Is four month old buck too old to castrate?

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I just acquired a four month old Boer buck and wonder if anyone knows if a four month old is too old to castrate? I would like to eat this little fellow at 10 to 12 months and am concerned about him tasting too strong if not castrated.

-- Alan Jackson (aveater@aol.com), April 29, 2002

Answers

You can castrate at any age.

-- Rose (open_rose@hotmail.com), April 29, 2002.

I take it your talking about a goat here?, well to be honest im not too sure.. boer taint though comes across from the onset of maturity, i dont know how long it tkes for a male goat to mature, but if someone else does they will be able to help im sure.

In the UK there are rules to actually stop castration of animals after a certain age, or at least they need a vet in presence or thats what the law says anyway!,

anyway let me know how you gt on, im quite interested now!

-- craig (ruskie@absolutevodka.fnet.co.uk), April 29, 2002.


It is fine to fix him. I believe I heard from Vicki that we should now wait untill they are at least 3 months old, as the urniary tract must have time to grow, and that banding before that can cause problems later on. I have waited on my boys to get to 12 weeks this year before we band them, just in case. They all did fine.

-- Cindy in KY (solidrockranch@msn.com), April 29, 2002.

An animal can be castrated anytime in its life. I knew of an old stallion that was gesded at 25 so he could pasture with a group of older mares. However, animals that are castrated late may retain a lot or a little"intact male behavior" if they have been used to breed or have acquired some bad habbits and/or attitudes as a result of being left intact too long. Often, this behavior lessens but they will never be as calm as early castrated animals. Of course there is a lot of difference in individuals.

If you are castrating a good animal for breeding just because he's to rowdy you may not solve the problem. Seriously consider training him to respect you or the other amimals if this is the case.

Good luck!

-- Erika (misserika129@hotmail.com), April 29, 2002.


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