[Downsouth13]

Hello, I recently purchased a longhorn “steer”. To the best of my knowledge he’s around 6 months old. Probably around 450 lbs. his back is about waist high...just to give you the idea of his size.

When I went to check him out, he looked good, so I paid for him and came back with the trailer to pick him up.

I never really saw him from the back until I unloaded him at home. It looks to me that he is still intact. When I try to contact the seller to find out, he is ignoring me - won’t respond to texts or calls.

I have only dealt with banded bulls so I am ignorant to what it would look like had it been crimped or castrated with a knife. With a banded bull, everything falls off so it’s obvious. With this one, he still has something going on down there.

I have attached pics. These are the best ones I have right now. I can take more in the morning if need be. Am I dealing with an intact bull? Or is his just an empty sack?
I thought about feeling them to see if there was anything in there but thought I’d ask a group of pros first before I start getting weird.

Sorry for the dumb question but I am relatively new to this. We raise about two heifers or steers per year for freezer beef and have never dealt with actual castration before.

thanks!

 

[cattleguy91]

Yeah we’ve only dealt with banded calves as well but I’d recommend just running him through a squeeze so you can feel what’s there and be sure what you have.

 

[Peter Murphy]

Very true said. My friend also did the same.

 

[Fairfarmhand]

Kind looks like they "missed" a testicle when he was banded. He may need to be cut if you have any heifers around or you'll be keeping him longer than about a year.

 

[jayk_91]

I can certainly tell he is a steer

When you casturate with a knife if you don’t cut the sack high enough he will definitely make you 2nd guess the situation

A 450 lb calf will have testicles large enough you’ll know without a doubt that he is a bull

 

[Old Mountain Cowgirl]

Yep, he lost his cajones. It looks like a knife job and the scraping process used was done a bit close to the testicle leaving some cord in the upper parts. I always preferred to scrap a bit higher. Using a knife isn't a quick slice, but a back and forth scraping motion with a super sharp knife. The idea of the knife especially for show steers is to leave the bag to fill with fat as this gives a finished look that judges like to see. 🙂