Castrating with teeth not recommended

Monday, February 20, 2012

There are a number of recommended ways to castrate lambs, says a December report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the United States. Using your teeth is not one of them.

Last June, the Wyoming Department of Health reported two instances of Campylobacter jejuni enteritis among workers at a sheep ranch. In both cases, the workers had participated in a multi-day event involving castration of 1,600 lambs and were the only two among 12 workers known to have used their teeth to castrate lambs. The bacteria were found in workers' stools. Investigators in October found the bacterium in two of five tested lambs. "This is the first reported association of C. jejuni infection with exposure during castration of lambs," the CDC report says.

"Ranch owners and employees were advised to use standardized, age-specific techniques for lamb castration (e.g., Burdizzo, rubber rings or surgery) and to wash their hands thoroughly after contact with animals," the report says. BF