Monday, May 25, 2009

burdizzo castration

well, we thought that dehorning was bad. tabitha and i mustered the courage to use the burdizzo. this device is allegedly the most humane way to castrate an animal. is there a humane way to castrate? here is a photo of after the deed. this is for our records. we are expecting these to noticeably shrink in three weeks.

the device basically crushes the vas deference and the accompanying nerve. it makes the most awful crushing sound, tabitha almost vomited. allegedly only slight bruising will occur. we gave him a large dose of bovine drugs. he seems fine now a few hours later.

between downpours i have finished the rock-work on the root cellar.

i covered it with tarp to keep the soil from eroding before i have a chance to grade it and plant it with mint and violets.

the cap stone seem small from this vantage but they extend back into the dirt.

my beautiful woman admiring my effort.


the pole beans are finally starting to climb the arch.


the tomatillos are about a week away from ripe fruit.


this is the mint that will cover my rootcellar.


risking being smited for being too prideful, the beets are doing nicely


so are the onions.

please don't smite us..

tasty greens. we had a few new potatoes the other night. OMG...

16 comments:

Rixa said...

Oh, I have definite garden envy! I have 6 4x4' square foot raised bed gardens, and a few other misc places I've planed things. And my stuff is barely coming up. Doesn't help that almost every one of my transplants died miserably because of torrential storms right after I planted them outside...oh well...hope you're spared the hail and damp that you had last year.

jenny said...

WOW!! Ditto the garden envy! I know you're further south so you started your garden earlier, but my oh my! I hope nothing like last year happens again for you all.

Root cellar looks great!

Reading your description of the castration process makes me glad I'm deaf and can't hear that. Good thing I just ate... *grins*

Ron said...

Oh man... castration does not sound fun for any involved...

Root cellar looks terrific! The rock face is really unique and has a lot of character.

Garden is looking great as well. I'm smitten by how well it's doing. :) Those onions are really going to town. I keep forgetting to fish out some new potatoes here... maybe tomorrow, you got my mouth watering. :)

Ron

Unknown said...

Hey Karl! the root cellar looks great! Nice job on everything!

LannaM said...

Oh, the garden is just beautiful. :D I love seeing the progress you guys have since your season is a bit longer than mine. I have a quick question for you though - how wide is the path between the pole bean rows (on the cattle panels)? I'm trying them out this year, but we've only been able to get the arch footprint down to 6 feet across...

Leon said...

Just curious - why did you guys decided against banding?

tansy said...

looking lovely! no smiting here...you guys deserve a good garden year!

the root cellar is awesome!

Ed said...

We always used the cut, pull and cut method. Fried up later they are pretty tasty. I'm not sure any method is very humane but the crushing method probably reduces the chances of secondary infections though you don't get any food benefits.

Your root cellar looks spectacular. All your hard work paid off and I hope you reap many dividends because of it.

warren said...

The "big fix" doesn't sound like too much fun but the big dig looks great! What's the inside like?

kymber said...

i have just used my Canadian "mojo" and hexes to ensure that you aren't smited!

(little known secret - Canadian mojo and hexes are very, very, very powerful!)

the root cellar is gorgeous and the garden has me drooling! you guys are doing so fine this year...sooo fine!

MamaHen said...

Your stonework looks GREAT! and the garden looks wonderful too; here's hoping it stays that way.

Woody said...

MAN! Your garden is rocking!

The stone work looks fantastic. It will be awesome when your plantings take hold and make the new work look like it was there for a century.

peace

Omelay said...

thanks everyone for the well wishes and compliments.

lannaM, ours are about five feet across. we have had them four feet across in the past. baling string tied twice at either edge at the bottom helps manage the arch while installing the stakes.

leon, this method seemed more humane for an older (8 month old) bull

if only mother nature will keep from smiting us with huge hail or vine ripping winds we'll have some bounty to show off to you all. thanks again...

k-)

eD said...

Seeing your garden makes me want to move back to Missouri! Up here in the northwest, my beets are only about an inch tall.

Rurality said...

Your garden is looking wonderful! So is the root cellar. Hope nobody gets smitten. :)

Leon said...

of course - that was pretty dumb of me :) I looked at the picture but somehow it didn't register in my brain that it's not a little calf. Need to sleep more :)

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