to castrate or not?

[RockyToggRanch]

I purchased an 8 day old holstien bull calf at an auction. I thought about raising him for meat or weaning him and reselling him. My question is....

If I was to resell, would it be best to castrate or not? What about if I chose to go the meat route?

I've heard they're easier to handle as steers. I've also heard that bulls taste funny.

This is not a registered calf.

 

[19hhbelgian]

Well, i don't know much about "cows", but I can say that I'd think castrating him should make him easier to handle.... "Horror-mones" can cause A LOT of grief

It's amazing how different horses are once you've gelded them. I've had some that were just plain nasty as stallions, and once they were gelded, just the sweetest things ever! Sorry if that didn't help what so ever!

 

[dianneS]

If you're going to keep to raise for meat for yourself, then castrate him. Bulls can taste funny, he'll fatten up better as a steer and be much easier to handle. I don't know what to suggest if you choose to sell him at auction?

 

[Katy]

Castrate him!! Whether you're going to resell or butcher him it will be best if he's castrated. We castrate all our bull calves at one or two days old.

 

[RockyToggRanch]

He's 16 days old now. I've heard different opinions on the "how to" part. MIL says rubberband, real tight, it'll fall off eventually. Someone else said small incision, yank it out, spray with something.

Would it be best to have the vet out to do this? This all sounds painful.

 

[aussieheelr]

Band that baby. We raise around 25 head of cows every year (only 8 are hubby's rest are Mother in Laws). The only reason to keep it a bull is for breeding and if you bought yours at 8 days old my guess is it doesn't have the lines that a dairy would want and that's why it was sold instead of kept for their stock. Banding is much easier and safer when they're young, less chance of infection since the weather tends to be cooler when cows are calving and the smaller size of the...unit. When they're larger you have to use special tools to band and there's a larger risk of infection along with flys/maggots and other obsticals that come with the heat. Not to mention when they're smaller 1 person can toss and band (I'm 5'2" 125 lbs and can do it by myself) when they grow up you need the squeze shoot and a "team" just to get the deed done.
Waiting on casterating just to get the calf to gain a bit more weight faster just isn't worth all the work to come in the end. You don't get enough from the testosterone to make the risk of infection worth it. Plus if you're planning to butcher and there is an invection that has to be treated with anti biotics you'll have to wait a period of time for that to get out of their system before butcher or sale, its just not safe and no trusworthy butcher or sales yard will sell an animal like that.
Good luck with your bull calf. We personally lost a calf that was born early and got a Holstein to graft on the mama... I named him "Special Ed" because he seems a bit slow. Cute though.

 

[Soccer Mom]

Band him right away while he is little. He has already been rejected as breeding material by the dairy. His only purpose now is dinner. You don't want to deal with a bull.

 

[RockyToggRanch]

Okay, looks like I'll be googling banding techniques...

It's hot here now though. 90's all week.

 

[Soccer Mom]

We banded some last week and it was over 100 every day. Do it early in the morning.

 

[aussieheelr]

Quote:
yes. there's a special bander tool and bands made to use for this. It has a pliers type handel and the part that you but the band on looks kind of like fingers and the bands we have out here are green. When you squeeze the handle the fingers open up expanding the band. Pull the sac through the opening and release the handle and pull it off the sac. It should leave the band behind. Just let it stay there. In about a month or less it will all be gone. We waited about a month once and it took 2 grown men to hold the calf down while banding, vaccinating, branding while one person did the banding and vaccs and a 4th did the branding.

MUCH easier when their smaller.