Choked cow

[Bama]

Lets see put yourself in the vets place,

Get up and go to a farm that probally don't have proper facilities to handle a cow. Spend a hour catching the critter and getting it roped to a fencepost to try and examine it. Charge maybe 100 dollars and get cuss at for charing to much. Drive back home and realize you missed supper again.

Have coffee and read the morning newspaper before going off to work. Spend six hours doctoring Fluffy, Sampson, and Tweety, Oscar, and a few other pets. Charge mega bucks and wave goodbuy to all the customers, knowing they will be back for something else later. Go home and restup while watching reruns of the Brady Bunch.

Why should a vet cater to everbodys needs. They got into this for one person. Themselves. If they don't want to do a farm visit that is their right. If they can make money doing things the way they want to do it, more power to them. Some vets go into strickly large animals and housecalls. They have found a niche that works for them. Just because they have a little piece of paper saying they are a vet, no where on it says they have to be at everbodys beckon call.

 

[buckwheat_87]

Lets see put yourself in the vets place,

Get up and go to a farm that probally don't have proper facilities to handle a cow. Spend a hour catching the critter and getting it roped to a fencepost to try and examine it. Charge maybe 100 dollars and get cuss at for charing to much. Drive back home and realize you missed supper again.

Have coffee and read the morning newspaper before going off to work. Spend six hours doctoring Fluffy, Sampson, and Tweety, Oscar, and a few other pets. Charge mega bucks and wave goodbuy to all the customers, knowing they will be back for something else later. Go home and restup while watching reruns of the Brady Bunch.

Why should a vet cater to everbodys needs. They got into this for one person. Themselves. If they don't want to do a farm visit that is their right. If they can make money doing things the way they want to do it, more power to them. Some vets go into strickly large animals and housecalls. They have found a niche that works for them. Just because they have a little piece of paper saying they are a vet, no where on it says they have to be at everbodys beckon call.

My point exactly!!!

 

[msscamp]

Maybe it has something to do with the Benjamins on large vs. small animal vets.

Maybe it has something to do with the expectations/attitude of the farmer/rancher, too. If we could take the animal to the vet - as opposed to asking him/her to come out - we did. We did not call the vet after hours, or on week-ends, except in extreme emergencies - even then we hauled in to the vet if possible. In the event the vet was asked to make a farm call, the animal was rounded up and in a pen next to the chute when the vet arrived. Help was available, time spent waiting was kept to a minimum, and anything that might be needed was there. Our bill was also paid on time, and there was no complaining about the size of it. My favorite vet is now semi-retired. Due to a trip the folks made during calving season last spring, I called him and asked if I could call him after hours should the need arise. He told me that, while he would prefer to not make middle of the night farm calls, if I could not find a vet that could come out he would.

PS This particular vet came to my house at 9 pm on a Sunday night last December to euthanize my dog after she developed an obstruction - I was not able to get ahold of the small animal vet because he does not do emergencies after hours, and I couldn't get an answer at the other vet clinic in town. I sent him a thank you card the next day.

 

[rockridgecattle]

I think it helps to have a good relationship with your vet. Don't complain about the bill, and buy your drugs from them. Sometimes we buy our drugs from the local co-op but most of the time from our vet. She does small and large animals
We have called her to come for an emgerency and she has done it willingly. And she has helped with off hours emergency.
She is the only vet that is in our area and she has a huge huge area. I think she can travel almost 1 1/2 to 2 hours to a call.
We also give her and her office crew a gift basket at Christmas.
We are thankful for her.

 

[gulfso]

The two females vets I was speaking of ARE our vets. Not only do we call them for cattle but we take the horses to them as well as the dogs and cats. When possible we take the cattle to them but sometimes it just can't happen. When the cow is down for what ever reason.. kinda hard to pick her up and carry her. We don't know if their prices are the best, we aren't taking bids, BECAUSE they will come to the farm. We don't complain about the bill (at least to their face) and typically the check is written on the spot along with a big thank you.

These same two vets are doing what the others do not do. recently the hosted a small dinner and training session on nutrition for the local cattle farmers. In my opinion they are the BEST.

BUT these ladies will also start to slow down in the near future. One of them is into her early 40's and they eventually will not be able to handle the cattle and then we will back at ground zero.

My point is that we have two vet schools in the state that are state universities. The funding for these Universities are paying for many of the Vets to go to school very cheaply or in some cases free and there is not payback to the state (citizens) in the work that they do. As they say you can't eat without food and without vets many of us will not be able to raise cattle.

 

[TheBullLady]

Ok.. I'm grumpy tonight anyway, so I'll add my two cents.

I think no one graduating from vet school wants to do large or farm animals because 1) they are the younger generation that has a problem with getting sweaty and/or dirty 2) they can make WAY more $$ doing small animals, and can be in an air conditioned / heated building, and pay off their student loans much faster. 3) Farmers can be turds to work with.. they complain about prices, won't lift a finger to help you, and call at inconvenient times, and want you to prescribe / give for free drugs to doctor ol' Bessie.

I don't know what the answer is..but our recent new vet hasn't been doing much of a job on large animals, from what I hear. It's very disheartening.. especially since one of my favorite pet cows ( for Caustic) is not feeling well this evening, and if she doesn't look better, it means hooking up the trailer, loading her up and heading to College Station in the morning.. 1 1/2 hour drive.. plus diagnosis.. etc. etc. and I don't make any $$ to pay for this HOBBY unless I'm working.

Sorry..

 

[Brute 23]

Sorry for your loss. If it was me I would be consulting with an attorney in regards to the vets negligence. You might have a possible lawsuit at least for the value of the cow.

Ya... sue a vet for not coming out there. I bet you will have a line of vets just waiting at your gate the next morning that will want to work for you then.

Real bright idea there. :roll:

That is bad for all animal owners... vets every where will start being nervous of getting sued. Tehy won't be worth a flip then.

I agree with Vicky the Vet. They don't have to do anything. A good working relationship and and alot of them will bend over back wards for you... good facilities or not.

 

[rockridgecattle]

i will admit some did not like our vet either when she first got here. She was fresh out of vet school and wet behind the ears. -She had high ideals, some of the oldtimer logic--cow is there to make you money, get rid of the problems, I'm sure she felt like she was hitting more than a few brick walls and was ready to pack it in but she stuck it out and is good at what she does.

As she got more experience she got better and maybe yours will to. give her some time.

 

[Bez>]

If you go back and look through some of my comments on veterinarians you will see that I have always been one to state there needs to be a relationship with your big animal Doc. Preferrably before you have the first animal on the place.

A person who is a RESOURCE - not an expense!

Why in the name of heavens would anyone even consider going out to a farm / ranch - working in conditions that are at times so bad as to be considered less than primitive - and then listen to the owner beach about the cost?

I have made those wierd late night calls - I do not make them lightly and I do not ever consider beaching about the cost.

If others - not necessarily the originator of this thread - would do this - well, I suspect they would find there are large animal Docs available.

As it is right now I figure I would rather do a Pookie hip replacement - in a clean and safe environment - and make a few grand doing it over running out to someones place - getting dirty and then having the owner complain because I charged him a 100 buck call out fee.

As my dear old Dad used to say - wanna make money?

Chose a profession where people COME TO YOU to give you money. Doc, Dentist, Accountant, Optometrist and so on.

I would include in this list - small animal Docs - every Pookie owner will spend thousands on his / her "kick me" dog / cat - but in turn when it comes to cattle / calves - those same people will generally write to this board and the title almost always includes the word HELP!!!.

They will sit and provide minimal information and then wait for 6 days until they find someone from outer Mongolia with poor English and no cow experience who has provided what seems to be a simple answer that might work. The animal often dies.

And in turn by NOT calling the veterinarian that they should have previously established a relationship with - they throw away hundreds of dollars in a potential sale.

Or they will self medicate with little or no effect in many cases - and the animal dies after spending money on drugs when something else might have worked - provided a veterinarian actually got the call - from a client - NOT a stranger.

Know anyone like this?

Bet many here know at least one.

The originator of this thread could be a real good person - but I notice exactly two posts - very little info of value and nothing to indicate a professional / client relationship with a large animal Doc.

Perhaps this was the first time the veterinarian had talked with this person. Perhaps not - but obviously there was not a relationship - otherwise there would have been a backup call made to another large animal Doc. I figure the performance here is a two way street - and while the call went out for help - hmmmm ..... who is the caller?

And I might add if I was concerned about making this call and NOT having the veterinarian show up - I would have developed a relationship with one I could count on showing up when I call.

Once again - a two way street.

Regards

Bez>

 

[AngusLimoX]

Is there a certified beef production program out there that as a major requirement does not list a verified veterinarian/patient/client relationship?

There are reasons why the industry requires this, and it is the small timers trying to skirt the system that get in trouble.
( Yes, most small timers do a acceptable or even excellent job, and there are big ops that shirk their responsibility as well ).

ALX