Hey Hey,day after tomorrow, the state scrapie program vet tech, Kelly Voge, is coming out to help me ear tag and vaccinate all 25 lambs that are here. I thought I'd castrate by banding a number of the excess ram lambs, and my vet was willing to lend me his bander for the job.
I googled "band castrate ram lamb" last night, and my research led me to decide not to do it-- I'll have the old vet come out and "emasculate" them with the "emasculatome" instead. I have seen him do it on a 3 month old and on a 6 month old; the former without anesthetic and the latter with general and local anesthesia. It worked in both cases, the rammies didn't seem badly hurt, it's bloodless. . .
What got me was the assurance that banding older lambs really did hurt them; the web sites suggested doing the banding with a local anesthetic like Lidocaine-- but I know that would wear off before long. . .
But even more, that in Britain it's not allowed to band lambs after a week's age--
So okay, I know this other method that requires my vet's touch.
Maybe in another year I'll know more and go ahead and band lambs, but for now, it's going this way.
Now, I think I'll show you Abby (spotted lamb, perfect little yuglet sokket, HST) and Jasmine, her black wooly friend. See above! What pretty faces! Both girls are available, too, if you need a few nice girls. (Gail's later note: Abby is now staying here, Jasmine has been sold.)
Have a Happy 4th of July!
1 comment:
I haven't had to face the decision of how to wether yet, although I know I will eventually. I know a lot of people band and are very happy with that option. Upon first read, it sounded like banded wethers had more problems later with urinary calculi, but since then I've read a lot to counter that. Apparently feeding grain is a bigger contributor to that than banding. As far as what Britain allows, I think they go too far sometimes. Maybe they are dealing with some national guilt there, from their history of foxhunting and bull-baiting!
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