As far as castration - it depends on the animal... we band the goats & sheep & use a band to dock the lamb's tails. Takes about 2 weeks for the tails to fall off. We do ours young - within the first week after birth. I like the bands on these because it is less painful. As to issues with bands - we have never had an issue but we band in cool weather (no flies) & we watch our kids to insure no problem arises. Biggest problem I have had is that we have one mama goat who will bite the band off her kids - every time!!!! It took awhile for me to figure out why her male kids still had their gems... until I saw her bite the band off of one of her week old boys!
As for cattle - I cut - again while young. I use some liquid lidocaine or the lidocaine creme used by dentist to numb the scrotum. The calves do jump a little but usually do not display gross discomfort. I do not dehorn period.
I gelded 2 of the horses we found in our pasture last year. They were pathetic looking starved animals someone put in our pasture. After months of good care & deworming we gelded them. I will not "stretch" one... I used rompom for one & demoseden on the other as the rompom did not "work" on him. It was over in 10 minutes. It is not hard to do but you need to apprentance under someone knowledgeable. We see many "proud cut" geldings around here that were gelded by amatures who did not take enough (you take the testical & a small bulbous mass just below the testical) in order to keep him from acting as a stud when around mares. I personally like to split the outer protective "tunic" & strip it down & out of the way before using a castrator that cuts & pinches the veins closed. I also go by the moon signs before castrating. Signs need to be in the feet. I have never had much bleeding doing this - although I have seen horses bleed to death or if not bleed to death, bleed profusely & swell when cut in the wrong sign.
As far as cuts & wounds... just remember you only have about 5 hours to sew a wound unless you cut the edges back to fresh edges in order for it to heal. You must also know what gut to use in which layer. You cannot stitch the skin layer leaving an open spot in the muscle or you will invite absess or fluid buildup. A wound must heal from inside out & leaving a void will promote infection. Cleanliness is a must. Antibiotics are often called for but not always needed - depends on the wound, what caused it .... & so on. Many minor cuts will heal without stitching. Cuts below the knee on horses tend to scar worse (proud flesh). I am a firm believer in allowing nature to heal when possible & only providing cleaning & ointments. Many ole timers use pickling lime & grease to heal wounds with excellent success. Iodine wraps, furacin ointment, wound kote are all used extensively around here. In my experience an animal in good shape needs little for most scrapes & minor cuts.... depends on where it is. I do believe you can go overboard with antibiotics.... although I encourage the uses of tetnus antitoxin & tetanus toxoid.
As I mentioned before - find a local vet or experienced layman to follow & learn. Nothing like experience to teach you. But also be humane & compassionate & know when to call the vet if you are over your head.
AND i'm not even a boy!
