Did my banding castration work?

[Southdown]

My one lamb, Leroy, was born 4/4/11. We wanted him to be a wether, so we did the banding technique for castration at age 13 days. My husband and I struggled to do this procedure, as it took three tries before we believed we got it. It was, in fact, very difficult to "milk" or pull down the testes. Then when I placed the band above them, they would slip right back up! After the third try, we believe we were successful. We felt below the band and it seemed that two, pea sized testes were below the band. Whew! Life went on. Now, as it is Winter time (January) we are finding that he is behaving similar to an intact ram. We are concerned. Did we not do the castration properly? I am definitely not an expert, so I don't really know what I'm feeling for as I check him today. We asked the vet on the phone, and the vet said that there is other anatomy there that we could be feeling (not necessarily a testicle). Ok. But our little wether sure likes to push his nose on the side of the ewes and try to mount them. He also likes to ram the other wether in the pen with him. He will even scuff his front hoof on the ground and make a run for the other wether. He never butts him so hard that anyone gets hurt, but he definitely wants to show the other wether that he is boss. He only playfully rubbed his head on my leg once. Nevertheless, I was concerned because we have treated him like a pet and have been very friendly with him because I know we castrated him and it could be allowed. Maybe he is just taking a while to get the testosterone out of his system? Do you think we may have banded wrong? Or do some wethers act more male-like than others?

Thanks for any feedback in advance.

 

[SheepGirl]

Sounds like it wasn't successful if he's acting like a ram. You may have accidentally got his testes in his body cavity (above the band) rather than below the band. He will act like a ram, but he will more than likely be infertile because his body heat will kill his sperm.

I think 13 days is early for banding, but that's just me. I band at three to four weeks because that is when the testes have descended and you don't have to "fish" for them. They're also bigger so you can't miss them.

 

[Southdown]

If that is the case, that we may have turned him into a cryptorchid, do you know if a veterinarian could do a full castration after the fact? This idea has crossed my mind and I'm not worried about him being fertile if he is a cryptorchid, but I would still want him to be fully castrated yet. Is this possible? Part of me wanted to have the vet come out and check him out for us, but it seems a little silly to pay for a farm visit for something like that.:/

 

[Bossroo]

You didn't turn him into a cryptorchid, just an incomplete castration. He can indeed sire lambs as he just may produce a number of viable sperm cells as a portion of the tests is just under the skin and is cool enough to produce viable sperm. Time will tell. Having a Vet come out to castrate him now will indeed cost much more than what he is worth. I would invite him to freezer camp, then dine and enjoy the fruits of your labors.

 

[purplequeenvt]

Just because he mounts ewes and butts the other wether does not necessarily mean that he wasn't castrated properly. I have a yearling Romney wether, Moe, and 3 year old Saanen X wether, Gus, that are both fully castrated and they both were mounting all the ewes during breeding season. The 2 of them would fight over the girls.

If you are really concerned about it, have a vet come out. It isn't usually too expensive and worth the price if you are really attached to him.

 

[Southdown]

Yeah, I am attached to him (he's a friendly little guy), plus I'm a vegetarian, so I won't be eating him myself anyway. Time will tell I guess. If we need the vet for anything with lambing season, I will definitely have him take a look. I hope I don't need a vet call during lambing though. I'll continue to watch his behavior. I only have two wethers right now and the other guy is so docile (more than his ewe mother even). Next time around, I'm going to wait until the lamb is older to castrate. I did day 13 and others recommended 3 weeks.