Broken Leg

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D.R. Cattle":10hexxy6 said:
Campground Cattle":10hexxy6 said:
Innoculate with a 45-70 or 44 and put her out of her misery.Part of being in the cow biz you lose some.

Caliber of innoculant may vary, but this is some of the best advice I've heard yet. We just have to take the good with the bad.

All of thats real true about part of being in the cow biz and taking the good with the bad. But.....they said the cow was heavy bred. If they want to waller her around long enough to get a calf out of her they may be $200 or so ahead of where they'd be if they didnt take the time to fool with her. Thats just for a good baby... if they can get the calf part way raised it will be even more. To some of us peons thats worth the trouble
 
tapeworm":2t6l5zoq said:
Thats just for a good baby... if they can get the calf part way raised it will be even more. To some of us peons thats worth the trouble

I'm with you 100%

dun
 
About four years ago we had a nice yearling red Brahman bull calf snap his foreleg.. (chased over a pipe fence by dogs) I had thought of selling him as a bull, but figured the cost of fixing it would be more than he was worth. I donated him to the vet school at Texas A & M, where they set the leg and he actually ended up doing well. Of course they have state of the art facilities, etc.

The total bill for the surgeries and care was $2400.00
 
We had a bull break his leg, just above the ankle. The vet set it and since it was his back left leg he could still walk without any pressure on it. He was right at a year old, by the same time the next year he was back at about 75 or so % of what he could potentially look like and was able to breed a handful of heifers.

The only reason we tried to fix it and keep was his genetics. This was the first bull his mom had in like 5 or 6 years. Should be getting his calves in a couple of months.
 
Years ago Dads hired hand broke a yearling heifers leg while rolling out hay rolls on the tractor. It was her canon bone. vet said if we kept her off of it as much as possible it would heal on its on. we kept her in the pen for several months and she hopped around on three legs with the other dangling. It did heal and you couldnt even tell it had ever been broken. she made a good brood cow. of course that was a heifer that was still growing and her bones werent matured yet as opposed to a mature cow.
 
tapeworm":1a77aubq said:
D.R. Cattle":1a77aubq said:
Campground Cattle":1a77aubq said:
Innoculate with a 45-70 or 44 and put her out of her misery.Part of being in the cow biz you lose some.

Caliber of innoculant may vary, but this is some of the best advice I've heard yet. We just have to take the good with the bad.

All of thats real true about part of being in the cow biz and taking the good with the bad. But.....they said the cow was heavy bred. If they want to waller her around long enough to get a calf out of her they may be $200 or so ahead of where they'd be if they didnt take the time to fool with her. Thats just for a good baby... if they can get the calf part way raised it will be even more. To some of us peons thats worth the trouble

If she wallers around long enough to calve, what happens to the calf afterwards? Will the cow waller around for a few more months and try to nurse the calf? How will she eat to support nursing? Will the proud owner kill the cow and bottle feed the calf? How long? How much will it cost you to bottle feed or support the cow that much longer? What kind of marketable product will come from this? "Peons" need to consider the full measure just the same as us "pissants". If you have nothing better to do, sounds like a project worth undertaking, otherwise your neglecting a lot more than $200.
 
D.R. Cattle":tfnrlvcz said:
tapeworm":tfnrlvcz said:
D.R. Cattle":tfnrlvcz said:
Campground Cattle":tfnrlvcz said:
Innoculate with a 45-70 or 44 and put her out of her misery.Part of being in the cow biz you lose some.

Caliber of innoculant may vary, but this is some of the best advice I've heard yet. We just have to take the good with the bad.

All of thats real true about part of being in the cow biz and taking the good with the bad. But.....they said the cow was heavy bred. If they want to waller her around long enough to get a calf out of her they may be $200 or so ahead of where they'd be if they didnt take the time to fool with her. Thats just for a good baby... if they can get the calf part way raised it will be even more. To some of us peons thats worth the trouble

If she wallers around long enough to calve, what happens to the calf afterwards? Will the cow waller around for a few more months and try to nurse the calf? How will she eat to support nursing? Will the proud owner kill the cow and bottle feed the calf? How long? How much will it cost you to bottle feed or support the cow that much longer? What kind of marketable product will come from this? "Peons" need to consider the full measure just the same as us "be nice". If you have nothing better to do, sounds like a project worth undertaking, otherwise your neglecting a lot more than $200.

Well put DR as usual.
 
Depends on the cow. I have a couple I'ld put up with the problems to get a heifer out of. Others I'ld just shoot and be done with it.

dun
 
if you have never fooled with a down cow very much, you might just have to do it to fully understand what dr is saying.. it would have to be a very special cow for me to fool with raising her up everyday and feeding her by hand for even a month or so... if you (and i suspect most do) have to work a regular job and the cows are on the side... then taking care of a downed cow gets very tiring, with no guaranteed benefits to be reaped for your efforts. i would imagine it would get tiring if you had all day to do it, too.

BUT, like dun said, it could be worth it.... i suppose that is a queston that only you can answer.. whether to try to get the calf has lots of variables to be considered... how long until she calves... a day or 2 or a month or 2? quality of cow/expected calf? time, ease of taking care of her, hwo bad is her injury, etc etc.

then supposing you get a live calf... what do you do with it? bottle feeding gets old too, and that calf will need extra attention. the best way to raise that calf would be to have a nurse cow to put it on.. if you do not have one, you will be putting a lot of money in milk and feed.

like i said, it is your decision, and if you think it is worth it... by all means go for it. good luck with this and whatever decision you make, you will probably learn something from it.

jt
 
One more point... if I had no prior experience I'd take the advice of a veterinarian. Dr. Vicki previously posted "they usually don't make it" or something similar. I hope my point isn't being taken the wrong way. Every animal is a big hit in the pocket for me too. I personally hate to see them suffer and I'd only change my mind on the euthanize idea if a vet said they could fix it and the cow could lead a productive life.
 
I hope everyone remembers the post where I said if she fights this treatement, then he will stop. As long as things are going forwards, then he will try. This is not the first time someone has tried to see what they could do for an animal otherwise, people would not spend the time to go to vet school. It is much easier to shoot one and be done with it. It does take a lot of time to mess with. I am sure that most do not make it since the cost of the vet's time is more than what most want to put into an animal. This reminds me of a comedian talking about his little girl's rabbit being sick and he took it to the vet. The vet told what he could see needed to be done to make the rabbit well. The man said he was seeing four potential rabbit's feet. I will be able to find out what happened tomorrow when they got her up. The leg is still stablilized and the cast is holding.
 
Yes I will be glad to take a picture of the cast. It will be this weekend before I can get to actually see the cow. I will take the camera with me when I go and get a picture. I will definitely keep you posted. The lady that is an RN has a lot of experience with this type of problems, except with humans. She works with some orthopedic doctors and they are concerned about the cow too. I think the cow will be taken care of the best of their ability. I would think the cast was done right. I was told the leg was straight when the cast was put on and it is holding. I realize that cows and humans are different, but it can be handled somewhat the same other than telling the cow to lay still. I hope this turns out good so that it might help the cow and others that might run into the same problem later on.
 
Caustic Burno":277auv1z said:
jerry27150":277auv1z said:
it's their cow let them do what they want.

Bark at the moon .
Typical of hobby ranchers spend a fortune on a 50 cent cow.

50 centsX1200lb. cow= a good bit of money :p


more like 54cents localy
 
D.R. Cattle":2hujzmxf said:
Try runnin that cow through the sale ring and see if she gets .50/lb. "Pipe dream?"

Run her thru the rendering truck and see what it pays :p ''no pipe fact''
 

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