BLOODLESS CASTRATION OF LAMBS - RESULTS OF A QUESTIONNAIRE

Interviews of nine flockmasters who used bloodless castrators to castr ate lambs revealed wide variation in the size of castrator used and th e techniques employed. Eight flockmasters used inappropriately sized i nstruments which were cumbersome to operate and probably applied exces sive crushing pressures over an unnecessarily large area of the lambs' scrotums. The methods of restraining lambs were often inefficient in terms of labour requirement. In 11 of 15 flocks, some lambs were not p roperly castrated and in six flocks, instances of injury and death att ributed to castration were reported. Evaluation of bloodless castrator s showed that the crushing pressure applied by castrators even those o f the same size could vary over 100%. The requirement for further rese arch into bloodless methods of castration is highlighted as is the urg ent need for training for operators.