A
Anonymous
Stuff happens...right? LOL. This past week we had a first: Young 2nd calf black registered Longhorn cow had a stillborn (full term) heifer calf following a breech delivery (guess we experienced that 1% factor with Longhorns).
A very good mama with a 47" rack, she let us tend her in her shed and try to revive her calf while she was licking it...only about a foot away from us. Later, my wife picked up the calf and weighed it. Several hours later, she picked up the calf and removed it from mama with no incident.
When placenta wasn't passed within 8 hours, we called 2 Vets who weren't available. When she still hadn't passed the placenta two days later, called one of our Vets again--not interested in dealing with a "wild" longhorn...Vet gave us 3 injections to use. Wife did that with no problems.
After 24 hours passed and no result, we put mama in our "Medina Hinge" squeeze unit, tied her horns to the small end. Wife climbed into the back end and inserted her arm into vagina to see if hanging afterbirth could be easily released (cow didn't move, kick, or complaign). Decided to not risk further action.
Next day, our other Vet said "bring her over". Mama walked right down our chute area and loaded in our trailer like a well trained horse. She was back home within the hour after Vet removed plug at uterus and gave her more Rx. Mama doing well now, and her appetite is returning.
Our Longhorns are routinely handled from birth and can be sorted, moved, and handled easily with little help from food treats, calling their name, and having a trust relationship with them. It has also helped that we try to purchase and breed only quality stock with great temperaments. Never rush them when handling---usually just takes a few minutes to do something with them.
While this black cow had the most activity and invasive treatment we've had to do with one of ours, they all seem to well understand that we are trying to help them and they trust us.
So much for the "crazy, wild, dangerous, and unruly notion about Longhorns! Yes, there are some out there for sure. On the other hand, selecting the proper genetics and present temperaments goes a long way to having a very docile and manageable herd of registered Texas Longhorn cattle.
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A very good mama with a 47" rack, she let us tend her in her shed and try to revive her calf while she was licking it...only about a foot away from us. Later, my wife picked up the calf and weighed it. Several hours later, she picked up the calf and removed it from mama with no incident.
When placenta wasn't passed within 8 hours, we called 2 Vets who weren't available. When she still hadn't passed the placenta two days later, called one of our Vets again--not interested in dealing with a "wild" longhorn...Vet gave us 3 injections to use. Wife did that with no problems.
After 24 hours passed and no result, we put mama in our "Medina Hinge" squeeze unit, tied her horns to the small end. Wife climbed into the back end and inserted her arm into vagina to see if hanging afterbirth could be easily released (cow didn't move, kick, or complaign). Decided to not risk further action.
Next day, our other Vet said "bring her over". Mama walked right down our chute area and loaded in our trailer like a well trained horse. She was back home within the hour after Vet removed plug at uterus and gave her more Rx. Mama doing well now, and her appetite is returning.
Our Longhorns are routinely handled from birth and can be sorted, moved, and handled easily with little help from food treats, calling their name, and having a trust relationship with them. It has also helped that we try to purchase and breed only quality stock with great temperaments. Never rush them when handling---usually just takes a few minutes to do something with them.
While this black cow had the most activity and invasive treatment we've had to do with one of ours, they all seem to well understand that we are trying to help them and they trust us.
So much for the "crazy, wild, dangerous, and unruly notion about Longhorns! Yes, there are some out there for sure. On the other hand, selecting the proper genetics and present temperaments goes a long way to having a very docile and manageable herd of registered Texas Longhorn cattle.
[email protected]
