DESEXING MALE ANIMALS…An old system with a new twist.

[The Old Ram-Australia]

Elastrator pliers have been around for years, ours are over 40 years old. A couple of seasons ago when I was marking some lambs I was thinking about the task and wondered whether I was doing it right, now I had always applied the rubber bands with the prongs of the pliers facing the animals stomach and simply slid the band off in a downward motion.
So what if I turned the pliers up the other way and slid the band up towards the bottom of the purse? The result was that the testes are now held tightly in the bottom of the purse and there was slack skin close to the animals stomach, using the old method the skin across the stomach was “drawn” tight causing most of the discomfort.
Anyway if you use this method how do you apply the rubber bands ,do you slide them up or down?

 

[ohiogoatgirl]

hadn't thought about it. hmm... we always banded our goat kids and dad taught me the 'right way' was with the prongs toward the animals belly and roll it off.
((good timing on the thread! I was just about to do a search on banding sheep!))

 

[babsbag]

I always point the prongs down toward the belly but always thought that the tool was made backwards or just not "user friendly". Always thought that they should make them with retractable prongs. It will be a few months but now I am curious about using it the other way. For an animal that is going to slaughter might not be a problem but for a potential pet would it leave too much skin when the sack eventually falls off?

 

[The Old Ram-Australia]

G'day and thanks for your comments.Today I desexed 40 male lambs and I did not have the obvious discomfit usually associated with the task in fact once they were let out of the yard they all headed back to their mothers for a drink with no signs of any pain or injury.BTW these lambs were 12/14 weeks old and so had a "fair set of testes).The little excess of skin usually fills with internal body fat.Frank

 

[purplequeenvt]

Interesting thought. I'll have to test that out in the spring if we castrate any lambs.

 

[samssimonsays]

ooooo I will have to keep this in mind when we start getting babies... My wether took an untimely amount of time to lose his sack from when he was banded and he has excess skin there. He is a pet to keep with our does and maybe one day a buck when we get that far so if it will cause issues with the extra skin, I am sure I will find out sooner or later...

 

[Mini Horses]

Appreciate the thoughts. And the pics help explain.

I have always pulled/massaged the testes down into the sack before applying the band, so have never had an issue with tight skin. If anyone is NEW to castration this simple act before application of band is important so that you have two, not one testes. Otherwise, still a buck! But it has generally reduced tight skin.

I have both instruments as banding in hot/fly weather is sometimes less desirable. Even with salves for flies, often mom will clean it off. Plus, if I wait until they are several months, I find the emasculator is often easier for me due to size of the bag on the boys. My daughter hates this as she is the holder and WOW, do they scream....so would I.

First time I used the emasculator I was very concerned that it had actually happened as you have no "fall-off" as with banding. BUT after a couple months (Yes, that long) you begin to see the shrinkage.

This job is so much less disturbing to me than dehorning!!! I am hoping the clove injections become the norm.

 

[norseofcourse]

Interesting. It looks like this would also lessen the possibility of trapping a nipple in the band? I've seen that caution mentioned in some instructions.
I use an emasculatome (Burdizzo) now, after having the vet surgically do my first few males, so I've never banded. I was able to tell within 3 weeks that the burdizzo had worked, I could feel the testes had started to shrink and get harder. They did have a small loose sack of skin left, but it didn't seem to pose any problems for them. And yes, there were fat deposits in it, I discovered after they were processed.

 

[The Old Ram-Australia]

G'day and a Happy New Year to you all.The banding method I have advocated is published in U.S.'s SHEEP Magazine.
T.O.R.

 

[The Old Ram-Australia]

G'day so has anybody tried the alternate method? If so have you found it to be better?

T.O.R.