In the 12 years I've raised BB sheep, I've never castrated. But I now
have a bottle baby ram that I would like to castrate so that if I
can't bear to butcher him he can live in the flock without becoming
aggressive. I've had a ring expander and a supply of "O" rings for
years. My question is wh
Carol: my experience has been that the standard rings and expander for sheep
will work fine on BB. As long as they will "fit" through the expanded ring -
it should work regardless of age. Since I have to grow lambs to at least 10
months for slaughter, I use it on the occasional ram lambs exhibit
Carol, we usually band our Katahdins as well as the woolies at about a day of
age. Some are pretty darn small. The smallest Kat boy this year was six pounds.
You might want to invest in new O rings though. They can dry out over time.
Hope this helps. You are very smart about banding the bottle b
Carol,
Good advice on the elastic bands being replaced. They do dry out over time. As
long as the testicles have descended into the scrotum you can go ahead and
castrate. Usually happens at about 10 days of age. We band at about 30 days of
age. I HIGHLY recommend you have another set of hands t
Dear Carol,
I don't know what is correct or not but we have castrated at least 30 little
rams in the 5 yrs that we have raised Blackbellies. We use the banding
method with the little "o" rings but do not do it until they are 3-4 weeks
old. They are uncomfortable for a day or two but get over
Carol I don't know like you I have never castrated a black belly. We did
however one year band a couple of Tunis lambs for my sisters kids to show at
the fair. They were 2 months old and did just fine with the banding. So
maybe you could wait till they get bigger. Nancy
- Original Message -
From: Carol Elkins
Subject: [Blackbelly] castration
In the 12 years I've raised BB sheep, I've never castrated. But I now
have a bottle baby ram that I would like to castrate so that if I
can't bear to butcher him he can live in the flock without becoming
aggressive. I've had a ring expande
My first question would be if the rings are the black ones or the green
doughnut ones. I have castrated Blackbelly rams as old as 10 years with
bands. I used the callicrate bander for the big ones. I am a firm
believer in this bloodless castration method. I have used in on calves
when they fi
