creekdrive
Well-known member
Kind of a long story - but thought I'd share. It amazes me how tough cows are....
We have one pasture we rent roughly 40 miles away - it's 4 quarters in an L shape. If you are lucky the cows will be near the gate. If not you have to bounce down the trail over rough terrain, up & down hills. Lots of bush so sometimes you go and you don't even find cows if they are in the bush. They usually come if they hear us but depending on weather etc they might not. It's about 2 miles back to the very far corner of the pasture if you follow the fenceline.
Anyway July 30th we get back towards the far end - about a mile and a half in. Most of the herd comes to see us. After standing around awhile see a cow come hobbling on 3 legs. Back foot swelled up huge. First thought is a bad case of foot rot.... As she gets closer we realise foot rot would've been a much better scenario. She has broke her foot - bone has come through the skin. The wound is deep (can see bone) & infected with puss coming out of it. Getting late that night, but think we will try & come back in the morning. Took the gun thinking we'll probably put her down, but decide we will take the trailer and panels and quad and see if we can load her. She's a real quiet little cow and if the leg doesn't give out as she steps on the trailer it may work. Get there unload the quad in the general area that she was in - can't find her. Spent just about 4 hours looking for her with no sign. Finally gave up and went home. Tried to look at least once a week for her and had no luck.
Figure she went off & died somewhere...and feeling bad that we let an animal suffer like that. I felt sick about it. We try to do as much as we can for these animals.
About a month later we are out there checking again and there she is with her calf, back with the herd! She's in pretty rough shape but the wound has pretty much healed. Still swollen and limping pretty bad but not near like it was. It's amazing to me that any animal can survive that with no treatment. There's water & grass back at the end of the pasture so for the moment we've decided to leave her there. If it dries up we might be able to get a trailer back there and try to load her and bring her home. Or maybe she'll slowly make her way the couple miles up to the road where we could bait her across into some corrals. I hate to push her that far in case she steps in another hole on the way and wrecks that foot again. Rather let her walk at her own pace. Saw her again yesterday and she's actually gaining some weight back and walking good enough we might even be able to sell her if we can get her home.
all that is left of the wound. maybe there is still infection in there, but it looks pretty good to me & she looks good - happy & alert. Not like she's suffering at all.
with her calf. She's never been much to look at, even before this.
I know she's not totally out of the woods yet, but she's defintely a survivor!
We have one pasture we rent roughly 40 miles away - it's 4 quarters in an L shape. If you are lucky the cows will be near the gate. If not you have to bounce down the trail over rough terrain, up & down hills. Lots of bush so sometimes you go and you don't even find cows if they are in the bush. They usually come if they hear us but depending on weather etc they might not. It's about 2 miles back to the very far corner of the pasture if you follow the fenceline.
Anyway July 30th we get back towards the far end - about a mile and a half in. Most of the herd comes to see us. After standing around awhile see a cow come hobbling on 3 legs. Back foot swelled up huge. First thought is a bad case of foot rot.... As she gets closer we realise foot rot would've been a much better scenario. She has broke her foot - bone has come through the skin. The wound is deep (can see bone) & infected with puss coming out of it. Getting late that night, but think we will try & come back in the morning. Took the gun thinking we'll probably put her down, but decide we will take the trailer and panels and quad and see if we can load her. She's a real quiet little cow and if the leg doesn't give out as she steps on the trailer it may work. Get there unload the quad in the general area that she was in - can't find her. Spent just about 4 hours looking for her with no sign. Finally gave up and went home. Tried to look at least once a week for her and had no luck.
Figure she went off & died somewhere...and feeling bad that we let an animal suffer like that. I felt sick about it. We try to do as much as we can for these animals.
About a month later we are out there checking again and there she is with her calf, back with the herd! She's in pretty rough shape but the wound has pretty much healed. Still swollen and limping pretty bad but not near like it was. It's amazing to me that any animal can survive that with no treatment. There's water & grass back at the end of the pasture so for the moment we've decided to leave her there. If it dries up we might be able to get a trailer back there and try to load her and bring her home. Or maybe she'll slowly make her way the couple miles up to the road where we could bait her across into some corrals. I hate to push her that far in case she steps in another hole on the way and wrecks that foot again. Rather let her walk at her own pace. Saw her again yesterday and she's actually gaining some weight back and walking good enough we might even be able to sell her if we can get her home.
all that is left of the wound. maybe there is still infection in there, but it looks pretty good to me & she looks good - happy & alert. Not like she's suffering at all.
with her calf. She's never been much to look at, even before this.
I know she's not totally out of the woods yet, but she's defintely a survivor!