I'm probably being oafish
to even suggest it, but there has to be an element of 'I can eat grosser things than you, so I'm sophisticated' about it.

As an aside, friend of mine used to castrate sheep, but he'd wrap an elasic band tightly round the base of the scrotebox, which would shrivel up after a few weeks, and could be simply cut off without the animal even registering it.

He reckoned there was no pain at all.
(username failed moderation, Wed 30 May 2012, 14:33, 2 replies)

Yes, it's a dense rubber band
And the device to apply it is like an expanding set of pliers. Takes seconds to whack it on. A lot more gentle than dealing with pigs.
( Ken Oath, Wed 30 May 2012, 14:47, closed)

You also get a thing...
... that's like a cross between a pair of pincers and a pair of mole grips that squashes the blood vessels. These then somehow stick shut after a few seconds, cutting off the blood flow.

I don't think it works as well as the rubber bands and judging by the hirpling about it's probably more painful for the lambs.
(gordonjcp, Wed 30 May 2012, 15:07, closed)

Poor old adolescent male farm animals have a hard time of it.
Everyone is determined to de-nut them in a variety of painful ways.
( Ken Oath, Wed 30 May 2012, 15:13, closed)