The effects of the method of castration and the age at which it was performed were evaluated. Weight loss increased quadratically as the age at which castration was carried out increased. This indicated that castration by any method (surgical or rubber banding), at birth or close to birth, drastically reduces weight loss. A detrimental effect on performance extending beyond the first 30 days after castration was caused when surgical castration was the method used. Average daily gain was not affected by the method of castration. The stress response of cattle = 6 months of age tended to be lower than cattle that were over 6 months of age. Rubber banding and surgical castration data was not significantly different. The fact that there was an insignificantly lower stress response of intact cattle compared with banded cattle suggests that rubber banding castration is less stressful than surgical castration.