castration bands for calves

locky76

has anyone heard of these?
a scottish farmer interviewed in the journal puts them on his bull calves at two days of age.
i like the sound of it, nice and stress free, better than wrestling with an 8 month old bull in a dodgy crush!:rolleyes:

denis086

a friend of mine does it the same way on his beef cattle and that way you know if they are castrated or not because either have it or they dont and you dont find out a few months on with heifers in calf and a bullock that seem to be able to growl a little too deeply :rolleyes:
im surprised your aable to put rings on them to castrate them but your not allowed put rings on their tails because its an animal welfare issue surely castrating them is more cruel than taking the top of their tail off next they will be banning castration they wouldnt be banning it and cutting people 1% on inspections if they had to milk them with a tail slapping you in the face :mad: getting $**t in your eye and face

sillycows

Does it work like docking lambs tails?

kfk

I banded all my bull calves this year. Very easy and stress free. I have heard that calves grow better if left as full bulls for 10 months but I dont fancy castrating them at that age. Hopefully they will turn out ok!

locky76

kfk wrote: »

I banded all my bull calves this year. Very easy and stress free. I have heard that calves grow better if left as full bulls for 10 months but I dont fancy castrating them at that age. Hopefully they will turn out ok!

Cheers KFK, a few questions as i'm very interested in them-

• where do you get them

• What ages can they be put on

• Are they and the application tool (pliers??) expensive

• would you recommend them

I like the idea of banding the bulls when they are being tagged, i.e. around two to three days of age.
Any help greatly appreciated

reilig

Would castrating them at this age not rule them out for selling for export??? From the marts that I go to, Export buyers only want calves that aren't castrated. I understood that this was because full bull calves will finish easier and faster than castrated ones. I may be wrong, but this is what I was told.

whelan1

there was a thread on the british farming forum where a lad put the rings on bulls that where quite old cant remember the age but it was pure torture for the bulls i think he lost some of them makes me cringe thinking of it:rolleyes:

denis086

locky76 wrote: »

Cheers KFK, a few questions as i'm very interested in them-

• where do you get them

• What ages can they be put on

• Are they and the application tool (pliers??) expensive

• would you recommend them

I like the idea of banding the bulls when they are being tagged, i.e. around two to three days of age.
Any help greatly appreciated

you can buy the bands in the co-op or at the vets theyre little orange bands come in a box not sure how many are in them its been a while since we got them there is a special tool with 4 pieces of small bar turned at 90 deg near the end these spread out and you just slide the band up over the tail etc not sure how much because weve had ours a long time but the bands sometimes have a tendancy to fly off just as you are about to put it on funny the first few times untill you start getting annoyed
i wouldnt be a fan of castrating them so long after a few months we do ours you have a better animal in the end easier to finish etc especially if they are weak to start with we did them very early one year and it was hard to finish them and they seemed to kick alot more :rolleyes:

kfk

Cheers KFK, a few questions as i'm very interested in them-

• where do you get them
• Any veterinary store should have them

• What ages can they be put on
• From what I have read they should be put on while the calf is young. I banded my calves at 4 weeks. Can be done from a few days old.

• Are they and the application tool (pliers??) expensive
• Think I paid €15 for the applicator at local store. Farmrite stock them. See here

• would you recommend them
• Calves seem to be doing ok so far but I wont know what effect it has on their growth for some time.

Have a look a this site . Some info an banding

pajero12

Are you using these rings kfk?

Indubitable

I don't castrate my calves as I get a better price and they supposedly grow faster.

kfk

pajero12 wrote: »

Are you using these rings kfk?

The bands I got from the vet are orange. Maybe they are a different size?

kfk

kingofthe3rdyrs wrote: »

I don't castrate my calves as I get a better price and they supposedly grow faster.

What age do you sell them at?

Indubitable

from about 10-12 months