emasculating my goat

[maliburun]

Ok so I just gave my 10 week old goat 2 ibuprofens and we are going to go emasculate(castrate) him in 20 min....Im so scared....pooor baby, im so worried, but it has to be done and we cant afford another $300 vet bill for wethering. I have the clamp here and my dad is going to hold him still.....hes going to hate me forever.......Im going to throw up and then cry.....Has anyone else done this before?

[Oat Bucket Farm]

Throwing up and crying? Yes

Turning a buck into a wether? no.

Let us know how it goes...

[Charleen]

$300 vet bill to wether? Wow!

We surgically castrate our bucks here, usually between 6-8 weeks of age, but we have done it when they're older. They usually cry, not because of the castrating but because of the restraining. It takes us about 30 seconds - 1 minute to do each buck and I'm not exaggerating. When they get over the initial shock, they usually go right back to mom because she has heard them crying and wants to make sure they're okay, they get a drink and then go lay down in the corner for an hour or 2. With surgical castration, the healing begins IMMEDIATELY. There is nothing to atrophy and fall off like when banded. Our boys have received their first CD&T when disbudded and/or at castrating time. We don't give any other meds unless we observe a problem.

I learned early on in farm life to turn off some emotions. The first time we butchered chickens (LOOOONG time ago) all I could do was hand over the twist ties for the bags, now, I can do it all start to finish.

[maliburun]

Ok well its over, and it went very well concidering, he screamed the first secomd for each one and then sat in silent shock. As sson as we were done he went off hopping around on the hay bails with his girl friend. He was a trooper. Ill keep an eye on the swelling, its already blowing up, but Im sure it was the most humane way to do it, and no chance of infections. SIGH----Im glad that is over with!

[GrannyG]

I bet he will do fine. We had the vet do ours, then had problems with infection, so later, we did them ourselves and had no problems. I think it is the thought of what we are doing that upsets us, not him. LOL.

[Oat Bucket Farm]

Glad that its over and the little guy is doing okay.

[billygoatridge]

Just wondering how they handled the ibuprofen. I thought i'd read a few places that ibuprofen was a no no for goats. I agree that clamping is the least risky. I don't think any way is painless but except for the 30 seconds we're clamping, they recover much faster than kids I've seen people banded.

[maliburun]

the ibuprofen worked fine, i gave him 2 and he was fine all day.....i had to shove them down his throat but it worked for pain i think..

[mousebandit]

Hey there. I'm a newbie, and we might end up castrating our (supposedly) pygora bucklings (they are so much bigger than mama already, I'm thinking papa was a full angora) because the banding didn't, um, fit! They're between 3-4 months old now.

Can you guys give me a step-by-step for the clamping /castrating process? Or direct me to a website that has it? (Or both?!!)

Thanks!!!

Tracey Mouse

[myrandaandkids]

yeah teach me how too....scary, but need to learn, got one a week old that will need to be done eventually.

[dap]

I've never done it myself, but here is a link to Fiasco Farm. Just kind of scroll down the page just a little bit and it will show the differences between castration, banding and clamping....http://fiascofarm.com/goats/buck-wether-info.htm Hope this helps!

[Lairvine]

look on you tube there is a video

[maliburun]

I used fisco farm, it was so easy, he was up and about in no time without complaints. I think between 8 to 3 months is an ideal age for clamping, but anytime after that works just as well, You have to order the emasculator for goat size and then someone holds the goat on their lap in a sitting position holding the back and front legs together, then the person clamps each testicle cord for about 8 seconds and releases the goat. Its fairly simple, just have to be sure to get the cords severed.