[054] scraps: the two ways to castrate a lamb.
09/12/2009 08:19 p.m.

one way to castrate a lamb is backed by the Humane Society. the ASPCA. those
sorts of places. one pulls down the babe's testicles and wraps the base of the
scrotum in a tight, tiny, thick rubber band. over time, the balls just fall right off onto
the floor in tiny double-lobed heaps, like little useless fruit.

the second way to castrate a lamb is tradition, and perhaps regional. there is
snipping involved, and biting involved, and noises like pulling two halves of a piece
of canvas apart. it is more like clipping from vines than waiting for your harvest to
fall off. the testicles end up in buckets.

the first way to castrate a lamb is horrifically disabling. the lambs shiver. they lose
balance. they huddle in piles in corners of paddocks and are sick all over and
cannot stand. it takes a week.

the second way to castrate a lamb is momentarily bloody, and leaves the lambs
skipping.