Banding/crushing question

[dunroven]

I read on Fiasco farms that they do not recommend banding as it is cruel and inhumane. However, they do recommend this process where they hold the goat and crush the spermatic cord with this clamp thing and then let go.

Can we have a discussion here as to which one is worse?

I guess I'm really not certain, but to my way of thinking, the banding gives a little pain for a little while, then things go numb and there's no more pain. With the crushing, there is pain, and if it doesn't take a few weeks later, you have to repeat the process, with an older, heavier, and harder to handle goat.

What do you all think?

[farmmom]

I like banding. I use it on all my bucklings. They cry when I first put it on and within a couple of minutes, they act like nothing happened. I've never done a grown buck though.

[Vicki McGaugh TX Nubians]

Eventually you really should learn to cut kids when they are young. It is very simple, bloodless and they really don't even know what is happening, no necrosed tissue or even worry about tetanus. I helped out a guy last year who cut all his boys as soon as they were born, literally a small incission into each scrotum, with a disposable scalpel (he used one for each boy born in the litter) pop out the testicle, scarpe the cord, spray with fural, over.

I don't make wethers, but if I did, that is how I would do it.

Castration is castration...each way you do it is simply a skill learned. If you have a problem with banding don't do it, but know that millions of sheep, goats and calves are banded with zero problems each year. If you are going to use the crushing technique make sure and learn it from somebody who can show you exactly how. Vicki

[dunroven]

I like the banding method myself. We've done it for calves and goats, but I just thought her reasoning was a little skewed in my opinion. Both cause, again in my opinion, about the same amount of pain, seconds only, but with banding, you are for definite sure its done, unless you don't feel for the testicle, as they can stay undescended for a few weeks. I agree with waiting until about the 4th week for either of these methods for that very reason. I don't do the cutting method, although its fine for someone else to do it that way.

I don't do the adults, too hard to hold them, but I do the little ones.

[catdance62]

We band ours when they are ready and have had no problems. They cry a little at first, and then that's it.

[Backfourty,MI.]

I have banded in the past, but like Vicki I keep them bucks if at all possible. If I had another buckling that I wanted to be a wether I would do the banding over the crushing anyday! After they go numb(in a matter of minutes), in my opinion I don't ever think they know the bands there & I never had any problems before.

[ozark_jewels]

I have seen the crushing method used and if there was a difference, I'd say the crushing seemed more painful for a longer period of time than the banding. I've banded calves and goats for years and have never had any problems.

[farmerjane]

This might be a dumb question but what happens to the testicles after crushing the spermatic cord . I have used bands and they have always worked well.

[thaiblue12]

Well I am going crushing this coming week. I have a burdizzo but have not used it on my goats yet. This lady I know wants her 7 month old goats wethered as she also sold them as such. Yea she jumped the gun.
So I am going to practice on hers before I do my 6 month old. Mean but my boy is worth more to me personally and financially. But he is not worth $150 to have it done by a vet who thinks at that age he needs to be knocked out.
I did thanks to another member on here see it on video. They yelled once and walked off a bit stiffly.
My boys that I have banded have been such babies about it that I now give them 1 to 2 cc of kids pain reliever. Jeez one boy was shaking in a corner and crying all night, another made me think that something was wrong with him, that he was bloated or something as he kept screaming at random times. I could hear him while I was in the house and he was in the barn.

Farmerjane from what I saw the before and after, the testicles are smaller and useless. They do not shrivel up and fall off. I have a wether here who had it done to him and he has a small sac that is hardly noticeable. None one told me that when I bought him and I just happened to see the sac one day and went over and gave him an inspection.

[xoxoGOATSxoxo]

I band, also. I wouldnt feel confident with the burdizzo, or with cutting. With the bander I know for sure that I got both of them. Plus, we already had a bander when I got into goats because of the sheep, so I wouldnt have wasted money on another castrating tool.

[hoofinitnorth]

I vote for cutting. It's surprisingly simple and has few complications with a fast recovery.

I don't like banding and I have watched several new wethers at other farms "suffer" for days from the pain (yes, they were done "right"). Maybe they were just drama queens... I have not seen any do the burdizzo but it sounds like it would be a faster recovery and less prolonged pain. Not sure if that is true, but it seems that way to me, anyway. Once the pressure is released, the pain begins to subside as the area heals, while in banding, the pressure is never released. Maybe it's an issue of individual goats, some being more sensitive for longer than others?

[coltman]

We banded a couple of 4-5 week old ram lambs in the last quarter of the moon recently and I was so surprized that they showed almost no sign of discomfort initially and none since.

Stac

[lamoncha lover]

what brand /style bander should I get?

[farmmom]

I band my bucklings and calves with an elastrator bander (the kind with the blue handles). It works well for me. The kids jump at first then just run off to play. I've never had problems with the bands.

[Shazza]

We band too...the goats and the calves and also lambs, plus their tails. Poor little lambs when you do both the testicles and the tail dont quite know wether to fall down or run.

[pokyone42]

We band, tho I want to try the cutting... maybe next year. Banding has worked well for us.. only ONE kid out of probably more than 30 or 40 needed pain meds...

[Qvrfullmidwife]

We actually lost one through banding...the band was too high and crimped equipment not meant to be crimped. We thought he was just being a crybaby until he started peeing blood.

I want to learn to cut...sounds superduper simple but anything involving a scalpel I'd rather watch a few times, first!

[Backfourty,MI.]

Just make sure when you band you don't get to high up like Qvrfullmidwife said, make sure both testicles are down before you release the band because once you do it's not coming off & take notice of where there little teats are so you don't want to get either of those in the band. Don't want to worry you since it is very easy & I never had a problem with banding as most of the others have said also.

[billygoatridge]

I prefer the burdizzo method. I have seen others band theirs and they layed around crying for 1/2 hour or so afterward. With the burdizzo they yell for the 30 seconds of crushing then they walk off and go back to eating. I wouldn't like any method if I were them, but it seems like a quick over and done with pain would be better than the constant squeezing of a band.

[Qvrfullmidwife]

And at anyrate...

"I read on Fiasco farms that they do not recommend banding as it is cruel and inhumane."

There is a lot that I read on Fiasco farms that I take with a grain of salt!