Bovine Dentistry?

[Nesikep]

Hey, I have an old cow (15 years) and she's losing condition slowly, and it seems to be more pronounced when she's grazing compared to on hay, I'm thinking she may have bad teeth.. she's easy enough to handle, and I can open her mouth up and look inside without even putting a halter on her (actual filing would require it no doubt) so I'd like some guidelines on how/where to file her teeth, and what to look for... I'm figuring sharp edges, etc... anyone have any input?

 

[dun]

At that age it's probably more likely it's missing teeth then teeth needing floating

 

[Kingfisher]

At that age it's probably more likely it's missing teeth then teeth needing floating

Hi Mr Dun. I was wondering when they mark a cow Broken Mouth at the auction barn what exactly does that mean?
One missing or broken tooth or a mouth full?

 

[dun]

At that age it's probably more likely it's missing teeth then teeth needing floating

Hi Mr Dun. I was wondering when they mark a cow Broken Mouth at the auction barn what exactly does that mean?
One missing or broken tooth or a mouth full?

Any missing teeth. I don;t know what they would use for gummers (no teeth at all)

 

[Angus Cowman]

At that age it's probably more likely it's missing teeth then teeth needing floating

Hi Mr Dun. I was wondering when they mark a cow Broken Mouth at the auction barn what exactly does that mean?
One missing or broken tooth or a mouth full?

Any missing teeth. I don;t know what they would use for gummers (no teeth at all)

smoothed mouth

 

[Nesikep]

she seems to have all her teeth... she's been a pasture cow all her life, so she hasn't had to eat scrub... her calf is doing remarkably well, at not quite 6 months he's still an estimated 550ish lbs.. if I can get a couple more calves from her it would pay for the hour's work to give her teeth a floating... what would you use to do it? a fairly smooth file?

 

[dun]

If you're bound and deterined to get her teeth floated, have a vet do it. They do hundreds if not thousands of them and know what to do and have the right equipment. That is if you can get one to stop laughing long enough.

 

[Nesikep]

the nearest vet is nearly 100 miles away, affordability of getting him to come out is out of the question, and i'm sure she wouldn't like the ride over there too much either... I'm sure getting it done by a vet would tune me up for no less than 300 bucks, and that would seriously eliminate the profit of the procedure to Rosy

 

[fitz]

Hey, I have an old cow (15 years) and she's losing condition slowly, and it seems to be more pronounced when she's grazing compared to on hay, I'm thinking she may have bad teeth.. she's easy enough to handle, and I can open her mouth up and look inside without even putting a halter on her (actual filing would require it no doubt) so I'd like some guidelines on how/where to file her teeth, and what to look for... I'm figuring sharp edges, etc... anyone have any input?

Just how I do it. If she's 15 and beginning to lose condition I'd let her go when the steer was taken off. At 550# the calf may have right smart impact on pulling an older cow down. Here, I'd figure the next calf will do the same. With age considered, I'd let her go before digging a hole at some point. They're just like us, we all start to wear out sometime.

fitz

 

[Nesikep]

for what we'd get for her, digging a hole is cheaper, and well, she's been good to us