I waited to long, now what?

[Horsefly]

I kept putting off banding our little bottle buck and I finally made myself an "appointment" to do it this morning and he is to big now! I thought the bander opened bigger than it did and there is no way it will fit now, no matter how hard I try. Alvin is around 5 months old, I really ment to do this a couple months ago but put it off every weekend, he is so sweet. He is starting to pee a bit and is looking kind of rough, I need to stop this before he is in a habit, we really do love him like he was. So what do I do now? Someone told us to put a ponytail holder on him really tight until the testicals atrophy but I refuse to do that, that is way to cruel. My mom said if I don't do something we will have to sell him but I don't want to do that either, someone will just eat him. So what are my options here now? There aren't any good vets around here that will see goats other than the vet school and they charge $55 just to look at the animal. I'm going to see if my neighbor (horse vet) can do anything for me.

 

[cmjust0]

There are three ways to castrate: Banding, surgical removal of testes, or by using an emasculatome to crush the blood vessels to the testes.

As a member of the male population, none of these options sound acceptable to me...but if you have to do it, I'd probably have it done surgically.

 

[jhm47]

"Pinch" his cords. This is far better than banding anyway. A burdizzo, or emasculatome is the instrument that does this, and it sheds no blood, works well when done correctly, and should cost very little. If I lived close to you, I'd come and do it for free. This is what we use on our larger bull calves when they get quite large. Really doesn't hurt them much, and they go right back on feed within a couple minutes.

 

[glenolam]

I know they make cow banders that are bigger - JMH - do you think it could work on goats, assuming the buck is as big as the OP says?

 

[mistee]

I take my guys to the vet as I dont like banding... She charges 5 dollars a boy to cut and it is done in a few seconds... She taught me and I did the last few boys this year so I can do them all myself next year...

 

[jhm47]

Glenoloam: Yes, it will work on goats. The burdizzos that I have will work on bulls up to 1.5 years old. No blood, very little discomfort to the animal, and they are over it in minutes.

 

[Horsefly]

I was thinking of cutting him myself but when searching on how to do it I saw they could bleed to death if they are over 1 month old. So I ruled that out. I think I'm going to order an emasculatome tonight so I can get this done soon. I like this method better anyway. We just got the bander last time because it was cheaper but if I get this it's like $35 and I can use it on any size goat. I figure pay $60 or so dollars for just him for a vet to do it or get the tool and do it myself. If anyone knew a good site or had a step by step for this it would be great. Just don't want to mess anything up. Thanks