An emasculator is a tool used in the

castration Castration is any action, surgical, chemical, or otherwise, by which an individual loses use of the testicles: the male gonad. Surgical castration is bilateral orchiectomy (excision of both testicles), while chemical castration uses pharmaceut ...

livestock Livestock are the Domestication, domesticated animals raised in an agriculture, agricultural setting to provide labor and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, egg as food, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is som ...

. Its function is to simultaneously crush and cut the

spermatic cord The spermatic cord is the cord-like structure in males formed by the vas deferens (''ductus deferens'') and surrounding tissue that runs from the deep inguinal ring down to each testicle. Its serosal covering, the tunica vaginalis, is an extension ...

, preventing

hemorrhaging Bleeding, hemorrhage, haemorrhage or blood loss, is blood escaping from the circulatory system from damaged blood vessels. Bleeding can occur internally, or externally either through a natural opening such as the mouth, nose, ear, urethra, vagi ...

while still detaching the

testis A testicle or testis (plural testes) is the male reproductive gland or gonad in all bilaterians, including humans. It is homologous to the female ovary. The functions of the testes are to produce both sperm and androgens, primarily testoste ...

from the animal. The blade is always on the side of the emasculator with the nut that holds the blades in place, and should always be placed adjacent to the testis ("nut against nut") so that the crushing clamp occludes the spermatic

artery An artery (plural arteries) () is a blood vessel in humans and most animals that takes blood away from the heart to one or more parts of the body (tissues, lungs, brain etc.). Most arteries carry oxygenated blood; the two exceptions are the p ...

, preventing life-threatening blood loss. The ratchet (visible on the handle) allows the emasculator to be locked in the "closed" position for the 2–3 minutes required for primary

hemostasis In biology, hemostasis or haemostasis is a process to prevent and stop bleeding, meaning to keep blood within a damaged blood vessel (the opposite of hemostasis is hemorrhage). It is the first stage of wound healing. This involves coagulation, ...

to occur. The ends of the "clamp" are rounded and guarded to allow the emasculator to be placed over the testis and spermatic cord without cutting, until pressure is applied.

Types of emasculators

Emasculators can be divided into 2 categories * Crushing * Crushing and Cutting
Reimers Emascualtor
has three actions: clamping, crushing and cutting. As the jaws are closed on the spermatic cord it is gripped by the clamping part. Back-lock retains the clamping part closed unless unlocked. The cutting lever works separately. Veterinary castration Veterinary equipment {{veterinary-med-stub