount of good stock rather than a load of rats running around the place. Maybe I'm mad, who know. Plus the other side of it is I can let them run with heifers or anything and not be worried about them bulling there half sisters

Base price

anthony500_1 wrote: »

Well I've an outfarm there that's rough grazing, roughly 14ac usually buy in stock to keep it grazed, usually 5 or 6 normally heifers and set stock it as it's not suitable for lugging cows and calfs to and fro as no handling facility's etc bar a bad loading pen, but was toying with the idea of banding the bulls this year and hold on to them keep them till 30mts then off to the factory, I've a low input system here that seems to be working so cutting out buying dear heifers would be a huge saving. I refuse to buy bad cattle just to have numbers, I'm bucking the trend and more interested in having a small amount of good stock rather than a load of rats running around the place. Maybe I'm mad, who know. Plus the other side of it is I can let them run with heifers or anything and not be worried about them bulling there half sisters

In that case would you not be better off waiting until the bull calves were weaned, squeeze them and move them to your outfarm to run with heifers.

bogman_bass

I did a few that way as an experiment last year and I'll do more this year. Easier job than getting in a crush with a rough 6 month old bull to squeeze him. And no fear of him jumping heifers then

tanko

bogman_bass wrote: »

I did a few that way as an experiment last year and I'll do more this year. Easier job than getting in a crush with a rough 6 month old bull to squeeze him. And no fear of him jumping heifers then

Do you notice any difference in their development/growth compared to ones castrated at 6 months?

anthony500_1

It's nurisment not punishment I'm after, it's a lot easier do it at a few days old rather then doing it at 6mths.

Aravo

Every year we are threatening to ring, never done it before. What's the optimum time period after birth, injection required, spray, ring type etc. Is infection a big risk?