Down on the Farm

**Old Farang** · 6th October 2020, 02:50 PM

I guess that there are a few of us that either grew up, or worked on farms when we were young. The PC brigade appears to have invaded farms now in more ways than one:

scary: Was at a mates place the other day.
Rex,his young Kelpie,had recently had his nuts removed,and needed to go to the vet to have the stitches out,that afternoon.
No worries,i said,he held him,stanly knife out of the van,long nosed pliers,and out the 3 of them came.

Off ran Rex,i don't think he has realised anything is missing

4bee: Just think, if you had been a week or two earlier you could have done the removal of his nuts with your teeth like the old Yorkshire Vet on TV who removed a Horses nuts like that just recently.
Properly sterilised no doubt?
No, not your Clinical Theatre equipment, REX?

scary: Hmm,bugga that

Many years ago,we used to do it to the merinos on the property.Off they came,toss them to the dogs,a bit of tar on the wound,off they went

Tails off as well,same thing.

Now we put this green ring over them,then they drop off.They recon soon we won't be able to do that as the animal people are onto it.
Will need to use anaesthetic.

In fact doing the tails on the Dorpers will be banned soon,but has to still be done on the merinos,as they can get fly blown.
never had anything to do with doing it to cattle,but i can imagine the dogs would get well fed while it is getting done.....

Just thinking,off topic we are going

I have done my share of lambs, mostly using a rubber ring. Calves are not much of a problem but are of course, much more difficult to restrain! Never done a horse or a pig. Never used to use anything on the scrotum afterwards if using a knife, as it is better left open to drain away any blood.

I had a Doctor friend(RIP PHIL), that had a mongrel male Siamese cat that had the idea that he was the King of all he surveyed. As a Doctor ethics stipulated that Phil could not "operate" on animals, but he thought that anaesthetising the cat would not infringe on ethics if I was to do the deed.

So, a small injection and Mr. Moggy obliging laid back while I did the deed! I have done a few cats and they have to be the hardest to do. We used to put their head and back legs in a bag with just the required area exposed. Surprising just how strong a cat is, but then I suppose I would be too put in that position! Definitely a two person job!

Another thing that I think the PC brigade has outlawed is de-horning cattle. I used to help my late Father doing this. We had a fearsome hand held device that had a guillotine like business end with long wooden handles. My late Father was a very strong man and I have seen him bend the handles doing this. Once the horn came off there would be a jet of blood which covered me and everything else in sight for a few minutes. I believe now that this is supposed to be done by a vet.

**Tote** · 6th October 2020, 07:05 PM

There is building pressure to end muelsing, however there are still many around here who do it. SWMBO completed the classers spec sheet for our clip today and there are now a few separate questions on the declaration. - Have any sheep on the property been muelsed in the previous 12 months , Have any sheep been purchased that are muelsed and if you do muelse do you use anesthetic or other pain reduction.
We don't do it but we are small enough that we can mitigate the fly strike risk by jetting and regular inspections for blown sheep. Those who have sheep running on thousands of acres are not able to do that and that is where there is a significant benefit to muelsing lambs.
It intrigues me that the animal rights people are happy to shock with pictures of recently muelsed lambs, however the sight of a sheep that is so blown that it has maggots coming out of its body cavity apparently is not a real thing. Farmers do not go out of their way to inflict pain on their stock.

I also marked my fair share of lambs with a sharp knife when I was a young bloke and have the scar on my thigh to prove it when I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing - 4 stitches I think. We use green rings and the lambs recover pretty quickly, however I reckon they used to recover faster with less pain when we used a knife.

Regards,
Tote

**austastar** · 6th October 2020, 07:24 PM

Originally Posted by Old Farang

I have done a few cats and they have to be the hardest to do. We used to put their head and back legs in a bag with just the required area exposed. Surprising just how strong a cat is, but then I suppose I would be too put in that position! Definitely a two person job!

Hi,
Handy things, gumboots!

Cheers

**Old Farang** · 6th October 2020, 07:24 PM

tote: There is building pressure to end muelsing, however there are still many around here who do it. SWMBO completed the classers spec sheet for our clip today and there are now a few separate questions on the declaration. - Have any sheep on the property been muelsed in the previous 12 months , Have any sheep been purchased that are muelsed and if you do muelse do you use anesthetic or other pain reduction.

From what I have seen and read, some international buyers are demanding this information and will not buy wool from producers still mulesing.

**trout1105** · 6th October 2020, 07:42 PM

If you are in a blowfly problem area mulesing will prevent death/disfigurement from flystrike on sheep 99.99% of the time.
Why are people so upset by mulesing and yet still get their male children circumcised which does SFA and yet mulesing that saves the lives of countless sheep upsets them FFS

Townies should stay in town and mind their own bloody business

**Arapiles** · 6th October 2020, 07:54 PM

Originally Posted by trout1105

If you are in a blowfly problem area mulesing will prevent death/disfigurement from flystrike on sheep 99.99% of the time.
Why are people so upset by mulesing and yet still get their male children circumcised which does SFA and yet mulesing that saves the lives of countless sheep upsets them FFS

Townies should stay in town and mind their own bloody business

Interesting ... we ran sheep and as far as I'm aware we never did it - we crutched only. So I've always been bemused by the people defending mulesing as a universal practice.

I also recall transitioning from using a knife to remove testicles to the rings. I'm sure that there's still some of the knives around the sheds somewhere .... I was describing the process to my kids the other day and offered to bring back a knife the next time I was up at the farm ....

**trout1105** · 6th October 2020, 07:58 PM

Originally Posted by Arapiles

Interesting ... we ran sheep and as far as I'm aware we never did it - we crutched only.

How many sheep did you have to treat for flystrike or loose from flystrike each year??

**scarry** · 6th October 2020, 08:17 PM

Originally Posted by Old Farang

Never done a horse or a pig.
.

Dunno how you would do a pig,they are internal aren't they?

They are wild out our way,so we just destroy them one after another,and they still keep appearing...

Although those exclusion fences are slowing them down.

**austastar** · 6th October 2020, 08:24 PM

Originally Posted by scarry

Dunno how you would do a pig,they are internal aren't they?

Hi,
Not if I remember the boars at the Hobart Show pavilion I saw as a kid.
cheers

**scarry** · 6th October 2020, 08:27 PM

Originally Posted by austastar

Hi,
Not if I remember the boars at the Hobart Show pavilion I saw as a kid.
cheers

Hmm,sort of half internal if you know what i mean,a bit hard to remove on a farm.
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