Beef cattle production and management
Make a simple race and crush.
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Practical Action
Use three poles to hold an animal.
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Routine practices
Castration
Reasons for castration
This is a means of preventing inferior male animals from breeding (reproducing)
It is done to induce docility in male animals
Castrates are easy to feed: there is no fighting in pens hence they spend more time feeding
than fighting
Castrates tend to produce tender and fatter meat at mature age
Castration is also done to prevent the strong odour in meat, which may not be desirable.
One would benefit from delaying castration because the longer the time before castration
the higher the weaning mass and subsequent gains. The table below best illustrates this.
Castration age
Birth
3 months
6 months
Birth mass
32
33.2
32.6
Weaning mass
170
174
186
Gain
138
140.8
153.4
But, as the animal gets older, the more traumatic castration becomes. Castration is generally
done at the same time as dehorning.
Castration methods
1 Burdizzo's forceps method
This is done by pulling down the testes and holding the spermatic cords between the jaws of the
forceps. The jaws are then closed and then given a jerk to completely sever the cords. This is the
most suitable method for beef, it is fast and bloodless and requires some skill. It can be at the
same time as dehorning or 2-3 months of age.
2 Knife method
This is done by incising the bottom of the scrotum and pulling out the testes. Then rub the knife
against the spermatic cords until they break. This method can be used at any stage. But it is
illegal to castrate an animal that is more than 12 months old without the use of anesthesia. This
method requires some skill and is slow. It also requires the use of chemicals to treat the opened
wounds.
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