Dead calf

[blackladies]

Never thought I'd have to worry about that happening. Check cows everyday, calf was fine yesterday. Got its head stuck in the stock trailer. Cold and stiff this morning when I found it.

 

[A.J.]

Oh no. I'm sorry you lost the calf. That is a crazy way for one to go. I wonder what in the world that calf was trying to do? I know my family think I'm overly paranoid about reducing risks for potential issues for our cattle, but I tell them all the time ours are born looking for a way to kill or injure themselves. The best you can do to prevent it, they find new ways to do it.

 

[Dave]

Despite our best effort we can't kill them all.

 

[Warren Allison]

Oh no. I'm sorry you lost the calf. That is a crazy way for one to go. I wonder what in the world that calf was trying to do? I know my family think I'm overly paranoid about reducing risks for potential issues for our cattle, but I tell them all the time ours are born looking for a way to kill or injure themselves. The best you can do to prevent it, they find new ways to do it.

Hate that for you. Allowing them to be in a fence with a trailer, is also a good way to have your wires chewed and pulled off, etc.

 

[greybeard]

That's a new one on me and I'm sorry it happened to ya. Scratching it's head or neck maybe?

 

[kenny thomas]

That's a new one on me and I'm sorry it happened to ya. Scratching it's head or neck maybe?

I notice the member is from Missouri, is it possible that the trailer has been used this winter where roads had been salted? I have seen cattle lick trucks, tractors, trailers, even if they had available minerals.

 

[coachg]

Dang , that's a new way to lose one . At least you now have an entry to this months photo contest. I'd vote for it ! Cowtastrophys

 

[Dave]

With my new feeder I have to stop and get out to cut the twine on the second bale. Fairly regularly when doing this calves will be licking on something under the truck. I chase them off before starting to move again. And the truck isn't parked out in the pasture when I am not feeding.

 

[blackladies]

Despite our best effort we can't kill them all.

The way things go sometimes it seems like that's what I'm trying to do.

 

[blackladies]

That's a new one on me and I'm sorry it happened to ya. Scratching its head or neck maybe?

I'd go with that maybe or just being curious. Saw @kenny thomas say maybe salt, have loose mineral/salt out for them but I did haul with ice on the road over the winter so there could be salt. We have had really heavy rains I would think would wash some off.

 

[farmerjan]

Sorry to see that... whether he was scratching or nosy, when most animals get "stuck... even a little... their natural reaction seems to be to pick head up, pull up... so he would've been pulling up which would have gotten his head up further... instead of simply putting it down to get it out.
One thing I have found about the longhorn... she carefully moves her head to deal with her horns, and I have seen her put her head down and turn it carefully ... knowing that there are ways to get it "unstuck".... and of course a baby would just panic.

So very sorry for him but also for you to have to find it...

 

[Dsth]

sorry that you lost your calf that way. curiosity kills more than just cats apparently. you will never know what the big attraction inside the tire well was, but something caught its attention.

 

[blackladies]

Hate that for you. Allowing them to be in a fence with a trailer, is also a good way to have your wires chewed and pulled off, etc.

Yep, my fault 100%. Didn't even cross my mind something like that would happen. Expensive lesson learned.

 

[Ouachita]

Sorry to see that... whether he was scratching or nosy, when most animals get "stuck... even a little... their natural reaction seems to be to pick head up, pull up... so he would've been pulling up which would have gotten his head up further... instead of simply putting it down to get it out.

My Granddad had a cow stick her head through a forked tree. I wish she would have raised her head up. She hadn't even been missed when I happened across her while hunting. Nothing I did convinced her, so I went to get Granddad and he brought a rope. Pitched it over a limb and around her chin to assist her and she backed out with a little swat on the nose. Good thing she wasn't in heat.

 

[Mat Man]

Hate that with the trailer!
I have 3 cattle trailers and 3 other trailers parked in cattle pasture .
They are always looking for a way to die.

 

[Texas G@l]

My Granddad had a cow stick her head through a forked tree. I wish she would have raised her head up. She hadn't even been missed when I happened across her while hunting. Nothing I did convinced her, so I went to get Granddad and he brought a rope. Pitched it over a limb and around her chin to assist her and she backed out with a little swat on the nose. Good thing she wasn't in heat.

We had a yearling heifer get stuck like that a couple of years ago. Thankfully, she was in the front pasture right by the driveway. My husband saw her as he was headed to town. He ended up getting her to raise her head by hand feeding her a couple of cubes and then holding a cube above her nose. When she raised her head chasing the cube, he popped her in the nose and she backed out. Disaster averted......she recently had her second calf.

 

[blackladies]

@Travlr a black calf probably wouldn't have died like that.

 

[Travlr]

@Travlr a black calf probably wouldn't have died like that.

Well at least the carcass would have fetched a premium...

 

[Hereford2]

I had one get hung up in the wheel well of an old bus I found it in time it was bugger to get out. I ended up screwing metal over the opening to prevent that from happening again

 

[Hpacres440p]

We have an old gate panel with one bent rail-apparently just wide enough for a 5 month old heifer to catch her head in when she pulled to the straight rail part of the gate. It was a 400 lb calf pull-grabbed both ears and pulled her toward the bend far enough to get her head back out.
Her dam had gotten her head stuck in the bottom layers of a hay ring at a week old. Nosiness is a family trait apparently. Thankfully the heifer wasn't too worked up and I could get her rescued.