off the top of my head i can recall 6 instances over the years:
case 1: the skunktail -- angus charolais cross, as a heifer was found hiplocked by the pond. calf was dislodged, barely alive- died on the way to vet (breathing problems and/or swelling). we took a flatbed trailer and tilted it down and tied ropes to the heifers legs and rolled her over onto the flatbed and brought her back to he house and put her under a barn out of the rain. rolled her once a day and kind of messed with her face since she didnt like that to agitate her to encourage her to get up. Did this for 3 weeks, she got up during the night one night and jumped the fence and was with herd when we found her. Is now 12 and calved on time every year after. isnt too fond of people...
case 2: another angus heifer bred to limousin. found dead bull calf next to her, she got up two days later. was stiff legged for a long time but got normal. is 11 and one of my favorite and best cows.
case 3: beefmaster heifer out of charolais angus cow. found hiplocked, pulled dead calf. took her 2 weeks to get up, was stiff legged for several months afterwards. Got back to normal and we sold her, open.
case 4: beefmaster heifer, limousin bull calf had to be pulled. massive. cow got up immediately and cleaned calf, laid back down to expel after birth and never got up again. did the rolling thing for 3 weeks, calf nursed the cow while she was laying down. Had to shoot this one, calf selected a new mother to adopt out in pasture. Definitely a fighter of a calf, i mean he was determined to live!
case 5:Charolais second calver had no problems with large calf first go around. second calf was enormous black angus. calf pulled when found , dead, cow never got up. loaded her up, brought her to house, rolled for 4 weeks because she was a fighter but eventually put her down.
case 6: Simmental heifer found hiplocked with black angus bull calf. Dad scooped her up in bucket of tractor (i dont recommend this!) while i wasnt here and brought her to house. was down a week, did the rolling thing, again this one got up during the night and apparently jumped fence. I found her where she had been found calving looking high and low for her calf. for several days she walked back and forth from this spot to the barn calling for her calf. Would have gotten her a baby to adopt but she had been down for a week so we figured she'd dried up. Had a red heifer a few weeks ago for her second calf and is very proud of her.
We now use EPDs to help select bulls for calving ease for heifers. I know there are probably 2 or 3 more cases wehre the cow got up that i cant think of right now. Anyway, I would never EVER shoot a cow with a pinched nerve if she didnt get up before the sun set. To me, thats just dumb! and a waste of money. have never lifted cows before, only rolled them. The longer the nerves are pinched or if the hip or pelvis is damaged the less likely they are to get up. these are my experiences. i