Mastoby technique for the preparation of teaser rams

Abstract

This research aimed to develop a surgical technique to prepare teaser rams. This was proposed because the techniques practiced in the Colombian savanna of the Córdoba region have not shown satisfactory results, since in the postoperative period sheep present difficulty to heal and long convalescence, which has a considerable economic cost. For this reason, many owners opt for sacrificing the animal, which also increases the losses of producers. For this work, a group of ten clinically healthy Creole sheep was used, with an average age of 1 year and an average weight of 21 kg. For the surgery, sheep were tranquilized with intravenous acepromazine maleate at a dose of 0.02 mg/kg, and anesthesia was achieved with the epidural injection of 2% roxicaine without epinephrine in the dorsal intercoccygeal region (Co2-Co3) at a dose of 1 mL/5 kg of live weight. After successfully blocking the area, the surgical technique was performed, which lasted an average of 3 min. The operated animals were evaluated during 6 months good healing and ability to urinate was observed. As for libido, all had a positive behavior in front of females in heat. 100% of the animals were unable to penetrate the females only 10% of them had partial erection of the penis (glans). The proposed technique was effective, non-invasive, quick, easy to perform, and economical. It does not require specialized instrumentation and does not have postoperative complications, which allows using sheep as teaser animals at 15 days post-operation.