Banding, if properly done, can be a humane, bloodless, and drug-free method of removing soft tissue and other body parts, such as castration, horns, prolapses, tumors, velvet antlers, tails, etc.
However, without proper tension, banding can be highly stressful and may lead to serious complications if partial blood flow remains. Sufficient tension is critical in achieving complete ligation and suppression of pain.
“The bottom line is that high-tension banding is faster, easier, and less traumatic for the animal than surgical castration.”
~Matt Sween, UC DAVIS, Animal Science Department
Ligation results from the application of ligature or cutting off circulation to a specific body part. Like a tourniquet, except tighter, it remains in place until the body part falls off. In the case of castration, ligation must completely shut off the supply of blood and bodily fluids to the scrotum and testicles. Arterial blood flow, the supply of blood going to the testicles, is greater than venal pressure, the blood flowing back from the extremity to the body. If the ligature band lacks proper tension, the high-pressure arterial blood will continue to supply the scrotum with more fluids than the low-pressure veins are able to return, causing swelling and pain, stressed animals, and unhappy livestock owners.
In 1991, rancher and feeder Mike Callicrate experienced the complications of insufficient tension with a load of 600 to 700-pound cutting bulls that had been band-castrated in Oklahoma using one of the banding methods available on the market at the time. The result was traumatic and costly. Two veterinarians worked for days surgically removing the swollen scrotums and repairing the damage. Mike swore – never again!
The veterinarians agreed: banding was not the problem; it was lack of proper tension. So Mike began designing a piece of equipment that would achieve the high tension required for a safe and effective outcome. The Callicrate Bander was on the market later the same year.
Since then, improvements to make the job easier and the outcome better have continued, including a specially formulated premade loop, a better method of securing the band capable of holding proper tension, and the most important improvement for a consistent and successful outcome: a tension indicator. The tension indicator provides the operator with a visual indication the proper tension has been reached, which is sufficiently tight, but not stretched beyond the memory and elasticity of the rubber.
Since 1991, millions of bulls, lambs, goats, deer, and elk, have been castrated with a Callicrate Bander, in addition to being treated for antler removal, dehorning, prolapse repair and other applications requiring complete ligation.
An endangered 250-pound male Alligator Snapping Turtle was even able to return to normal breeding activity after the Bander was used to remove a debilitating neck tumor.
Other alternatives, from elastrator rings — which depending on the size of animal may have near zero tension — to the failed method tried back in 1991, to the newer wire-tie inspired devices — which by design cannot work — all fail to provide an effective and humane option to surgery.
High-tension Callicrate Banders are easy to use, provide consistent results, and remain the leading choice for superior animal welfare.
Check out the Callicrate Bander collection here.
For more information, contact
No-Bull Enterprises, at 1-800-858-5974 or 785-332-3344.