The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: EP90 on March 24, 2015, 12:21:04 pm
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Not of my making, but ended up with 2 ewe and 2 ram cade lambs of 2 -3 weeks old. They are destined for the freezer at 7/8 months and it's not practical to segregate. I’ve not been faced with this before but realise the castration needs to be by vet. Before I ring the vet, what advice for when to have it done and what method.
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When we've had lambs castrated, our vet has always used an open incision. No flies at this time of year here. Not had a problem to date but only had two done over the years.
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There's also the Burdizzo, but it looks medieval and horrible, so I would avoid that.
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I only know that if you were going to use an elastrator, it has to be within the first week. Not sure about other methods. Our vet castrates our bull calves (that sounds like we have loads but we only have one calf each year!!!) with an open incision. He gets one of the chaps to pull the tail back along the spine and the calf then doesn't seem to even notice what is going on. Not sure if this works in sheep.
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Not the sort of thing a fellow like to dwell on :innocent: But, incision sounds better than the Burdizzo. I assume there’s no time limit on incision castration so I’ll give it a couple of weeks to let them settle in before the deed.
Thanks.
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We burdizzo our calves and they often don't even seem to notice. But you do need to know exactly what you are doing.
I have discussed using the burdizzo on lambs but BH doesn't like it for lambs. I had to get the vet to do some of my little wethers last year - testes too small to ring when I could catch them, and couldn't catch them once they were big enough ::) - and asked what he thought about burdizzo. He preferred the knife, and certainly wouldn't use a burdizzo later than one month in a lamb. (It's up to 3 months in calves.)
Your story is another I will use when preaching that people should always consider ringing unless they are in the business of breeding tups!
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My vet has been extremely busy so has only now got round to my lamb castration.
She recommended the Burdizzo rather than the knife. Its quick, easy and no risk of fly strike or wound infection. So I held the lambs while she did the deed, it was quick, about a minute each testicle. Lambs gave a couple of kicks when the clamp went on, relaxed while it was on and fine when it was released. A bit subdued for an hour but then back in the field having a nibble.
I’d have no qualms about this method in the future, if I ever get caught out again.
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I've Burdizzo'd a few, think its a good method
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Like most things, it's probably fine if you know what your are doing ::) . An experienced farmer did our first store lambs for us - and I ended up with more lambs in the Spring :o