# The Latest Age to Castrate



## farmerjohn

What is the latest age that a pig can be to castrate?


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## barefootflowers

How brave & strong are you & all of your helpers? We usually do ours in the first week or two. However, a few months ago we had the experience of castrating a pig just under 6 months. We had 3 helpers who were pretty experienced & some good strong rope. The pig did fine & will be off to the butcher in a week or two. Good luck!


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## farmerjohn

These are small in the weight area of approx. 40lbs or less. I have some Guinea Hog Boars and I have decided to castrate a few. Except for the fact that I don't know how and there are no vets around that will work with them. So I must learn for sure, probably by myself. Did you use any blood stop powder? Just cut, pull and strip? Then turn them loose? Treat with iodine? Banimine? These guys are about 2 foot long and maybe a foot high off of the ground there abouts. This is a female here doing this, not a male.


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## barefootflowers

I usually hold them while my husband does the cutting. I like to sit on a bucket, hold the back legs close to my chest with the head tipped down towards my feet. Sometimes I can grip the back legs and the front legs at the same time to expose the area for my husband, depends alot on how many we are doing and how much they weigh. We spray the area with an antiseptic with topical anesthetic- then after we make the cuts we irrigate the area with an iodine water mix. No blood stop. I would really recommend you watching someone else a few times first. At the very least a video. And 40 lbs is going to be really, really hard by yourself. I would say dangerous by yourself. Any one else out here want to chime in?


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## HeritagePigs

There are lots of videos on YouTube that show folks doing this. I recommend taking larger piglets and any hogs to the vet.


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## Ed Norman

Castrating dead larger boars before butchering them made me shy away from castrating live ones. Extra things grow in there and take much more cutting than a little pig less than a week old does.


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## Allen W

Find some help, 40 lb pigs are about too much for one person. Usually held pigs that size on their backs, setting on them holding their hind legs.


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## 449piglady

I agree with Brian, get a vet or someone who knows how to do it, to show you. A number of things can go wrong. It is definitely a 2 person job. It pigs are light enough one can hold the pig upside down by hind legs and one can cut. Or you can do it on the ground with the pig laying down. One person with knee into neck and holding back legs while the other cuts. Slice each testicle, pinching from behind so it pops out through the opening. There is a membrane that needs cut and a blood vessel. The blood vessel is shaved back and forth (a straight cut can cause excessive bleeding). Use blood stop or eye power for the bleeding. And if you haven't done this before, you may want to check the farmer's almanac for best times to casterate. (Couldn't hurt right?) See castrating by moon thread.


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## JHinCA

For larger piglet it takes three people. Equipment: razor blades or scalpel, clean rag and warm soapy water, iodine, wound spray, straw bale, ear plugs for all three people.

Catch pig, lay it on a straw bale belly down legs stretched out. One person sits on it and holds down the front legs. I am usually that person so don't have a view of what happens next. One person holds the back legs, one person is the surgeon. Wash its hind end with warm soapy water. Slosh with iodine. The "surgeon" operates, then sprays with wound spray. We usually keep them confined in a clean area for a few days to make sure they are ok.

You should have someone show you how to cut before you try. I am told there is a trick to it.


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## farmerjohn

Called an Amish gentleman I know as a farrier and he passed me on to someone who has done it for years for a large hog operation. There will be 2 experienced guys here to do this and to show me how. The gentleman who owns this hog farm has 15,000 sows, does AI, and farrows 60-80 sows a week in three seperate locations. So--I am happy I could get someone experienced in this. T

here are 9 vets in the immediate area and not one will touch a hog or a goat. Probably not even a sheep. They are doing this to see the Heritage Breeds I raise and only for the gas money of 20.00. I feel fortunate to have found them and they will help me learn so it can be done sooner after birth. But then I have also learned that it is difficult to decide which to cull at such an early age. Now that these pig are a little older I can more accurately see the traits that are more desireable to keep in the line. The rest comes from experience. Thanks all for the advice.


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## highlands

Perhaps the question might be better phrased, at what maximum age are you foolish enough to castrate them?  I've read horrible tales of people castrating large pigs. Generally the people survived. :}


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## highlands

Interesting related thread:

http://www.permies.com/permaculture-forums/6434_0/critter-care/large-pig-castration-lesson-learned


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## olivehill

If the only reason you're castrating is because they're not intended for breeding, why not just separate them out of the main herd, raise them up and butcher them when the time comes?


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## Wanda

highlands said:


> Interesting related thread:
> 
> http://www.permies.com/permaculture-forums/6434_0/critter-care/large-pig-castration-lesson-learned



The op pigs are 40pounds not 120:shrug:


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## springvalley

Fifty years ago you couldn`t sell a boar pig to market, you had to castrate them and then sell them. And I to have heard some nasty stories also about cutting big boars, but when they wouldn`t buy them until they were cut, then you cut them. Did you also know that for years the hog buying markets when they got boars in they would break their noses with a baseball bat so they wouldn`t fight with each other. > Marc


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## 99RB

recmdation is to cut at or before 10 days
40# will be a handful


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## shawnlee

Just as a note of caution...if there is a large momma sow around....keep a good eye on yer blindside...hehe..:sing:

Better make sure its a real sturdy fence too..in between you and the sow....:happy0035:

That was my first job as a kid.....sow duty......pop held em and grandpa cut em and I stood guard with a shocker outside the barn to keep moma sow away....to say the least, she was not very happy and would of loved to chew me up and anything else she could get a hold on...luckily it was my first time and not hers...she knew what the shocker was and I did not need to use it............but it was pretty scary for a 10 year old to see moma sows eyes and know she was not happy when those piglets screamed.


Also those poor piglets make some horrible noises and had the most painful looking walk when let out of the barn to rejoin moma....:ashamed:

Next year I got to hold the pigs and watch what grandpa did......he used his razor sharp old timer folding knife and used what looked like iodine or methilade....bright red stuff.....to clean the area and knife and then dabbed some on afterwards.....

Unfortunatly I never got a chance to do the cuttin myself.....and regret never having the chance to share in that with grandpa....

Memorable good times for sure.........get ready for a memory you will never forget!


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## FTG-05

Is there a way to do this with rubber bands or zip ties? I recall reading about that here somewhere.

I watched my uncle do it to his little pigs about 45 years ago, Greenbush, MN. Wished I had paid more attention. He did a whole bunch of them - grab, hold, cut, spray, done - in about 15 minutes. They were pretty small. I don't recall what they did the small white testicles, just left them on the ground, gathered them, saved them whatever. I hope they weren't in the casserole for dinner that night!

Al


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## olivehill

Look at a cow's testicles. Now look at a pig's. A boar's don't hang, they're tight to the body. There's no place to put a band.


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## pretendfarmer

I know a guy who just cut a boar 3 days ago. He originally bought him to breed but found out the owner of the pin didn't want him raising litters. The hog was approximately 80-90 lbs. It took 5 strong grown men to hold this hog down, and it got away from one of them. Luckily the others had a good hold on it. I wasn't there but glad I wasn't because he said it was quiet some experience.


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## Astrid

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_k_MsfGz80[/ame]


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## Ronney

If castration is deemed an absolute must, it should be done within a week of birth and preferably at no more than three days old. 

Apart from the welfare issue for the pig, there is also the difficulty in manhandling a larger pig. Who in their right mind needs to find 5 people to hold down a pig just to take it's nuts out. Dumb. Go figure.

Cheers,
Ronnie


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## pretendfarmer

Ronney
Easy Hoss
There is no need to be so negative. I am some what new to this forum, but I believe if you got a negative comment like yours, just go ahead and keep it to yourself. 
Thanks


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## Lazy J

pretendfarmer said:


> I know a guy who just cut a boar 3 days ago. He originally bought him to breed but found out the owner of the pin didn't want him raising litters. The hog was approximately 80-90 lbs. It took 5 strong grown men to hold this hog down, and it got away from one of them. Luckily the others had a good hold on it. I wasn't there but glad I wasn't because he said it was quiet some experience.


If this stunt was pulled regularly on a commercial farm the HSUS would be using it against agriculture.

I did the same thing in 1988 with a set of Duroc boars, never again will I subject the pigs to the stress and pain.

If you don't castrate them early then don't castrate.

Jim


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## Lazy J

Ronney said:


> If castration is deemed an absolute must, it should be done within a week of birth and preferably at no more than three days old.
> 
> Apart from the welfare issue for the pig, there is also the difficulty in manhandling a larger pig. Who in their right mind needs to find 5 people to hold down a pig just to take it's nuts out. Dumb. Go figure.
> 
> Cheers,
> Ronnie


+1
:thumb:


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## FTG-05

olivehill said:


> Look at a cow's testicles. Now look at a pig's. A boar's don't hang, they're tight to the body. There's no place to put a band.


Aw, thanks. Now that you mention it, the person who talked about using the band was referring to her cow.

Thanks,


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