Monday, March 9, 2009

Banding calves

The boys decided to band the calves this weekend - we only had a few to band. We usually band after they are a couple days old and it is a simple procedure. But we had a calf that had somehow escaped the dreaded band and had gotten a little too big to handle so it took a family effort. For those of you that aren't familiar with the banding process it can seem kinda harsh. For the bull calf to become a steer it needs to be banded so it can not procreate. Or in layman's terms you wrestle the calf to the ground and place what looks like a little green cheerio rubber band around his nut sack and eventually the nut sack will fall off. Hey, I'm just keeping it real here. I thought it would be a good photo op to let you guys see the process - not to mention sometimes it gets pretty funny watching the calf outsmart the guys! After we separated the mama cows from the calves they cornered and pinned them up. But a couple got away- so they needed to be taken down- cue the cops theme song!This one was the bigger calf -and was in the process of being taken down he still put up a good fight.
See the cute little baby calf running around front? That is the size of the calf that we like to band -they are easy- not like the one Jake and Thane are tangling with in the background. And I swear Thane is not trying to punch Jake- it just looks that way!This is the last photo I got before Luke and I had to jump in and help- ladylike I know- but it is the life of a farmer's wife!

9 comments:

QuiltedSimple said...

Oh this looks so familiar and so funny! Amazing how strong they are, isn't it?
Kris

Carol Murdock said...

Been there done that.....of course we sold Big Harley a few months back as he quit producing bull calves. The last four were 3 girls, one boy and we have two more of his still to come. Now we have Bocephus and we won't see his results till Fall.
Carol

The Wife said...

LOL, he was givin' them the once over! Luckily we don't have to do that with our guys. They get to keep all their boy bits!

Lib said...

Awwwwwww Farmlife lol
That what I like about you , you keep it real and I think everyone should keep it real!
Have a great wk.
Blessins',Lib

Farmer's Daughter said...

Thanks for the pictures... brings back memories.

Nancy M. said...

I wasn't exactly sure what had to be done to castrate them, but now I do. It does look like it could be a comical process.

luckysanjana said...

hi im new to your space...........i think I saw them do something like that to a pig once.........but only it was worse........gee they slit him up there and probaly removed his internal reproductive organs and then sewed him back up........Terrible.........and I remember what they did it for... They said when a pig comes of age he starts running after the female pig......and becoz of the running the loses a lot of weight ........(which ofcourse is no good for sales) so the idea was to basically put a damper on his hormonal secretions........I was 10 years old at the time and I was totally aghast.........but the pig was up and about.........and seemed normal the next day....i had almost forgotten about that incident until now.........seems like quite an effort to get the guy down.............LOL>

Srilatha said...

Hi, I am completely new to farm life. I grew up in India and my dad had a few cows in the backyard just to have some good fresh milk though he was not a farmer.

I would like to understand clearly your statement - "eventually the nutsack will fall off". You mean just with a band around it a few days, the sack will drop off as a rotten pear?? How long can be the 'eventually'?

Angelena said...

Hi Srilatha, thanks for stopping by. The band is thick - kinda like a green cheerio. The band is placed around the nutsack using a special tool that stretches the band to fit around the nutsack. After you get the band on it will cut the circulation off and after a few days to a week the sack will fall off- just like a rotten pear.