Ranchers' decisions on whether to cut or band calves often depend on how they run their operations; each can have its advantages. But regardless of your preferred method, according to Brett Barham, the dollars received at the sale barn make castration worth the time and expense.
Cutting is simple surgery—removal of the calf's scrotum and testicles with a pocketknife, scalpel or other sharp implement; banding involves use of a rubber band or surgical tubing to cut off circulation to the testicles, which will eventually shrivel up and fall off.
Barham, an Assistant Professor in Breeding Genetics for University of Arkansas Extension, said studies have shown a castrated animal is worth about $6/cwt more at the time of sale than a non-castrated animal.
"A large percentage of people who do not castrate," Barham said, "do so because they feel they're getting more growth performance out of the animals that are not castrated, and removing testosterone from the animal's system that's produced by the testicles from castration does slow down growth performance. But we do have growth implants that can be administered at the same time that will make up all that lost growth performance."
In addition, he said, steer calves are less aggressive in the feedyard than their intact counterparts, and their carcasses will typically be better marbled and grade out higher.
Barham said producers are about evenly split between the two methods, but he prefers cutting because it's quick and cheap. "There are some costs associated with banding," he said. "They vary with the banding method used, but it could be anywhere from 30 cents to a dollar or more per calf just for the rubber band or the surgical tubing that's used to band the calf. Plus, you have to have an applicator for that band."
Although banding offers less chance of infection, there are other potential complications. One is tetanus; banded calves should always be vaccinated against that disease.
Then, said Barham, there's the possibility of user error: "You may not get both testicles caught, and one may remain in the body cavity." That's the worst of both worlds—the animal is no longer fertile, but its body is still producing testosterone, and ending testosterone production was the reason for castration to begin with. There are, incidentally, still other methods of castration; one, which involves crimping the cord to the testicles, cuts off the blood supply in much the same way as banding.
Barham said producers who wait until the animal's a little older often prefer banding, just because it's harder to restrain a larger animal for cutting. "Typically," he pointed out, "the optimum age to castrate a calf is as early as possible. It can be done pretty much at birth, and so the younger he is, the smaller amount of impact that it will have on their performance. Basically, the best is anything under three months of age, for sure."
It's also important to watch a cut animal for infection or excessive bleeding; many producers will apply an antiseptic spray or cream to keep infection down.
Barham said, "An animal that fails to get up for quite some time after that tends to have a higher risk of having some complications; the ones that you see that are constantly laying down will be ones to really observe a little closer."
