There are two options for surgery, standing or laying on their side (down). Your veterinarian will choose the option that they feel comfortable with and in their opinion, leads to the best outcome. The most common surgical procedure is down. A description follows:

1. Down surgery is the most common option for on-farm castration. A clean, dry area that is large enough for the animal to move around during sedation is required. A grassy lawn is ideal although a clean, well bedded stall can also be used.
2. Anesthesia:
   1. A pre-anesthesia is administered to sedate the animal.
   2. Anesthesia is usually a cocktail of drugs that will give 15-20 min of surgery time.
3. Stallion is place on it's side on the ground.
4. Rear leg is securely tied to prevent kicking.
5. Scrotal area is washed with betadine scrub or novalsan.
6. An incision is made through the scrotal skin, tunica dartos and parietal tunica vaginalis. The testes is then pushed out of the scrotal sac (parietal tunica vaginalis). The inverted parietal tunica vaginalis remains attached to the epididymis by the gubernaculm.
7. The scrotal fascia (connective tissue) is manually stripped away from the spermatic chord.
8. An emasculator is a tool that cuts and crushes veins/arteries to prevent or at least minimize bleeding. The emasculator is placed around the spermatic cord with the cutting blade toward the testes. The entire spermatic cord (pampiniform plexus, vas deferens, nerves) is then emasculated. The testis, epididymis, vas deferens and cut portion of the parietal tunica vaginalis are removed from the animal.
9. Any superficial bleeders are clamped with hemostats and sutured if they do not stop bleeding.
10. The procedure is repeated for the other testes.