Without water, plants store nitrogen that they'd normally use for growing as nitrates. Cattle eating it later can develop nitrate toxicity, which interferes with the ability of animals' blood to carry oxygen. To get the best selling price, be sure to castrate your bull calves. Market reports show that bull calves sell for less per pound that comparable steers. The difference is usually small in the spring but gets much larger in the fall or when calves reach heavier weights.
Castration is a relatively easy procedure to perform when calves are small.
And it's less stressful to the calf at a young age. It's also much safer for the calf and the producer when the calf is castrated while it's still small. Knife-castrated calves heal quickly. Calves castrated by any other technique require a lot of time for the testicle to regress and may subject animals to a tetanus infection. The use of a knife for castration ensures that both testicles are removed.