Cattle Boss disposable scalpels #20 (10 per box)

Details

This is the big-blade disposable: a number 20 already fitted to its own handle, sterile in a sealed sleeve, ten to the box. If the number 10 is the blade for calves and small animals, the 20 is the same shape scaled up for grown cattle and horses. Hide is the reason the large blades exist. A small blade on a mature cow means several passes and a lot of pressure, and pressure is where control goes. The 20 has enough belly to open hide in one confident stroke and enough steel behind the edge that it is not going to flex on you partway through. Buying it as a disposable means you are not mounting a large blade on a handle with wet gloves, which is the single most common way people cut themselves in a chute. It also means a factory edge every time, and no instrument going back into a kit half-clean. The 20, 21, 22 and 24 are all large curved blades and they overlap heavily. If you want one and only one, take the 20 or 22. Check the sleeve is sealed, and the whole unit goes into a sharps container when the job is done. Restraint, clean prep and pain control matter more than the blade, and anything beyond what you have been shown is a call to your veterinarian.