Blind calf

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We had a blind calf and he was fine out on pasture with his mom. Got around okay by following her. Weaning was a train wreck. He was lost without his seeing-eye-mom. Freaked out and ran thru every fence, in an out of the road and almost drowned in a pond. You will want a good sturdy stall or enclosure to wean it and probably a buddy.
 
WFfarm said:
We had a blind calf and he was fine out on pasture with his mom. Got around okay by following her. Weaning was a train wreck. He was lost without his seeing-eye-mom. Freaked out and ran thru every fence, in an out of the road and almost drowned in a pond. You will want a good sturdy stall or enclosure to wean it and probably a buddy.
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That's the kind of scenario that I am envisioning too, and trying to avoid, as I am not in good health to deal with that sort thing.
 
We kept cows with not so great dispositions when we were trying to build our numbers. We kept some cows that were so-so mothers...but never have we kept a cow that produced 2 dink calves in a row for a third calf.... But in all good ethics, I would not knowingly sell a cow calf pair with the calf being blind. Stockyards are "buyer beware".... AS IS .... but to put the calf through something like that is just bad business in my opinion. If you are concerned about it, then shoot the calf, and ship the cow....Anyone that buys at the stockyard can find out the owner, and you will get your reputation hurt that way also.
 
I was asking for advice on what to do and got a lot of feedback which is all appreciated. Someone else suggested selling them as a pair, that thought had never entered my mind before that. I was only working with that suggestion as a suggestion. At that moment it sounded good, but I honestly don't believe that any yards around here would sell them as a pair anyway. They immediately split them and pound out the cow.
I take the subject of being honest and ethical seriously and try to practice that at all times. Anyone that knows me in person knows that. I've found out the hard way about buying cows through the ring. Sometimes it works out ok and sometimes it really is as is buyer beware.
We also have a pretty high standard on culling and that cow did do a bad job with her first heifer calf, weaned off at 395 as a fall calf. Second time she gained time calving and weaned a 425 steer calf. Her third calf weighed 620 at 10 months. She is at the bottom of of our herd, but from what I see go through the ring and from the experience I have had with buying them, she is somewhere in the middle of that. She has definitely been on the radar to cull as a pound cow, regardless of if she raises this calf or not.
 
I have a 2021 spring heifer that had a broken back leg, probably stepped on? Vet splinted, still not great. I keep her by herself and she does great. She has been with some other heifers before they were cycling and she would soon be limping. Now with her cycling something would jump on her and she would be limping badly. She's in great shape and I could run her through a sale ring and probably do ok. She wouldn't last long in a feedlot. I will keep her, not foist her onto someone else like me, trying to make a buck. I have priced her to 2 people who have some grass, fence, and zero other cattle. They have received the full description of her leg. She is a beauty. I'm the only meat eater in the house. Me Raising livestock that trusts me to do what's best for them has made my wife a fish eater only. I can't eat all of her myself. I need to get her sold, but won't sell her to someone who is unaware
 
Don't shoot the calf!

There are plenty of people around (some less fortunate, but able) that will raise that sucker and give him a purposeful life. Being a pet, or simple raising it to butcher.
I'd GIVE IT TO SOMEONE who wants to do that before I shot it!!
Plenty of online communities around that u can put up an ad.
Heck there was one SOLD here awhile back faily local that someone gave 200 bucks for.

Give the cow another shot if you like. Or simply sell her....


Anyone remember the lil calf I had that lost use of his back legs. Well, he could walk around all day long but couldn't stand up after he laid down.
This was c-19 Era, when everyone was out of school etc.
I gave him to a family several miles away. They went out every morning and the several of them got him hoisted up so he could graze all day. They were his best friends! 😆
Anyway. It was an awesome lil project for some folks that didn't have the means to purchase an animal. When he got too big for them to help him, they made hamburger. The kids tanned the hide.
They called me and thanked me for the calf. They thoroughly enjoyed the experience and bonding time with family.
 
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MurraysMutts said:
Don't shoot the calf!

There are plenty of people around (some less fortunate, but able) that will raise that sucker and give him a purposeful life. Being a pet, or simple raising it to butcher.
I'd GIVE IT TO SOMEONE who wants to do that before I shot it!!
Plenty of online communities around that u can put up an ad.
Heck there was one SOLD here awhile back faily local that someone gave 200 bucks for.

Give the cow another shot if you like. Or simply sell her....


Anyone remember the lil calf I had that lost use of his back legs. Well, he could walk around all day long but couldn't stand up after he laid down.
This was c-19 Era, when everyone was out of school etc.
I gave him to a family several miles away. They went out every morning and the several of them got him hoisted up so he could graze all day. They were his best friends! 😆
Anyway. It was an awesome lil project for some folks that didn't have the means to purchase an animal. When he got too big for them to help him, they made hamburger. The kids tanned the hide.
They called me and thanked me for the calf. They thoroughly enjoyed the experience and bonding time with family.
Click to expand...
Private sale or giveaway would be a whole lot kinder and easier on that calf than a sale barn for sure.
 
I'd give the calf to someone with a sturdy pen who has at least some calf experience. I had a blind calf a cousin gave to me, I couldn't get it to find the water or feed in a small pen, so I locked him in a shed and got a half on him with help, drug him over to the water shoved his nose in it he drank and drank then drug him over to the feed and shoved it in his mouth by the handful, did that several times and he figured out to follow e when I spoke to him and tugged on the halter, after about a week he started finding the feed and water by himself, he was if I remember correctly 6 months old and weighed around 150. I fattened him to around 300/400 and I sold for $100 to someone who wanted him for meat, . He got partial sight back after getting a A&D shot.
 
I'm lucky, 30 minutes down the road is a pet food place. You can ring them and they will come and take unwanted, injured and even dead (fairly fresh) animals. I took a bull there once who couldn't stand. They shot him on the trailer and we dragged him off. They had a heap of horses there. There was very rough looking people coming and buying bags of 'pet meat' while i was there. It was a whole other world really. Was extra incentive to keep my animals happy and healthy.
 
Book a date Let momma raise it when date gets here haul it get what you can for meat. You gonna loose either way might as well fill
Your bell is day or 2 off it. If you haul it to sell you'll get knocked for the blue eyes regardless of what you do to get it raised. It's a shitty situation but it happens
 
Update, it was pinkeye. The day after we got it to the barn, i wondered if it was an awful case of pinkeye, and we gaveit two rounds of LA 300. Seemed odd to have that young of a calf with it, and hadn't had any other cases of pinkeye.
Wasn't much change for a long time, but the last few days the white is turning back to normal eye color, and now there is just a spot in the center of both eyes. He is reacting to things and showing signs of being able to see to at least some degree.
Cow is definitely going to be culled after this calf?
 
That's good news. I originally asked how long he'd been blind for because I thought it likely he had a treatable infection. Glad you got it treated and on the mend.
I haven't seen pinkeye in a calf that young but I have had infections in the eye that caused blindness but managed to treat successfully.
 
Ky hills said:
Update, it was pinkeye. The day after we got it to the barn, i wondered if it was an awful case of pinkeye, and we gaveit two rounds of LA 300. Seemed odd to have that young of a calf with it, and hadn't had any other cases of pinkeye.
Wasn't much change for a long time, but the last few days the white is turning back to normal eye color, and now there is just a spot in the center of both eyes. He is reacting to things and showing signs of being able to see to at least some degree.
Cow is definitely going to be culled after this calf?
Click to expand...
Very good. Nice to hear an update. Why sell the cow? Ain't her fault.
 

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