How to Castrate a Goat with an Elastrator Band
Castrating your kids is an easy procedure. If you are squeamish about it, have a veterinarian or a goatkeeper friend do it for you. If you want to observe before trying it yourself, volunteer to hold the goat for the procedure. All of the methods require a helper to hold the goat.
About a half hour before castrating the kid, give him one adult aspirin, 0.25 cc of Banamine (prescription only), or some white willow bark tincture to help prevent pain, and 1 cc tetanus antitoxin to prevent tetanus. The kid will experience some discomfort after castration but will soon forget about it.
Banding is the most common method that goat owners use to castrate their goats. It is quick, easy, bloodless, and reliable. Banding refers to applying a small, thick rubber band to the top of the testicles with a metal tool called an elastrator.
To prevent bands from breaking down, keep them in the refrigerator until you're ready to use them.
An elastrator is the most common tool for castrating.
To prepare for banding, place a band that has been soaked in alcohol for a few minutes on the prongs of the elastrator. No other disinfectant or cleaning is needed because the procedure is bloodless.
Follow these steps to castrate using an elastrator:
Restrain the kid.
Your helper can hold the kid in her lap, facing outward with his back to her chest, or she can straddle the goat and lift the kid’s back legs up so he is standing on his two front feet.
With the prongs of the elastrator facing the kid, expand the band by squeezing the elastrator.
Place the band over the scrotum and testes, close to the body, making sure that both testes are below the ring.
Release the elastrator and pull it from the band, making sure that the band is close to the body and that the teats are not trapped in the band.
If you believe that the band is not on correctly or if one of the testes is not below the ring, cut off the band and repeat the procedure.
The scrotum and testes dry up and drop off in about two weeks. Check them regularly after that if they have not fallen off. Check them for infection and spray with Blu-Kote or another spray antiseptic, if needed. In a few cases, they may be hanging by a small amount of tissue, and you can cut them off with a clean scalpel or sharp knife.
Goat Glossary
abscess
An inflamed collection of pus caused by bacteria.
Goat Glossary
brood doe
A female goat that is kept for breeding purposes.
Goat Glossary
Goat Glossary
buckling
A young male goat.
Goat Glossary
cannon bone
The shin bone.
Goat Glossary
Caseous lymphadenitis CLA
A highly contagious disease caused by a bacterium, Cornybacterium pseudotuberculosis.
Goat Glossary
chaffhaye
Roughage that has the added benefit of containing good bacteria that aid in digestion.
Goat Glossary
chine
The are of a goat's spine directly behind the withers.
Goat Glossary
colostrum
A rich, immune-system-boosting fluid that kids need during their first days after birth.
Goat Glossary
Goat Glossary
Goat Glossary
doeling
A young female goat.
Goat Glossary
enterotoxemia
A disease also called overeating disease because it comes about when a goat eats too much grain, lush grasses, or milk.
Goat Glossary
escutcheon
The area between the back legs, where the udder lies in a doe.
Goat Glossary
foreudder attachment
Attachment of the front of the udder by the belly.
Goat Glossary
foundation stock
The stock you start your breeding program with.
Goat Glossary
Goat Glossary
fuzzy goat show
A goat show held in the early spring in a part of the country where the weather is still cold; you only need to do minimal clipping.
Goat Glossary
hypocalcemia
Often called milk fever, this is a deficiency of calcium in the blood that arises when a doe doesn’t get enough calcium in her diet to support her needs and the needs of her unborn kids.
Goat Glossary
ketosis
A metabolic imbalance that usually goes hand-in-hand with hypocalcemia. It is caused when a goat doesn’t get enough energy because she has stopped eating.
Goat Glossary
kid
A goat less than a year old.
Goat Glossary
mastitis
An inflammation of the udder, often caused by bacteria.
Goat Glossary
milk stand
A piece of equipment that a goat stands on with her head secured.
Goat Glossary
pannier
A pair of baskets or bags designed to carry loads on the backs of pack animals.
Goat Glossary
pasteurization
The heating of milk to destroy bacteria and other harmful organisms.
Goat Glossary
polled
Naturally hornless.
Goat Glossary
precocious milker
A doe that has udder development and milk production without kidding.
Goat Glossary
registered goat
A goat that meets the standards of appearance for its breed and is recorded in the herdbook of the goat association for that particular breed. A registered goat usually is a purebred but may be a crossbreed (called an American or an Experimental).
Goat Glossary
rolag
A cylindrical roll of wool or fleece that is used to spin yarn.
Goat Glossary
roving
A long strand of ready-to-spin carded fiber.
Goat Glossary
ruminant
An animal that has a stomach with four compartments and chews cud as part of the digestive process.
Goat Glossary
scours
The term that livestock owners use to talk about diarrhea in their animals.
Goat Glossary
sire
A goat's father; the act of fathering a goat.
Goat Glossary
stifle joint
The equivalent of a knee in a goat.
Goat Glossary
thurl
The hip joint, usually referred to in relation to the levelness between the thurls.
Goat Glossary
wether
A castrated male goat.
Goat Glossary
withers
The area of a goat's spine where the shoulder blades meet at the base of the neck.
Goat Glossary
yearling
A goat that is between one and two years old.
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