Thread: Another Mystery Tool

Its a Vintage Castration tool Geoff.

OLD VINTAGE FARM CASTRATION TOOLS CLAMPS FIRE IRONS VICTORIAN BLACKSMITH VET | #310436012

Vintage castration tool - Google Search

Ouch! Thanks Auscab, I better warn him against his Mrs getting her hands on it.

Cheers,
Geoff.

Some more info on the tool and its use from what I know.
I'm no expert at all on this subject just an interested beginner so I may be wrong on this particular old tools use.

IanW is the expert and he will hopefully be able to sort out where I get it wrong when he reads this.

That tool is not as bad as it looks for the animal . What I learned a couple of years ago is, they don't cut the testes and scrotum off. They clamp and crush the blood vessels that go to the testes while they are still in the scrotum. But don't damage the scrotum.

I think the more up to date version is these that come in different sizes .
Vintage castration tool - Google Search

And a description of how they work.

Burdizzo - Wikipedia

I don't see how the old one you posted Geoff could be used exactly the same as the Burdizzo after reading the last link . The Burdizzo are used in a way that also doesn't damage all the blood vessels leading down to testes. Where as those old ones would clamp right across the lot . I'm interested to know more .

Edited for additions .

Originally Posted by auscab

That tool is not as bad as it looks for the animal . What I learned a couple of years ago is, they don't cut the testes and scrotum off. They clamp and crush the blood vessels that go to the testes while they are still in the scrotum. But don't damage the scrotum.

I think the more up to date version is these that come in different sizes .

Rob

I have not seen an emasculator like that. It is one of three methods available for castration of cattle. Those with which I am familiar have much longer handles as some leverage is required to crush the cord connecting the testicles. You know you have been successful when you hear the "crunch."

Regards
Paul

Originally Posted by Bushmiller

You know you have been successful when you hear the "crunch."

What an unpleasant thread to start my Saturday on. Somehow crunchy bacon is no longer an appetizing thought.

Lance, did you also notice how your testicles dragged themselves up into your carcass as you read Auscab's and Bushmiller's information?

Cheers,
Geoff.

I guess it is a very old style cord-crusher, but it must have been a pig of a thing to use unless those handles originally had a wooden cover to make them a bit more comfy to squeeze repeatedly - I sure wouldn't relish the prospect of docking a few hundred lambs with it as-is!. As someone said, it takes a bit of force to do the necessary damage to the vein & artery & cord. The only type I have seen/used is the "burdizzo", which looks more like a bolt-cutter, with double-action handles.

Although taught how to use them early in our course, we were strongly discouraged to use any of these implements because the damage you do to the artery & vein (all part of the plan) causes the testicular tissue to "die", which makes a very nice home for Clostridium, the organism that causes tetanus. Removing the offending bits of calf or lamb anatomy completely is considered a safer approach, though it requires marginally more skill on the part of the operator...

And while the thought of such brutal emasculation may bring tears to your eyes, you can all relax - the days of the castrati in opera are long gone, it's no longer a useful career move...

Cheers

Originally Posted by IanW

- the days of the castrati in opera are long gone, it's no longer a useful career move...

Cheers

Now you tell me...

Originally Posted by IanW

... - the days of the castrati in opera are long gone, it's no longer a useful career move...

Cheers

Au contraire - a career opportunity with no contemporary competition.

Its like the old Marketing 101 parable about the two shoe salesmen who were sent to darkest Africa:

• The first cables HQ - Situation hopeless, no one wears shoes, returning home.
• The second cables home - Eureka! Every one needs shoes. Send more samples.

Originally Posted by IanW

I guess it is a very old style cord-crusher, but it must have been a pig of a thing to use unless those handles originally had a wooden cover to make them a bit more comfy to squeeze repeatedly - I sure wouldn't relish the prospect of docking a few hundred lambs with it as-is!. As someone said, it takes a bit of force to do the necessary damage to the vein & artery & cord. The only type I have seen/used is the "burdizzo", which looks more like a bolt-cutter, with double-action handles.

Although taught how to use them early in our course, we were strongly discouraged to use any of these implements because the damage you do to the artery & vein (all part of the plan) causes the testicular tissue to "die", which makes a very nice home for Clostridium, the organism that causes tetanus. Removing the offending bits of calf or lamb anatomy completely is considered a safer approach, though it requires marginally more skill on the part of the operator...

And while the thought of such brutal emasculation may bring tears to your eyes, you can all relax - the days of the castrati in opera are long gone, it's no longer a useful career move...

Cheers

The idea is to do both testicles seperately and draw the cord to the outer edge of the clamp. That way the blood vessels to the scrotum remain intact. No fly strike and no dirt ingress.

Originally Posted by rustynail

The idea is to do both testicles seperately and draw the cord to the outer edge of the clamp. That way the blood vessels to the scrotum remain intact. No fly strike and no dirt ingress.

RN

Correct. I was going to mention that and the slightly more diffculty of achieving the outcome with the second nut as the animal is not quite so obliging, but I thought I had already offended the more sensitive among us. I have only used emasuclators a couple of times and then only in conjunction with cattle ( I was going to say I had no experience with sheep, but didn't for fear that would be taken the wrong way). The supposed advantage was also that the scrotum remained fundamentally intact and as the animal fattened the scrotum, now refered to as the "cod," also fattened making the condition of the animal more apparent. Having said that, any professional buyer would not require such an indicator to judge the "fat" condition of the animal.

Regards
Paul

Paul & Rusty, I don't know where you draw your information from, but I don't think it's quite correct. The "spermatic cord" consists of the artery, vein & vas deferens and they are quite intimately combined & would be rather difficult to separate through an intact scrotal skin sufficient to crush only the vas deferens with an instrument like that above, or even the more modern burdizzo; damage to the artery & vein is almost inevitable. There is no desire to preserve the testicular function with ordinary castration, the only time that is of any import is when you wish to create a so-called "teaser" bull or ram. That involves a bit of open surgery, blunt dissection of the VD from vein & artery, and chopping out a piece of it without damaging the blood supply to the testicles. The vasectomied animal thus retains all of his male characteristics, it just shoots blanks, as one of my former colleagues expressed it. While crushing the cord may not produce external bleeding, it most certainly does internally, usually not too much, but occasionally lots. The necrotic, anoxic tissue thus created is what makes a haven for Clostridium tetani - we don't know just how/why, but spores of this little critter (& some close relations like the ones that cause "blackleg") seem to be floating around in healthy tissue, just waiting for some injury or other to kill the tissue around it & produce the anoxiqa it craves (normally they don't cause any problem because they cannot grow in normal well-oxygenated tissue). But once it gets going, it produces nasty toxins which diffuse into the surrounding living tissue & kill it, thus securing more living room for itself, making more toxins which get into the general circulation, causing clinical disease like tetanus or whatever. So when said spores find themselves in the middle of some dead, anoxic tissue they are usually very happy indeed. This is the reason we were discouraged from using "bloodless" castration methods. The same problem can occur with "elastorators" (which for the townsfolk, are strong rubber bands slipped over the scrotum), they cut off blood supply, so everything south of the elastorator ring dies & eventually falls off. That's the plan anyway, & it's fine in 99.9% of cases, but occasionally the rings are not applied properly & thing go a bit pear-shaped for the lamb. A wise farmer makes sure his lambs are well-vaccinated before using such things.

In my 45 years as a pathologist, I saw quite a few cases of castration that didn't end happily for the victim, the vast majority were as a result of "bloodless" castrations.

This is far more than any of you wish to know, I'm sure, though for once, I AM on topic......

Cheers,

Originally Posted by IanW

Although taught how to use them early in our course, we were strongly discouraged to use any of these implements because the damage you do to the artery & vein (all part of the plan) causes the testicular tissue to "die", which makes a very nice home for Clostridium, the organism that causes tetanus. Removing the offending bits of calf or lamb anatomy completely is considered a safer approach, though it requires marginally more skill on the part of the operator...

Ian . With removing offending parts completely. We had a bull. Our first of two cattle . Who we left to long to do this to . He was getting BIG . We had two farmers offering to help but I had to get a crush in place first. One farmer wanted to come around with his Burdizzo and scoffed to me at the second farmers method of slicing the scrotum with a knife and taking the two testes out. The second farmer who comes around the most scoffed to me about using the Burdizzo. Said it didn't 100% determine the job had been done among other things I now forget. He was probably saying what you are talking about.
So I got the crush in place and second farmer did it with me holding the tail of the Bull back and twisted with me leaning into the bulls shoulder. I was looking at the bull almost eye to eye and when the sack was cut and the two testes pulled out and off he didn't react at all . That surprised Me , first time Ive ever been a part of such a thing . And the farmer who did it has been doing it since he was 10 or something like that.

So is that method considered the good way to do it when you know what your doing ?

This brings back some memories, when I was a wee chap, we used what was best described as a gas flame heated scissors, on lambs to cut and seal in one hit. And steers we’re done surgically with a sharp knife to open the sac and remove the testicule.

Would be about 35yrs maybe 40yrs since the last time I’ve performed any of the above methods, all done with rubbers rings these days.