Author Topic: Burdizzo clamp (Read 11214 times)

suziequeue · « **on:** April 12, 2011, 09:24:52 pm »

Does anybody have any experience of using a Burdizzo clamp to crush the spermatic cord?

Susanna

supplies for smallholders · « **Reply #1 on:** April 12, 2011, 09:30:50 pm »

Never actually done it - but held two young billy goats on my knee once while a vet did the job.

If I had to do it again I would get some ear defenders - not a quiet job!!

shep53 · « **Reply #2 on:** April 12, 2011, 10:41:44 pm »

Yes its a lot more difficult than ringing idealy it takes two people one to hold the lamb and one to use and im not sure of the rules need to check over a certain age need local anasthetic. will get backto you , goodnight

SallyintNorth · « **Reply #3 on:** April 13, 2011, 02:15:47 am »

We do this on our young calves. It never seems to hurt one little bit, not at the time nor afterwards. I have wondered whether it would be a better technique for lambs, therefore, but one big downside is that it is a 2-person job, which for us at lambing time would make it a struggle to co-ordinate. If I had smaller numbers I think I would look into it, yes.

andywalt · « **Reply #4 on:** April 13, 2011, 06:18:48 am »

I would like someone to explain what it is and how its done please

Ive never heard of it

thanks

suziequeue · « **Reply #5 on:** April 13, 2011, 08:56:58 am »

Certainly our neighbour/sheep farmer doesn't ring his lambs as they all lamb outside and sticking to the 7 day ringing rule in the middle of a busy lambing period would not be possible for him.

My experience is that we couldn't find the testicles at 7 days - maybe incompetence, maybe just not dropped yet - and that seems to be the experience on this forum from previous posts.

It would seem that clamping is possibly less painful than ringing (New Zealand Veterinary Journal Volume 47, Issue 6, 01 December 1999, Pages 198 - 203)

Our neighbour says that 6 weeks is the upper limit for clamping - so he tends to wait until lambing is over then gets them all in for a session I guess. I have asked if we can help and get ours done at the same time in return.

I'll keep you posted

Susanna

Andy see: Closed casteration in goat by burdizzo and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burdizzo and pic attached

jaykay · « **Reply #6 on:** April 13, 2011, 12:54:11 pm »

We've gone to using one, having read the articles saying it was less painful for the lamb/kid.

It's more traumatic for the shepherd than ringing...... but truthfully, once they've got over the very initial 'doing', they seem fine - apparently it crushes the nerves and blood supply too, so stopping it hurting any more either.

Definitely a two-person job, we do any we're going to do around 4 weeks, once lambing is over. Generally we don't do tup lambs destined for the freezer, but do any that are obviously so small they'll need taking over til the spring, and any goat kids not good enough or wanted for breeding.

shep53 · « **Reply #7 on:** April 13, 2011, 01:21:25 pm »

Hi again read the welfare code , not clear but under 3 months no vet or anesthtic needed . watched the video looks easy on testes and sac that big , you a lamb will only manage one clamp per side no room for two, also you can buy differant sized burdizzo you need small. ONE person catches the lamb lifts onto a table or similar,stands behind the lamb holds front and back legs together each side in one hand letting the lamb rest on his or her chest ,the lamb now cant kick. THE other person opens burrdizo reaches for the spermatic cord pulls away from the body and to the outside of the upper sac puts tool on useing tools lugs to stop cord slipping sideways, apply clamp and you will hear a crunch (no crunch no cord ) hold for 5secs and repeat on opposite side try not to get the two clamp marks side by side but staggered. FORGOT the sac and testes will swell this is normal and they go down the testes wither leaving an empty sac .A very clever instument you test its efficiancy by putting athick piece of straw in an envelope and clamp it the straw will be cut in two but the envelope only marked

supplies for smallholders · « **Reply #8 on:** April 13, 2011, 05:24:42 pm »

Am I the only one who cant sit still while reading this ??

Sylvia · « **Reply #9 on:** April 13, 2011, 05:41:10 pm »

Well, I've got my legs crossed! And I haven't got any

princesspiggy · « **Reply #10 on:** April 13, 2011, 08:03:20 pm »

didnt bother me at all...lol

SallyintNorth · « **Reply #11 on:** April 14, 2011, 01:52:51 am »

OH says they used to do all the lambs at 4-6 weeks using burdizzo but they found that the check it gave the lambs had a significant impact on the length of time the lambs took to reach market weight - and hence income, as the prices tend to fall away later in the season.

When I first came here he was not castrating at all, but my observation was that by August any lamb which has testicles and can possibly be sent away is selected for the current batch whereas ewe lambs are often left until they are bigger than the market really wants. Both cases result in less money per lamb.

Now we castrate using rubber rings but only castrate those which are likely to not be fat by August. I try to avoid castrating at less than 36 hours and prefer to do it just about then. My opinion is that there is no check to growth when it is done this young; some hardly seem to notice at all and some walk funny and/or lie down and pant a bit for 10 minutes or so, very rarely up to an hour. OH is not convinced, still prefers to avoid castrating at all. But then he must have some fellow feeling, eh?

BTW, when we do the calves, we only clamp once each side.

One big difference is that the whole sac drops off with rubber rings, whereas a sac remains with the burdizzo and sometimes you cannot tell by looking whether a stirk is castrated or not - you have to squeeze the sac, which will be all but empty if he is castrated. If you were only burdizzo-ing some of your tup lambs, you maybe would have a job easily seeing which were entire and which castrated, you might need to feel.