Any reason not to butcher yearling down with grass tetany?

[Wisteria Farms]

Have a yearling bull that escaped with 4 other yearlings into a new pasture of fresh grass. They weren't "hungry" so grain wouldn't bring them in. Storm was coming in so fixed the gate and waited for them to come in under the shed & out of the rain to trap them. They were on grass less than 24 hours....maybe more like 12.

ONE of the escapees is now showing early signs of grass tetany (though theres both a hi mag block and salt block in their pen). There is NO WAY to treat this animal via IV without totally stressing him out (he would have to be separated/pinned and moved to the other barn where the chute is) so I'm thinking we'll have to put him down here shortly (right now is just staggering and up/down a lot)...

Looking ahead... is there any reason not to butcher him?

1st case of grass tetany. SUCKS.

 

[callmefence]

Have a yearling bull that escaped with 4 other yearlings into a new pasture of fresh grass. They weren't "hungry" so grain wouldn't bring them in. Storm was coming in so fixed the gate and waited for them to come in under the shed & out of the rain to trap them. They were on grass less than 24 hours....maybe more like 12.

ONE of the escapees is now showing early signs of grass tetany (though theres both a hi mag block and salt block in their pen). There is NO WAY to treat this animal via IV without totally stressing him out (he would have to be separated/pinned and moved to the other barn where the chute is) so I'm thinking we'll have to put him down here shortly (right now is just staggering and up/down a lot)...

Looking ahead... is there any reason not to butcher him?

1st case of grass tetany. SUCKS.

I could be mistaken, but I think tetany rarely happens in still growing animals.

 

[dun]

Have a yearling bull that escaped with 4 other yearlings into a new pasture of fresh grass. They weren't "hungry" so grain wouldn't bring them in. Storm was coming in so fixed the gate and waited for them to come in under the shed & out of the rain to trap them. They were on grass less than 24 hours....maybe more like 12.

ONE of the escapees is now showing early signs of grass tetany (though theres both a hi mag block and salt block in their pen). There is NO WAY to treat this animal via IV without totally stressing him out (he would have to be separated/pinned and moved to the other barn where the chute is) so I'm thinking we'll have to put him down here shortly (right now is just staggering and up/down a lot)...

Looking ahead... is there any reason not to butcher him?

1st case of grass tetany. SUCKS.

I could be mistaken, but I think tetany rarely happens in still growing animals.

You are mistaken, it can happen in about all sizes and stages of life.

 

[dun]

I don;t know how good that meat would be. The animal is badly stressed so it would probably be tough as wang leather and terrible flavor from the stress. Healthy wise for the eater I don;t know. I just wouldn;t eat anything from a stressed/sick animal.

 

[Workinonit Farm]

I could be mistaken, but I think tetany rarely happens in still growing animals.

You are mistaken, it can happen in about all sizes and stages of life.

:nod: :nod: :nod:

It most certainly can happen to still-growing, grown etc..

 

[Ebenezer]

Do you feed decent minerals with magnesium? Do you use a lot of N on the new pasture they were grazing? Honestly, never heard of a bull with it but treatment is not difficult. Better than a loss.

 

[TexasBred]

Have a yearling bull that escaped with 4 other yearlings into a new pasture of fresh grass. They weren't "hungry" so grain wouldn't bring them in. Storm was coming in so fixed the gate and waited for them to come in under the shed & out of the rain to trap them. They were on grass less than 24 hours....maybe more like 12.

ONE of the escapees is now showing early signs of grass tetany (though theres both a hi mag block and salt block in their pen). There is NO WAY to treat this animal via IV without totally stressing him out (he would have to be separated/pinned and moved to the other barn where the chute is) so I'm thinking we'll have to put him down here shortly (right now is just staggering and up/down a lot)...

Looking ahead... is there any reason not to butcher him?

1st case of grass tetany. SUCKS.

If you can give an IV give him a mixture of calcium and magnesium IV.

 

[Anonymous]

:cowboy: Treatment must be prompt to be effective. It is best to inject a combined calcium and magnesium solution under the skin in the area behind the shoulder and over the ribs. Massage the area well after injecting the solution to spread the fluid and aid its rapid absorption into the blood stream.

 

[Nesikep]

The quality of the meat might suffer,.. as dun said it might be tough, but this isn't a disease, and I don't think there'd be any health risks with the exception of dental visit . Just like meat from an animal with polioencephalomalacia isn't hazardous to eat, as scary as the condition sounds.

 

[TexasBred]

:cowboy: Treatment must be prompt to be effective. It is best to inject a combined calcium and magnesium solution under the skin in the area behind the shoulder and over the ribs. Massage the area well after injecting the solution to spread the fluid and aid its rapid absorption into the blood stream.

Put it in the vein for immediate effect. 500 ml. IV. Might follow up with 500 ml. dextrose for energy.

 

[callmefence]

Have a yearling bull that escaped with 4 other yearlings into a new pasture of fresh grass. They weren't "hungry" so grain wouldn't bring them in. Storm was coming in so fixed the gate and waited for them to come in under the shed & out of the rain to trap them. They were on grass less than 24 hours....maybe more like 12.

ONE of the escapees is now showing early signs of grass tetany (though theres both a hi mag block and salt block in their pen). There is NO WAY to treat this animal via IV without totally stressing him out (he would have to be separated/pinned and moved to the other barn where the chute is) so I'm thinking we'll have to put him down here shortly (right now is just staggering and up/down a lot)...

Looking ahead... is there any reason not to butcher him?

1st case of grass tetany. SUCKS.

I could be mistaken, but I think tetany rarely happens in still growing animals.

You are mistaken, it can happen in about all sizes and stages of life.

My apologies. I read a little and it does appear I was mistaken. We don't see much of it here with high mag levels in our soil. And with good clover. When we do it's almost always in a older cow nursing a calf.
Pretty good link. http://cattletoday.info/grasstetany.htm