[Fleecewife]

Ok I confess I use the string method ouessant testicles are sooooo small and often haven't come down. i first tie the testicles in situ using a fine twine around the base of them so i know where they are!  and then I know when that band goes on the balls are in the right place. its a bit fiddly but less than with the hit and miss approach to elastic band only.

Thanks kanisha      Sounds worth a try - is it frowned upon?  There is the same problem with Soays which many people find impossible to ring within the legal 7 days.

[kanisha]

Hi Fleecewife I don't know if its frowned upon more an admission that with just an elastic band I find it very hit and miss nothing worse that haing to remove a band and seeing the sore balls the next day as a result of a botched job  . The earliest I have managed to castrate a Ouessant is ten days and certainly at seven days even if you can put the band on the testicles are so small they just slip back through so it isn't worth it. I now have it worked out the most important for me is that neither the lamb or me is stressed to the point that it can't be done calmly I generally check the lambs balls every couple of days from around ten days old most often they get done at around  14 days old.

[Fleecewife]

Exactly - the hole in the middle of the ring is too big for tiny breeds and if done too early would cause them a lot of pain with the blood supply to the testicle being only partially cut off. With the legal limit set at 7 days, I think those who can't do it within that time because of the small size of the testicles will not want to raise the problem in case they are penalised  We don't ring many of our Hebridean males because we like to see how they turn out to have a choice to pick the best from for selling on as breeding stock, but sometimes it's obvious one isn't suitable so he will be ringed, and with Soays we do any we don't already have a booking for as they can be confrontational little devils once they get in with the boys flock, setting off fights which the Hebs never would, so wethers are easier to manage.

Going back to the original question, lambs shouldn't squeal when they are ringed or make more fuss than going to sit down for a few minutes, or doing the funny walk briefly.  After that it shouldn't cause them any problems, so if they were in a lot of pain I would assume we had done it wrong.