Disbudding and Castrating

[PaigePuppy]

I am thinking about getting some boers - a buck and two or three does - and raising the offspring for meat, but I don't know how to disbud or castrate so I guess I would find someone who I could pay to do this for me. Is it necessary though? And is it expensive?

 

[SheepGirl]

I dont know anything about disbudding, but I do know about castration (for lambs).

The tool (elastrator) costs anywhere from $6 to $20 depending on the source and the material it's made of (plastic or metal). I've read on here that goats need to be castrated after 8 weeks old...with lambs you can castrate within the first month with no problems. But a pack of 100 bands is like $2. And you only use one band per lamb (or kid). It's really very easy to castrate a ram lamb (or buckling). Put the band on the tool and then release the band above the testes, near the base of the scrotum. It takes me like five seconds to do.

Hopefully someone with more experience castrating goats (rather than sheep) will post about this and disbudding.

 

[20kidsonhill]

castrating is cheap and easy to do. Disbudding is a little harder to do and the equipment is a little more expensive. but I have to say most people who are raising boer goats just for meat don't normally disbud them.

As a rule of thumb the further east you go in the USA the less boer goats you will find that are disbudded. Assuming you live in The US.

disbudding is really a preferrence thing, or if you show near the west coast or sell show whethers they may need to be disbudded for cetain shows.

castrating is really up to you, as well. Do you want to manage uncrastrated(intact) males for 6 to 8 months while they grow out. Is it easier for you to just go ahead and castrate them? As Sheepgirl said, banding is fairly easy and cheap to do, Although I would recommend banding by 6 weeks or so and not waiting too long, as long as your whethers are intended for meat. When they get 8 to 10 weeks, it can be a big job holding them and getting the bands on them. After 10 weeks you wont even beable to get the bands on some of them and you would have to castrate them by either cutting and removing the testicles or a crushing method with a piece of equipment referred to as a burdizzo clamp.
Do you have a place to manage uncastrated males and feed them out, and beable to keep them away from does to prevented unwanted breeding?
IF you are planning on keeping the kids on the does past 10weeks of age or so, then you will have to castrate the young bucklings to prevent unwanted breedings, or you will have to wean them by 10 weeks and keep them in a sturdy pen away from the mom. At first you don't have to worry about seperating them from their syblings right away, but by around 4 months of age, they should be taken out from the doelings as well, since there is a chance young boer doelings can have their first heat cycle at around 4 months of age, although rare. It is however very common for a 5 to 6 month old doeling to be bred.

 

[Roll farms]

I dunno what the 'national average' is or anything, but I charge $10.00 ea. to band or disbud kids for people.

 

[Chickie2378]

yup, we banded. so simple and easy.


I never disbud my Boers. I like handles. I had a herd of 120 does. Never had but a few problems with horns being used as a weapon among themselves. Goats can be brutual. While it was easier not to disbud, the benefit of doing so was not worth the work involved. Plus it gave them a defense against dog packs etc. Not much but it was something.

so it is personal preference for disbudding.

 

[elevan]

I use the banding method for castration. It is extremely easy as others have said already.

I don't disbud but I have small goats. I would imagine that if you're raising for meat then the horns on boers should be relatively small at 8 months, so personally I wouldn't bother with disbudding. Horns or no horns is a personal preference.