Castrate Older Bull Calf ?

[BellaVista]

O.K. the situation is thus...we have an 11 month old Galloway bull calf that we planned on castrating for use as freezer beef. We were not able to castrate earlier. Vet was out said not to bother to castrate, just dispatch and enjoy. She thought he weighed about 800 lbs. In my opinion we are wasting meat by slaughtering now rather than this fall.

Questions for those who have experience, if we slaughter now will the quality & taste of the meat be affected by the hormones? I think the vet thought it would be too hard (stressful) on him to castrate now, she didn't really say. I have young heifers that I do not want bred, so he can't run with the rest of the herd any longer unless he is castrated. Also do not have a separate area for him. Opinions please. And yes I know castrate young, and we will in the future.

[Allen W]

He can still be castrated. One of the casterators using the surgical tubing type bands would be the preferred choice today,

[lakeportfarms]

Look up the "Callicrate" bander. Uses a surgical tube like Allen W mentioned. We have the same situation, several yearling plus bull calves that have to be banded before I'll allow them out to graze when we start getting grass. The Callicrate bander will handle large sizes with no problem. Unless you have a management problem, there is no harm in banding them at an older age.

Make sure you get them a tetanus toxoid shot two weeks prior, and then another at the time of banding.

[idigbeets]

Yep, as lakeportfarms said, you can castrate, and make sure to give the tetanus shot.

FYI I have butchered a 2yr old bull before, made him into ground burger and sausage... tasted fine to me.

[Allen W]

I've knife cut them almost that big, but you better know what your doing and have a pair of emassulator's and a good squeeze chute.

[agmantoo]

Just do what the vet suggested.

[Patchouli]

I wouldn't bother castrating unless you are worried about him impregnating a cow and can't keep him seperated. You won't see any flavor difference.

[francismilker]

I've never noticed much if any difference at all in the taste of beef at that age with being castrated or not.

[cedarcreekranch]

I'd use the XL bander, too, and get it done. Then if you want to turn him out with your cows you won't have to worry about unwanted calves. Don't know if it would affect the meat taste at that age but I used to work as a butcher in a grocery store meat dept back in the 70s and we'd get in boxes of beef labeled 'bull meat'. I'm not kidding, that's what the labels said! And it was NASTY! We'd open the packages and let them 'air' in the walk in until they didn't have such a smell, then grind it up. Still had a bit of a scent to it and don't think I'd have wanted to eat it. Ugh!

[barnbilder]

Bulls will have a tendency toward being leaner, simply because the muscles are bigger. They will have a tendency to be more tough, the older they are. The trick is to age them longer, this will fix the problem with toughness and add flavor too.

Boxed bull meat in a butcher shop smelling funny? No telling what country or what animal it even came from.

[oregon woodsmok]

I dislike bull meat. Some people say they can't taste a difference, but I sure can.

An entire grown bull would be a lot of meat if you discover that your family doesn't like bull meat.

My vote would be to get him castrated now. Are you using a horse vet instead of a livestock vet? This is the first I've heard of a vet who wouldn't castrate a bull.

[BellaVista]

Many thanks to all who replied to my question. We have decided that we are going to take a chance and put him in the freezer. I will let you know how the meat tastes. Most opinion is running that it should be ok due to his young age.

The vet we asked out to do a castration has been our vet for more than 20 yrs. she works on all manner of livestock, as I said not really sure why she didn't want to castrate. Guess we will be looking for a new vet.