Can I do anything with this old cow?

[Greyhound]

I am fairly new to the cattle business. I have an approximately 15 year old cow that I bought 3 years ago at a sale barn. (Yes, if I had know how old she was, I would have sold her before now. I knew she was old, but I didn't know how old till the vet told me.)

Anyway, she has had two good calves for me. She was due to calve again least week. But apparently she had hydrops. Plus it was a large calf, and turns out the calf had one foot backwards when it was trying to come out. So, before I could call to get the vet out, she ruptured her prepubic tendon. The vet came out, pulled the (dead) calf, and gave the cow some antibiotics.

I probably should have had the vet put the cow down, but I thought she might be worth something. Is there anything I can do with her, other than shooting her? Perhaps take and have her processed for hamburger meat for myself? Or would the meat be bad because of her condition?

I tried to add before and after (the tendon rupture) pictures but could not. I can e-mail you the pictures if you want to see them.

 

[hillsdown]

Put her down, she was given antibiotics so will now have a withdrawl period and everyday she will cost you more money. We all lose one now and then, the best thing you can do for her and yourself is to put her down and move on.

 

[1982vett]

Might possibly give you an answer with a better outcome......If we had and idea at all where you are.

 

[Lucky_P]

Greyhound,
Contact your vet, find out what antibiotic they gave, what the slaughter withdrawal time is on that particular drug, when given by that dosage/route, and while you're waiting for the drug to be eliminated, you can start looking into local processing possibilities.
We've eaten several older cows, back when the kids were little, and ground beef was the main course. Better than just shooting an older or non-productive cow and burying her.
Doesn't matter if she's a tough old bird if a meat-grinder is gonna be pre-chewing the meat for you and mixing in some extra fat, if needed.
We'd usually have the processor strip out the tenderloin and package those as steaks and grind the rest into hamburger.

Had an 18-yr old 'pet' cow that aborted her last calf about 6 months along, was arthritic and had a hard time getting around - but still in good body condition. Rather than sending her through the sale barn, where she'd have likely been abused or gotten knocked down - and brought next to nothing dollarwise - we contacted the local Salvation Army soup kitchen about a donation. They were glad to get the meat. We hauled her to the local custom processor, paid the processing fee, and donated 500 # or so of good ground beef to the Salvation army. Helped feed some less fortunate souls, the old pet cow didn't get abused, and we got a charitable gift tax write-off to boot.

 

[chippie]

If you are going to butcher her, besides withdrawal time, make sure that she doesn't have a fever.

 

[Greyhound]

We're in north central Texas. Parker County.

Antibiotic/withdrawal time was five days. It's been six days already.

As far as fever, I don't know. I have not checked.

IF a cow has a fever or an infection, etc., will the meat be unhealthy to eat? Will it make humans sick? Or is it just plain bad?

Sorry, I am new at this business! I have pictures, but do not know how to post images. If anyone wants to see them, I can e-mail them.

Thanks!

 

[chippie]

If the cow has a fever or infection the meat will be condemned by the meat inspector.

Personally, I wouldn't eat her. I'll PM an email address. You can send me the pics and I'll post them for you.

 

[Lucky_P]

Most small custom-kill operations probably won't have a USDA-certified meat inspector on site.
I agree, if she's febrile(has a fever) - which she probably is not if she's up, around, and eating as normal - I'd hold off on slaughtering her. The concern is that if she's running a fever, then she *might* have a systemic infection going.

I never understood why so many of my veterinary colleagues feel the need to give a one-time dose of antibiotics after pulling a calf. Rarely is there any real need to do so.

 

[farm36]

A cow that has been down much past 12 hours the muscle start to deterate and get watery and slimy that has been layed on . Your local butcher might tank her too . You can get some meat out of the rump and back strapes . If you do this yourself grind a little and then fry up a burger and see if the flavor is good . But I think the ship is sunk . I would lose at least 1\3 if of her if i used her for dog food .

 

[alisonb]

If i were you i would put her down and cut my losses-too risky to use meat-besides, surely this animal is in pain??

 

[Greyhound]

Thanks for all the advice.

I put the old cow down this morning. First time I've ever shot a cow. I used a 9mm pistol to the forehead. The first shot dropped her to the ground, but she was still alive, so I fired a second shot in the head.

Blood plus a lot of brown stuff came out of her mouth as she died. I think her intestines must have been leaking into her stomach. Wasn't an easy decision, but glad I put her down now.

 

[chippie]

I'm sorry. You did the right thing.

 

[Greyhound]

I felt bad that it took two shots. I sure don't want them to suffer needlessly. Like I said, this was my first time to put down a cow. I do not own a 30-06. My choices were 9mm pistol, 30-30 Winchester rifle, or a shotgun with deer slug. Of those three, which do y'all recommend?

 

[Beckett]

Sorry to see you had to go through this but its bound to happen sooner or later.

30-30 will do the job.

Beckett

 

[3waycross]

Sorry to see you had to go through this but its bound to happen sooner or later.

30-30 will do the job.

Beckett

Shotgun with a slug would have done a better job. That's a "no doubter"

 

[dun]

Properly placed a non-HP 22 LR will do the job just fine except maybe on an old bull, then a 22 mag is adequate. Shot placement is everything

 

[grannysoo]

Properly placed a non-HP 22 LR will do the job just fine except maybe on an old bull, then a 22 mag is adequate. Shot placement is everything

That .22 will do, but the 12 gauge slug would overcome a little more non-properly placed shot. :lol:

 

[ANAZAZI]

Anyways, she is out of her misery. This is good. Not all meat can be saved, and this is life. Now concentrate on the cattle that is left.

 

[hillsdown]

The only person that I know who puts cattle down with a pistol is my vet and placement is the key, when he does BSE calls in the summer he usually just rides his motorcycle to farms and then he just uses his pistol.

The main thing is that she is not suffering anymore, I know it was not an easy thing for you to do. Next time ,if there is one, use your rifle.

Sorry about the cow, good luck with the rest of you herd and calving. I hope everything goes smoothly for you.

 

[Shaun7HL]

It sounds like the intial problem started with a leg back, I have been calving cows for a long time on my own and i'm only 34, the leg back calving problem can be an easy fix, no need for a vet. 9 times out of 10 the front leg is just hooked on the pelvis reach in and pull it out calf will live almost every time unless she has been straining for a hell of a long time. The next case would be front leg back under the chest, this can be alot more complicated but can be done without a vet, simple push a calf's head clear back into the calving bed a gentle gentle gentle work that calves hoof up with the hoof in the palm of your hand so you don't rip the the calf bed, and if it is coming backwards push his ass as deep as you can and work the leg up the same way, but when pulling go alot slower with the calf pullers.

Maybe this can help next time

Good luck