The day began as spring and ended in the throes of winter. We have just checked all the animals and with both wind and rain doing their worst, it is rather comforting to know that all the stock is safe, warm and dry, ensconced in their various field shelters, barns and stables.
Needless to say (or write), we have no new lambs!! The four we have are all doing well, still think that Skerry’s ewe lamb is not as strong as her brother but she has a full belly and always does the ‘tell-tale’ stretch when she gets up after lying down! This is a classic behaviour of a lamb with a tummy full of milk and a sign for us that she is warm and well fed. Mrs White’s two are fabulously strong and lively. And so to castration! Male lambs are castrated by many farmers and smallholders in order to make management of the whole flock easier. Male lambs that are castrated can stay with their mums and siblings without the risk of any unwanted breeding, in addition it is thought that unwanted sexual behaviour is reduced as well, i.e. aggression and mounting. The most common method of castration is to use a tight rubber ring placed at the base of the scrotum such that the blood supply is cut off and eventually, the scrotum and testicles fall off. However, castration in this way does cause pain, albeit short-term!! Furthermore it has to be done in the first week of life when ewe and lamb are potentially still bonding, so risking a disruption, or worse, to the relationship.
From an animal welfare point of view, rubber ring castration is questionable but as long as it is does in the first week of life, is both legal and can be performed by the farmer/smallholder! Other methods include: surgical castration which involves removing the testicles; the Burdizzo method where the spermatic cords are crushed; and the short scrotum method where the testicles are ‘pushed’ back inside the body and the scrotum removed completely. All of these must be performed by a vet and under anesthetic!
We need to talk more with our vet but at the moment we are considering NOT using the rubber ring method, having done so in previous years. Our hand has been somewhat forced because Mrs White’s ram lamb has very un-descended testicles (hence our entry on 13th) and as such we were not able to apply the ring on him anyway. Had we tried we were in danger of not getting one or both testicles the right side of the ring and so leaving him half or totally entire. Alan from Market Vets examined him and even he said he would struggle.
There are all sorts of considerations here, including money (rubber ringing is very inexpensive) but animal welfare is the bigger issue – as it should be…
We are pretty clear we want to castrate as even with ten acres, running two flocks from mid-summer onwards, would not be easy.