Always more to learn, always interesting. Yesterday my boss had the vet teach me about turning a little bull into a little steer. I've seen plenty of surgical procedures during human births and in the dental office. I'm no stranger to blood and knives. But I was still caught off guard. So was the calf, though he wasn't half as upset as I expected him to be.

Animals have evolved to resist showing pain. You can't be stumbling around the forest moaning and whining, the way humans do, because someone is going to notice your vulnerability and eat you. Cows are famously stoic and can be extremely brutal with each other---especially with their horns. Their primary mode of communication is intimidation followed by force. Which, other than human safety, is the reason they get dehorned. They can tear each other up with those powerful weapons. We numb our calves before dehorning and when the anesthesia works perfectly they don't indicate any pain. Be that as it may, the most brutal thing I've ever seen in my life is a botched dehorning. A different vet on another farm was in charge that day and I've often wondered if maybe he had lapsed into a psychotic state? The calf was bawling, shaking, and foaming at the mouth. It was truly horrible and I'd give anything to take it back. I can't explain what-the-hell went wrong but it was the vet's fault, whatever it was.

What calves hate most is having a halter put on. Much in the way human babies hate being held down. A calf haltered for the first time will throw a world class fit. They will balk as hard as they can and fight and cry. When that doesn't work they roll their eyes and dramatically throw their bodies on the ground. Sometimes they even appear to lose consciousness. Everything about their behavior suggests they are facing torture and will likely die. The first time I saw it I panicked and when the calf acted dead, I thought I'd killed her. The second time, I chuckled. Fool me once... Am I avoiding the issue of the day? The point is, our little fellow was remarkably unfazed yesterday. I won't say it didn't hurt. But the procedure happens without anesthesia and he appeared far more upset about walking on a halter than what happened next.

The vet checked that both testicles were descended, they feel like long firm grapes. She says not to go through with it if you don't have both. If someone is dealing with a bull, they need know. Then she pushed both testicles up and cut the bottom third of his scrotum off. Both testicles fell out. She grabbed one and pulled it all the way out on its spermatic cord--about 5 or 6 inches long, I would guess. She pulled hard enough to snap the cord. The pulling is crucial and there is no cutting. When you pull on the cord you activate tiny muscles in the walls of the artery causing them to spasm shut, which prevents the calf from bleeding to death. In fact, yesterday there was no bleeding. If any remnant of short cord is left hanging out of the sac, you cut that off. You don't want to leave any conduit for bacteria. You repeat this on the other testicle and you're done. The calf walks back to his paddock and that's it. You don't spray antiseptic. The vet said this is because you want the wound to heal from the inside out and drain well.

Simple to say, shocking to see. The calf was totally fine. Like I said, I won't say he didn't feel it and surely it hurt. But it was fast and undramatic and his response was small. He cried a tiny bit for about 5 seconds. He walked back to his paddock calmly and easily and jumped up for his second bottle a few hours later.

Here is a slightly more complicated procedure on an older bull, a good illustration of the pulling.
Here is Mike Rowe explaining the difference with banding on lambs. Excellent discussion.