How to Castrate a Calf with a Knife 

Most city people have no idea how their food is produced but would be completely lost if it wasn’t for us farmers. Fuck ‘em I say.

Thanks :)

It really is. I use pretty much the same method but I hate cameras and I really hate trying to explain things to people and prefer to work alone or with a small group of people I trust. Takes a good person to have patience and show their methods.

I'm also amazed you haven't had any complications seeing that you provide no hemostasis.

New to cattle but have had horses for 50 years, using sedation for gelding. We have left our bulls intact so far and the meat has been excellent. But had to get some neighbours cows for company to keep the bulls in the field and not getting in with our cows. We were considering banding as a more humane choice but see people have issues with it reading comments here. We would be interested in lidocaine - do you use topical or injection for castration purposes? We are not in North America so they likely have never used lidocaine here, but we have a good vet who has worked on cattle ranches in Brazil and would be open to doing what we want.

I’m in Saskatchewan. Never did horses personally but dad did on occasion. We’re mostly grain farmers but I run about 40 pairs as well. Don’t have horses anymore (at least for now) but cut almost all of my bull calves myself. Too bad my dad wasn’t still alive or I would recommend him. That man was very skilled with a knife. I personally wouldn’t be comfortable to do horses myself just because I never have.

drchestnuts headbutting each other like they are supposed to do to establish who's the better bull for breeding*

Clovis H Just like down the pub !

I use just one slit too but my method is practically the exact same. The two slit approach is interesting though.

When I did it, we typically held them down and after cutting we sprayed some iodine in there to keep it from getting infected

There is a "skin" around the ball. 99% of the time you cut it with the knife when you cut the ball sack. If the skin isn't cut you just give it a little nick and the ball will pop out. I should have mentioned that in the video. Once the ball is out you cut away the skin like I showed in the picture. You mustn't cut the blood supply there as they could die from blood loss. You might be able to see in the video that I cut the skin off by cutting away from the blood supply. Stab in then cut away (if that makes any sense). You MUST keep the knife in disinfectant and you MUST rinse your hands in the disinfectant before every calf. The key to no infection is to do the job as fast as possible and by handling as least as possible. You should try not to touch anything that stays with the calf. I have never seen any infection by cutting calves like this. I have done a lot of calves too. Never had a problem with them getting fly blown here. We do get a lot of flies but have never had any trouble with them. The balls go to the working dogs. It's like a delicacy to them haha. I have tried them but we kill our own meat and I think that tastes better.

Edward Spencer washing hands in disinfectant and keeping the knife in it too. Also being quick so you're handling the nuts as little as possible helps too I think

I'd assume they would, at least, wash the calf before cutting him, though. I'd assume a little warm-water bath would help the balls drop, as well.

Edward Spencer4 months agoNo suture or cauterising? What do you do to prevent infection? Suck the poison out, how else?

Thanks for the good comments. No, I have never had any problems with infection unless I cut myself. Haha. No, I really have never had any problems with any calves with infection. I think the most important things to prevent infection is to wash your hands before every calf in disinfectant, use a razor sharp knife, being fast and handling the least amount of flesh (or whatever it's called) that stays in the calf. Also make a large enough cut so the blood can drain out easily. If you're worried about infection you can wash the area with disinfectant. Like I said, I haven't had any problems. But I don't cut a calf if I have crap on my hands either. Make sure your hands are fairly clean. Hope that helps :)

I had an anal infection once and had to go on anti-biotics.

Stop with the dicks mate

I’m mostly a grain farmer but got back into cattle last year running only 60 pairs but that and 1800 acres of crop land keeps me pretty busy as I do pretty much everything myself with a friend or the wife occasionally helping as my kids are too young to do too much yet. A neighbour was talking me into banding. When we last had cattle, dad refused to do anything but cut them and I still only cut them. I debated a Newberry Knife but I find having a sharp scalpel works the best. Quick, easy, and practically as painless and bloodless as you can get. And, you get a tasty treat after your done branding, tagging, and bagging. Or maybe we are just a different bunch up here in Saskatchewan lol.

I’ve never seen it happen but supposedly can lose a calf to blood loss. I think you’d have to cut pretty close to the ball though for it to happen. Some bleeding is good to help clear away bacteria

They aren't in any noticeable pain afterwards. I'm sure they would feel something for a few days until it all heals up. But when they're walked back to their paddocks they don't appear to be any different.

The castrating blade on a three bladed stock knife. The one in the video is a Taylor's Eye Witness

Tim Gallagher first cut is the scrotum. Most of the time you’ll cut the scrotum and the thin skin around the ball in one go. I’m not sure what that thin skin is called haha. It’s important that the blood supply isn’t cut off too short. Sorry it’s a bit hard to explain for me over text, I would like to make another video on the topic but RU-vid banned me for a short while for posting this video - I had to write to them to get my account back on.

Lol why would the ever ban you for that??? Animal rights activists I’m guessing? Thank you for the video I’m gonna give this a shot. You’re a pro at this and you make it look way too easy!! Thank you and maybe I’ll have one of my kids take a video and show you how it turned out.

Tim Gallagher there were two videos at once. One was the skinning, gutting and quartering a cow. I think it would have been a heap of activists at once reporting both videos. Now you have to be over 18 to see both videos and RU-vid won’t pay me for them like they do with the others haha.

Throw a mixture of a cup of vinegar and half a cup of salt. Let it settle and dissolve and slowly pour to the wound and rub within. Just kidding, sick jokes aside. They might use hydrogen peroxide and other medical cleansing items to make sure the calf doesn't wind up infected. While many complain about the methods used on life stock, doing research and seeing instructional videos. It's no different than what doctors do in the medical field, but just for animals.

Yeah you can do that. Its alot easier to have 2 mates help do it. One on the head, one on the leg. When you get the calf on its side the fella on the head sits on the ground with one leg over the calf's neck. He then holds its head up to his chest, with its nose pointing to the sky, and holds tight. The other fella holds the top back leg similar to in the video. How big are the calves?

Alec Luther not very big,mate said about 4months both reg and very tame,but i dont want them Roaming the paddock as bulls when they get older,bloke nxt door got 40 head and well i heard alot of stories broken fences gates lol,anyways this is a top video on u tube, cheers mate

Its called a Morrissey calf cradle.

calfs are castrated so there mind is on feed. castrating them makes them gain easier than a non castrated bull. plus if castrated you can keep in the same pasture with serviceable bulls.

B Spence Plus bulls tend to be aggressive and the testosterone makes the meat taste bad as well as makes a smell when cooking An olds bull and a young bull are lying on a hill overlooking a herd of cows. The young bull jumps op and says to the old bull, quick! lets run down there and we can screw a cow! The old bull gets up slowly, and replies to the young bull, hold on a minute, let's walk down there and we can screw them all.

B Spence My castrated calves gain weight a little faster than bulls. I use my steers for my freezer, not for breeding. I don't have cows. I've been raising my own meat for a little over 22 years. I found that if you don't feed your steers corn, their meat comes out about 98% lean. That is good for those of us who can't have the fat and cholesterol.. And it is very tender.

Haha, well actually I have tried them a couple of times. Not something I would eat often but not as bad as you think. The thought is the bad thing haha. It is a delicacy to the dogs haha.

Great video thanks for sharing. I think it's great that we're helping animals explore the fluidity of their gender identity and not labelling them with patriarchal terms.

Alec L Also known as Rocky Mountain oysters

Alec L I've eaten some large ones. You bread them and fry them up just like chicken nuggets. Taste wonderful and full of protein. Mmmm.

In Saskatchewan we always eat them if we cut them. Never banded and frankly probably never would. Some neighbours do but I would say the majority cut. We always save the oysters. They’re an amazing treat.

I didn’t feel a thing

Yes but... Wait what?

@@Dinoraptor101 too late, already found out...the hard way

Doesn't hurt them hardly at all. It's all forgotten in a few minutes. Animals are built differently than people :)

You think? Are you like a veterinarian? Good explication though!

Consuelo Sandoval They seem to suffer a lot less than using rings. They don't seem to go through a lot of pain as its over so fast.

Alec L I've used small rubber rings for my small bulls. They only feel pressure for a little while. You should see lambs when you put those rings on their tails to dock them. Only pressure but they act like they've been stepped on by their mothers. LOL

Edna Rohler lol!

yup tastes great. we call it cutACut in our region. heart liver lungs and testicles all minced to perfection. ummm yummy

+Sajid Shamshad i like liver if its still moving. Medium rear plz. Never try'd heart or tongue. Have you had bull frogs? I hear that good too? Not sure about my cowboy buddies….lol

It's not painless but not as painful as other ways on RU-vid. And less painful than rings.

Personally I don't agree with this personal technique as well as many of the you tube videos circulating. Imagine if you turned the situation around and someone so cruel castrated you then said it was painless and necessary. That's the only point I'm trying to get at. Animals have souls and deserve our love and compassion.

+angel Fambro it is necessary. Bulls don't taste near as good as steers and steers are much easier to handle. No one ever said it was painless.

bruhhh LMAO

Well, that's like, your opinion man.

I have already said in the comments to you why this is necessary. Cattle are bred to be eaten. The steak you see at the butchers is from cattle. If they're not castrated they become bulls. If they are castrated they become steers. Steers taste a lot better and are much easier to handle. That's why it's necessary. I don't think I can explain this any simpler.

Same vegan loser still whining about things she doesn't understand.

Become vegan then 😑

Loser.

Than you should be looking up vegan recipes. He did the video in a professional manner. Maybe plants have souls? Now what are you going to eat.