So, though you can pretty much castrate a goat at any age, it’s only really going to achieve the intended effect if you do so within the first year of its life.
Castrating an old goat may cause them to become mellower and less aggressive, but it may have no effect at all.
Let’s look further into this.
Can you castrate an old goat?
You can, in theory, castrate a goat at any age.
Banding should not be done after a quite young age—around three months.
But a goat can be surgically castrated at any age.
That said, while you can castrate it at any age, you must consider the reasons that you are castrating it in the first place.
An old goat who has already gone through puberty and sexual maturity will be quite set in their ways.
Castrating them will not achieve the effect of making them more docile or less aggressive, in most cases.
This behavior is already built into them.
At the same time, it might do.
Castrating an old goat may well, by chance, make it calm down.
But in most cases, bucks are castrated at a very young age in order to safely change their behavior.
So, when is best to castrate a goat?
When should you castrate a goat?
Generally, it’s best to castrate a goat at no older than 12 weeks.
There’s a fairly large spectrum during which it is safe to castrate.
Generally, anywhere from four weeks to four months old.
The ideal sweet spot is about 8 to 12 weeks old, though.
So, as you can see, castration is generally done at a very young age.
When it comes to banding, this has to be done within 3 months of life.
Attempting to castrate via this method at an older age could have more wide-reaching health effects.
If you castrate too late, you may well end up with an unwanted pregnancy.
A buck as young as 3 months has been known to impregnate a female.
If you wait too late, chances are that you won’t be able to alter their behavior in the way you wanted.
Ideally, then, 8 to 12 weeks is when you would castrate a goat.
| Related Posts |
|---|
How much does it cost to castrate a goat?
It is going to depend on the goat, as it may well cost more to get an older goat castrated.
For a typical veterinarian, you may be looking at a cost of around $80.
While some would suggest you can easily castrate a goat yourself, if you’ve no skill or experience or training with this, then I would definitely not recommend it.
There are multiple ways that you can castrate a goat, though, so let’s look into how it’s done.
How can you castrate a goat?
There are three main methods for castrating a goat.
One of the most common, which I mentioned, is called banding.
This needs to be done on very young goats, and is one of the most common ways of castrating young bucks.
This must be done between 8 to 12 weeks—never outside of this boundary.
You must apply a ring around the goat’s testicles to stop them from developing, and leave it there until they eventually fall off.
The other means is surgically.
This is where you would really need a vet.
It is much more intense, and obviously involves making an incision on the animal.
This is quicker, but if the goat is sedated, it should overall be easier on the goat.
Finally, you can use a method called emasculation.
This is considered to be one of the safer methods, involving no blood or surgery.
But you should still know what you’re doing before you start.
This method involves using a specialized tool called a castration plier.
You must get someone to hold the goat with its backside facing you.
Then, you use the pliers to crush the spermatic cord, castrating the goat without having to remove its testicles.
Though this is a simpler method once you know what you’re doing, it’s really important that you do know what you’re doing.
Otherwise you stand a good chance of hurting the goat.
Ideally, you would castrate a goat very early in its life to achieve the effect you are after.
If you leave it after the goat is a year or so old, then there’s not much chance that you will achieve the effect you want.
It is best to castrate the goat well before it achieves adolescence, and this will have the effect of curbing aggressive and domineering tendencies.