First time goat owner asks about surgical castration

[trampledbygeese]

Brought home my first goat today. Unfortunately the way things worked out is that he was also surgically castrated today as well, so the poor fella is pretty stressed.

We've had other people's goats on the farm before, but this is the first time the goat is mine. And the others were all girls anyway. So I'm also pretty stressed and nervous. Just want to make certain this is in the range of normal. Also, the only time I had an animal castrated before was a young ram and it turned out he had a hernia into his scrotum and in a short while after that we ate him because the vet bill to fix him would have started at 3 grand. An extra reason why I'm such a nervous wreck.

The castration was done with the slit and pull method, with the slit at the bottom of the sack and left open to drain. Pretty standard I guess with minimal bleeding.

What should it look like now? Anyone have after photos? It's only been an hour so I don't want to be a fuss pot and phone the castrator, but the fella hasn't eaten or drunk anything yet. He's interested-ish in his surroundings, but there is no spring in his step. Ears are alert. The thing is, his sack seems like it's receding and there some redness innards showing through the slit. Normal? Should I be concerned yet?

 

[SA Farm]

How's he doing? Eating and drinking yet?

 

[trampledbygeese]

He stopped eating last night and just stood morose looking. Just about broke my heart with worry, and I was out every hour checking on him. I'm so tired now. But I'm sure every farmer knows what that's like.

This morning, he runs away from me, but so long as I feed him through the fence, he will nibble on blackberry leaves and willow (but nothing else) and not with much enthusiasm. I'll take that as a small victory.

Ears are still up and eyes looking around. Don't know if he is drinking or not, but he has access to fresh water.

If he does get over this, it's going to take a while to earn his trust. Just so worried.

 

[trampledbygeese]

Now his right hind leg is starting to go stiff. Going to have to phone the castrator to see if this is normal.

He's so depressed and I'm totally regretting getting a goat because I hate to see him like this.

 

[trampledbygeese]

talked with the expert and sent her some photos. Apparently this is in the range of normal. He's upright, his waste management is functioning, he responds to his environment and the wound isn't bleeding. Stiff leg is to be expected. Basically the advice is that if I'm worried, get something called blue coat to spray on it, but otherwise, just spend time near him.

 

[SA Farm]

Wow. I've only ever banded boys to wether them or kept them as bucks, so I've never personally had a goat surgically done. The boys that get banded usually act a little funky the first day, then you would never know anything happened.
Glad he's in the 'normal' range anyway...If he's taking food from you, that's a good sign that he'll trust you again

 

[norseofcourse]

Best thoughts that he's back to normal soon! I'm sure the move has made him a little wary as well. He did have his shots, including tetanus?

 

[trampledbygeese]

Thanks for the good thoughts.

He had his tetanus and the general vaccine for the local ailments. I believe he had his booster, but I am going to double check with the breeder about that. Also, standard worming and a selenium shot (we have drastically low Se here). We gave him a B-vit booster and worming yesterday as precaution.

He's 80+ pounds (before castration) and was exceptionally well endowed. We are talking two giant apples, or maybe even two small cantaloupe. My goat guru says that because it's so close to rutting season, he's going to feel it a lot more than if it was done earlier in the summer.

I just adore him. Something like 7/8th Oberhasli, only problem with him is he's the wrong colour. Apparently the Canadian registry for that breed doesn't like black bucks. Later in the winter I hope to buy or lease some milkers, but I wanted this fella to be a companion and with luck, pull a cart. Though I think cart pulling takes a year or two to train.

I've been considering the elasticator but I'm not certain I would want to use it. I had a bummer sheep that someone elasticated, and it obviously bothered him until it dropped off. Took over two months. Given the risk is much greater for something to go wrong with the elastic, I wanted to give the surgical method a try. Still don't know which method I'll use in the future. Most likely I'll separate the meat kids/lambs out early and leave them intact till the end.

 

[Michelle59]

We get our male surgical done n never had any problem before we spray them with blue coat n there fine we just watch for infection we had 5 done so far if u have any questions just ask