We almost always clamp our bucks to make them wethers, however someone is wanting a couple for 4-H. They say the sack can't be intacked to show. I don't like the banding method. What is the oldest they can be safely cut?

-- cindy frazee (cindy@tctc.com), April 18, 2002

Answers

I am turning into one of them old women in the woods who tells the same stories over and over :) Back before Boers, Nubians were the meat goat of choice, many of our bucks were shown wethered at shows all over. A gal lost her wether to UC right before tag in she came to me, a 4H leader and begged me to sell her my 9 month old buck to show the next month. He was intact, on his way to a life of breeding. The gals mom offered me more than he was worth so my vet was called. She clamped him above his testicles, talked to me for a few minutes and then porceeded to cut off the bottom of his scrotum and strip each testicle of its cord. Because of the clamp there was no blood, she then completely cut off the scrotum up to the clamp. With furox in her right hand she let the clamp off and started spraying it. It sprayed blood, it dripped blood, it slowly dripped and it stopped. The whole time the un-anesthitized buck stood stock still with his legs spread. She got out of the pen, told me to keep him in the clean pen for a couple of days, and said that will be 50 $. I was rather in shock myself :) I walked her to the truck coming back to the barn hearing a commotion, seems that although he was ball- less nobody had bothered to tell his brain that he was at the fence blubbering at the juniors in the next pen (which he had never seen being in this clean pen :) So there is never an age you can't cut a buck, if you have someone who knows how to do it. Number one, if the vet says, put him to sleep to do it, RUN! Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), April 18, 2002.