You know the old adage "work smart not hard"? Apparently we're beyond that in our family.
We castrated our bull calf today. "Big deal" you might say. Well, considering that he weighs close to 700 lbs, it kinda was.
Why didn't we do it earlier you ask?
We always intend to do it while they are small. But we got him as a day old calf to graft onto our Jersey cow and that can be stressful business. We didn't want to make it any more stressful by banding or cutting him. So we waited. And waited. And waited. A little too long. 
So today, while we watched him over the barnyard gate, my husband says "Get the ropes and a knife. Let's get it done." Oh boy.
Did I forget to say we don't have a squeeze chute? We squeezed him behind a gate, dropped some ropes on him, tied him to tree, knocked him over and hog tied him. It took a little longer to do it than it does to read it.
Now it gets ugly. Out came the knife and my husband "removed him of his infidel self". Couldn't have happened to nicer guy. We pumped him full of Wonder Dust and hosed him down with BluCoat Spray, yanked off all the ropes, and he was free to go. He ran and hid in the barn ( big wuss).
It really wasn't as much of a Mickey Mouse show as we have done in the past but I just have to shake my head. And promise up, down, and sideways, that the NEXT calf we are banding first thing.
What do you think the chances are?
Blessings.
Ouch! That must not have been much fun for ANY of you! I had a little goat once who had one horn that didn't die off completely, and I had to re-burn it off. He was quite a bit bigger at the time, and wasn't too happy about the ordeal. I think I got a little too much and hurt his head permanently. If I ever have goats again, I'll leave that job to the "experts".
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