[Renegade 13]

Originally posted by Slynky:
So, off we go. Apparently, for my gratification as well as that of the "audience", the doctor begins the procedure while explaining how bulls are castrated. (great topic, I'm thinking) And, if you didn't know, it goes a little like this: the bulls are lined up so they are forced to walk in a limited area in a row. Two guys wait at the station. One has a sharp knife that he uses to quickly slice through the scrotum skin and on the other side of the "cage", another guy stands ready with a big vaccuum hose that he immediately places over the slit so he can suck out the testicles (I can just imagine the sound bull testicles make being sucked down a hose!) After all, these are sold as edible parts

First of all....EWWWWW!

Second, that's only the way mature bulls are castrated, which isn't the way most cattle operators do it. Mostly, the bulls are castrated a few days after birth, and then with a very tight, thick eLastic band that is slipped over the...um...equipment, then allowed to tighten. Cuts off the circulation, then after a month or so they dry up and fall off. No pain for the calves. For mature bulls they do do it as you described, which seems a little bit cruel to me. Maybe I'm just a little bit sympathetic...after all I wouldn't want that to happen to me!

(How can you tell I live on a cattle ranch eh??!)

As for hospital stories, well I don't have that many, and none are exciting or out of the ordinary. I didn't even visit a hospital for over 10 consecutive years (and I'm only 17, so that's not bad!) But then I had to go punch a wall, break my hand, etc etc. They didn't even take an x-ray of it, they just could feel the break, bandaged it up and told me to keep it that way for a couple weeks at least. That's the extent of my hospital stories.