Snip, Snip: Castration and Vasectomy in Small Ruminants
- Dallas Duncan
- Apr 21
- 4 min read
Custom Livestock Solutions has long been known for its reproductive services on the cattle side, but as the practice and its clientele grows, so does CLS vets’ commitment to providing breeding and gestational care for other species. In 2025, the team began offering vasectomies for sheep and goats, a procedure that aims to help commercial small ruminant farms establish breeding programs to fill end-consumer demand for meat, fiber, milk, and even beauty products.
“We have a lot of small ruminant customers. A lot of those are in the show industry, but several production producers as well,” says CLS owner Dr. Tyson Strickland, DVM. “Expanding our team to support those customers and provide additional services beyond routine wellness care or emergencies, and get into the sheep and goat repro side of things — some of the specialized aspects of the small ruminant industry — is really want we wanted to home in on.”
He says vasectomies are typically utilized by producers who want to have a teaser buck or ram, which can alert them to when does and ewes are in heat. This can be instrumental for farmers who want to have a synchronized or tightened breeding season.
“Just like a human, [veterinarians are] cutting through the scrotum and then they’re cutting the ductus deferens,” says Isaac Ridings, an incoming veterinarian and small ruminant specialist who will be joining the CLS headquarters team in Comer, Georgia, this summer. “The sperm can’t be transported anymore. The buck is still going to have a libido and he’s still gonna have the want to breed, but he’s not going to be able to fertilize that female.”
As far as what buck or ram to turn into a teaser, Ridings says it’s likely going to be a male that otherwise might be culled from the herd. These are the ones that aren’t up to breeding standards or as structurally sound.
“You’re not going to take your A-plus, show-quality buck to go out there and make a teaser,” he says. “Most of the time, you may have a buck that nobody wanted or the one that you got really cheap, or one that’s just not as good as the rest of them. He needs a purpose. … If you think you can get no money out of him, then maybe he’ll help you make money by detecting estrus.”
Ridings says producers should ensure a buck or ram is sexually mature before he undergoes the procedure. This can be as simple as a breeding soundness exam, and doing so demonstrates he’ll have the appropriate drive to be a tease following his vasectomy.
“The biggest thing with the vasectomy is, after the procedure, you want to have them tested. You want to have the semen tested to make sure he’s shooting blanks,” Ridings says. “Typically, you can do that six to eight weeks after the vasectomy, just to make sure before you turn them out with any does or ewes he’s not gonna accidentally get them pregnant.”
Unlike castration, which completely removes the testicles — and therefore some hormone-induced undesirable behaviors like aggression, as well as the risk for testicular cancer — vasectomies only remove a male’s ability to breed.
“That animal’s still gonna be fully loaded when it comes to testosterone,” Strickland says. “He’s still gonna have the behaviors of an intact male, he’s just not gonna be able to get the job done anymore to actually produce offspring.”
In addition to behavioral considerations, castration offers commercial goat and sheep producers some benefits when it comes to end meat products. Ridings says castrated wethers tend to gain weight easier, making for higher slaughter weights and better meat quality. Their meat also tends to have a better taste, as increased testosterone in harvested intact males can lead to off-flavors and odors.
CLS vets offer banding and surgical castration for small ruminants. The decision to do one over the other is based on farm management style and production goals, or if a goat or sheep is considered a pet.
Banding uses a specialized tool to apply a tight ring around the testicles, which constricts blood supply to the organs. This causes them to shrivel and “die off”. Strickland says many commercial small ruminant farms will band at a younger age, which can be done in tandem with routine herdwork like vaccines and deworming. Sheep and goat owners also have the option to band a little later, depending on their veterinarian’s recommendations, to allow for more penis and accessory sex gland development beforehand. This delay can also help reduce the risk of bladder stones and related urinary tract problems that can develop in male goats and sheep.
“Once these animals get older, though, a lot of times we do lean more towards the surgical castration. That’s just because as these animals get older and they’re bigger, they have more vasculature. They are at a higher risk for things like tetanus,” Strickland says, adding that the CLS vets recommend small ruminants receive tetanus vaccines as part of their annual wellness plan.
Another reason older animals might do better under surgical castration is because as the testicles grow, it becomes harder for bands to fit them appropriately and ensure both are removed, Ridings says.
Strickland says older animals typically bounce back faster from surgery than banding. With banding, the testicles must slough off naturally, which takes time, and the animal may experience a loss in performance during that period. For example, if a producer had a young ram that was initially going to be raised as a breeding male, but after several months the producer changed her mind and decided the ram would make a great show wether, surgical castration provides a higher chance the animal will be recovered and in better condition by the time show season starts.
“There’s lots of reasons for one versus the other,” Strickland says. “We’re happy to discuss those with the individual producers and try to tailor it to fit whatever their needs are.”
Custom Livestock Solutions is Georgia’s proven source for premiere herd health and management services. Our vets serve large animal herds, show barns and stables in the Peach State and nearby neighbors in South Carolina. Visit us in Comer Monday through Friday from 9 to 5, or call 706-783-8128 to learn more.