New here!

[Ablefarms]

Hi everyone, new here!

Been lurking for a bit and have 6 acres and just got chickens a month ago. 5 Leghorn hens and Americano too. We also just aqcuired two jersey bottle calves. So we will have more questions than just chicken questions I'm sure. We are hoping to have near 40 yard birds in the spring.
Let me throw out the first question I have. It's time to band the bull. in discussing this a family member said no way. Don't band (neither of us really have experience) and they think a vet with pain killers is the way to go. I'm not convinced that most vets will even use pain killers and I'm betting they'll probably just band too. Anyways, anyone that can speak to this?

 

[drumstick diva]

Welcome to Backyard Chickens, thank you for joining the flock. Sorry I don't know anything about bulls.

You may want to try the sister site at the bottom of this page (BackYardHerds.com)
and since it is so very early a.m. as the day goes on - more folks will respond to you here.

 

[sylviethecochin]

Bull being a calf? Age?

I'm assuming you have a bander.

No idea what a vet would do, but by six weeks, we had a lot of trouble getting a rubber band on a calf, (couldn't get ahold of him beforehand) so age is important/ (EDT: That's with a green band, which is for younger calves. It's very tight. I've never used the other kind)

It's a quick operation, if you can get both testicles into the bander. Keep the calf still. I prefer them standing for this; my father is strong enough to hold them down, I usually tied them to a post on a goat halter and got one of my brothers to hold them.

They can and will suck their testicles into their bodies if they're stressed, so be sure you have hold of both. You may need to hold the bander open and tug the testicles down through. Then close it, take the band off, untie the halter, and walk away.

Frankly, I have no idea how a bottle baby would react to this. Our calves were never tame, and were usually too stressed to show a lot of reaction to what we were doing. They'd just stand, yanking against the halter and bellowing for their mothers while we completed the operation. We'd release them, they'd run off.

I have been assured by numerous males that the very thought of such an operation is painful.

BYC has a sister site, by the way. Backyard herds. It might be easier to get an answer to that question on there.

 

[StephanieRose44]

Nice

 

[Ablefarms]

He is only two weeks just trying to get it done before it becomes difficult. But pain killers? I've never heard a rancher or farmer or vet mention any sort of pain killer for the procedure. I feel like it is sort of a city slicker's concern. But I don't want to be too callous either. They want it donew witha vet by castration with pain killers. Am I wrong for thinking this is overkill? I'll def check out the other forum! Thanks

 

[sylviethecochin]

He is only two weeks just trying to get it done before it becomes difficult. But pain killers? I've never heard a rancher or farmer or vet mention any sort of pain killer for the procedure. I feel like it is sort of a city slicker's concern. But I don't want to be too callous either. They want it donew witha vet by castration with pain killers. Am I wrong for thinking this is overkill? I'll def check out the other forum! Thanks

Beats me. I never thought about using painkiller; banding was just something that had to be done, like ear-tagging and tetanus shots.

Incidentally, are the calves dehorned? If not, you might want to look into that, and the younger the better. I like my goats with horns. Cattle are much better without them.

 

[StephanieRose44]

The vet is just being empathetic towards the young calf. I mean just like us, it’s a a delicate period of all life. You need your mother, your learning new things, your absorbing everything. This is coming from the heart I guess but, imagine what a traumatic experience liken that would do to a life so young and impressionable. They’d be living in fear every second.

I would wait until he’s older I don’t know calf/bull: human age “age -ratio” but when they’re mature enough to
1. get it done (if they are that much harder to handle than I would use the vets recommendation.)
2. Handle it.
3. Get over it.
And finally go on with his life

 

[Ablefarms]

Thanks guys for the replies. And yes i think it is just coming from a mushy place in the heart when truthfully this animal is destined not for the heart but the stomach. (A little back story). It's a bull purchased jointly with my parents. It's plan was for the freezer. It did not cross my mind that this would ruffle some feathers. But it makes since, thank won't cull any of their chickens or harvest for meat. They mean well I'm sure, but I guess I was born with a different type of empathy.

 

[sylviethecochin]

The vet is just being empathetic towards the young calf. I mean just like us, it’s a a delicate period of all life. You need your mother, your learning new things, your absorbing everything. This is coming from the heart I guess but, imagine what a traumatic experience liken that would do to a life so young and impressionable. They’d be living in fear every second.

I would wait until he’s older I don’t know calf/bull: human age “age -ratio” but when they’re mature enough to
1. get it done (if they are that much harder to handle than I would use the vets recommendation.)
2. Handle it.
3. Get over it.
And finally go on with his life

The younger they are, the less it affects them. The younger they are, the easier it is for them to bounce back. And every farm vet I have spoken to agreed that the earlier a calf is castrated, the better for both it and the farmer.

Perhaps I stated myself badly earlier. Our young calves aren't tame. They run. They're fidgety. They're unsure of everything and tend to follow momma's lead. And momma may be perfectly tame herself, but she doesn't want us around her vulnerable little baby boy. ALL the hormones are in overdrive.

But by the time they're three months old, they're usually pretty tame. And the steers, which have had this traumatic experience, are much friendlier than the heifers, which, obviously, have not. (Other than the tetanus shots. Which I would never skip. I don't care about trauma. Ever seen an animal die of tetanus? It's emphatically not pretty.)

The one calf that ran every time he saw us? That was Mr. Castrated-at-six-weeks. The son of our tamest cow. The son of our milk cow. He was more scared of us than any other steer I have ever raised.

Frankly, the easiest and best time to castrate a calf is shortly after birth, when they're too surprised and exhausted to care about anything. They won't remember a thing.

 

[feathermaid]

Glad you joined the group. Not sure if a vet would actually use pain killers either. Had horses in the past and I learned that country vets do things a bit different than small animal vets, usually the quickest and cheapest way possible... sometimes they would just give me free advice over the phone to save themselves a trip out. I never knew I could be so capable! I'm sure you can do the banding fine on your own, you've already got some great advice.

Good luck with your chickens AND your calves!