Despicable and inhumane treatment of sick calves....

[bevkel]

Forgive me - I am a relative newbie. I've only been to a sale once before today. I also understand economic pressures, blah, blah, blah....

I took two calves to the sale barn located in Covington Ok. It's a small sale, located northish of Oklahoma City by about 70 miles. Lots of good old boys. Small number of cattle in the pens today. A veterinarian was on duty (at least I saw a vet pickup on the premises and paid a small vet fee).

Someone had brought in a number of calves (steers for the most part) for sale- I don't know how many, maybe 20 - 30. There were probably 10 that had pinkeye to some degree. This was noted by the auctioneer and assistants. For the most part the infection was notable, but not severe.

Then they brought in a smaller calf, between 250 - 350 pounds. He was completely blinded by the pinkeye. They had to poke and prod him out and around the scales. They had to guide this poor creature, who besides being blind was unused to human handling. The swelling of his eyes was abysmal. Yes, I know - with proper treatment the pinkeye can be cured and the calf will do okay.

I am so freaking angry that anyone would allow this condition to progress to this extent. It is unconscionable. I am angry at the owner, I am angry at the sale barn, and extremely angry at the vet.

Yes, these are just beef cattle, but this sort of inhumane treatment sickens me. Surely this is against the law. As far as I am concerned, the seller of these calves should be horse-whipped. Shy of that, is there a state agency I could contact?

 

[dun]

Forgive me - I am a relative newbie. I've only been to a sale once before today. I also understand economic pressures, blah, blah, blah....

I took two calves to the sale barn located in Covington Ok. It's a small sale, located northish of Oklahoma City by about 70 miles. Lots of good old boys. Small number of cattle in the pens today. A veterinarian was on duty (at least I saw a vet pickup on the premises and paid a small vet fee).

Someone had brought in a number of calves (steers for the most part) for sale- I don't know how many, maybe 20 - 30. There were probably 10 that had pinkeye to some degree. This was noted by the auctioneer and assistants. For the most part the infection was notable, but not severe.

Then they brought in a smaller calf, between 250 - 350 pounds. He was completely blinded by the pinkeye. They had to poke and prod him out and around the scales. They had to guide this poor creature, who besides being blind was unused to human handling. The swelling of his eyes was abysmal. Yes, I know - with proper treatment the pinkeye can be cured and the calf will do okay.

I am so freaking angry that anyone would allow this condition to progress to this extent. It is unconscionable. I am angry at the owner, I am angry at the sale barn, and extremely angry at the vet.

Yes, these are just beef cattle, but this sort of inhumane treatment sickens me. Surely this is against the law. As far as I am concerned, the seller of these calves should be horse-whipped. Shy of that, is there a state agency I could contact?

As far as I am concerned, the seller of these calves should be horse-whipped.

I feel the same way!

dun

 

[Chuckie]

In my book, those calves should not have been accepted by the sale barn. But, if they had not of been accepted, then they might not have been treated. I think I would ask who the seller was. look him up and I would tell him what I thought, and not to bring his diseased stock to the sale so that the flies could go from one animal to the other. That might be a very mild version of what I might actually say, but I would try to make my point. And if the jerk brought these animals to the sale for everyone to see, I am sure that he has no pride and has no sense of right or wrong. And most of all could care less about the welfare of the animals. I hope he lost his butt on the sale.

 

[Wewild]

bevkel do you know anything about the seller other than "someone"?

Wonder if there my have been some extenuating circumstances that caused this failure in the animals welfare.

Reckon it was a newbie or maybe a serious family situation that allowed it to get this bad?

No ya'll are probably right. It was someone intent on allowing this to happen.

 

[memanpa]

contact the oklahoma lifestock control board.
i am surprised the barn let that many go thru without personally filing a complaint!
all sale barns in az have a lifestock inspector on site, or the sale barn it'self is recognized as being self inspected (a rather lengthy process) and it would not have happened around here!
it is a deplorable situation that should not be gotten away with!! GET A ROPE!

 

[Wewild]

GET A ROPE!

And another one has posted without knowing anything about the situation.

 

[bevkel]

Thank you for the input thusfar. No, I don't know who the seller was. It is my intent to contact the sale barn to find out the seller and veterinarian's names and contact info. I intend to contact the sale barn owners, the state veterinarian board, as well as the owner (if I can find out his/their name(s)) and any state agency that would be involved in regulating the sale barn.

 

[Wewild]

Thank you for the input thusfar. No, I don't know who the seller was. It is my intent to contact the sale barn to find out the seller and veterinarian's names and contact info. I intend to contact the sale barn owners, the state veterinarian board, as well as the owner (if I can find out his/their name(s)) and any state agency that would be involved in regulating the sale barn.

Good and if they all find something wrong then post here and I'll congratulate you for your service to the betterment of the beef industry.

 

[msscamp]

I also hate it when animals are treated badly/not cared for properly, but before I contacted anyone I would make sure the situation is as it seems to be. You might consider contacting the sale barn, finding out who the owner is/was, then contacting him to try to find out exactly why these animals were in this kind of shape. For all you know the owner doesn't know any better, perhaps his wife or one of his children is sick or dying, it may even be that he knows something is wrong, is unable to find out what to do/what he was told to do is not working and sold them for all the right reasons. Just a thought.

 

[Wewild]

Just a thought.

Best thought posted so far.

 

[Crowderfarms]

If you frequent sale barns, you better toughen yourself a little bit. You are sure to see cattle with various problems from Pink Eye to broken legs, to Cancer eye and so on. As Wewild says, there could be circustances beyond someone's control, there was a man up here that drank himself to death. Family sold his cattle right before he died, at the sale barn. Worst Cattle I've ever seen. I'm sure some of the "Good Ol Boys" know where they came from, as far as what you saw.

 

[Texan]

Then they brought in a smaller calf, between 250 - 350 pounds. He was completely blinded by the pinkeye. They had to poke and prod him out and around the scales. They had to guide this poor creature, who besides being blind was unused to human handling. The swelling of his eyes was abysmal. Yes, I know - with proper treatment the pinkeye can be cured and the calf will do okay.

I am so freaking angry that anyone would allow this condition to progress to this extent. It is unconscionable. I am angry at the owner, I am angry at the sale barn, and extremely angry at the vet.

It's a shame that you're so "freaking angry" after your very first trip to a salebarn. I suggest you follow Crowder's advice and toughen up. Or maybe not go back to another sale. Doesn't sound to me like you're cut out for the real world.

It's a shame to see so many of you saying get a rope, horse-whip the guy, etc. You guys convict somebody based on one side of the story? First trip to a salebarn? Hmmmm.

What did you do with the calf as far as treatment, bevkel? Surely you bought the calf, didn't you? All that anger? If you're that concerned, you must have put your money where your mouth is. Right? Maybe you should just buy the salebarn, too. That way, you can run it like you want to. Until then........

 

[Bama]

Sale barns today ain't as bad as they were just a few years ago. Before they could sell downers. If you go to enough sales your gonna see things like this. Sorry but thats part of it.

 

[Scotty]

I saw fifty or so cows sell last year from a man that died. his family sold them. Just like Crowder said @#$% happens. No one likes to see it but if you feel this way do somthing about it. There are people that will. they also would like to hang every cowman in the country.


Scotty

 

[memanpa]

my get a rope statement was not directed at any one other than a person that mistreats animals,

 

[msscamp]

my get a rope statement was not directed at any one other than a person that mistreats animals,

In a perfect world every animal owner would take the time to find out how to feed, doctor and take care of their animals. Every vet would be knowledgeable and competent. However, this is not a perfect world and sometimes people think or are led to believe that raising animals is a whole lot simpler than it is. Just something to think about.

 

[msscamp]

Just a thought.

Best thought posted so far.

Thank you, Wewild. That means a lot!

 

[Ryder]

Bevkel, I wasn't there and don't know what you saw. Don't know what kind of person you are.

In my experience, for what it is worth, do-gooders usually cause a lot more problems than they fix.

 

[ctlbaron]

Yep, I think the best advice here has been to get tuff. You will see worse than pink eye and poke'in them with a stick. I hate to see stock in that kind of shape too,but you can't make everybody take care of them like they should. Some people are just lousy farmers and cattlemen.

 

[Susie David]

Hate to say it but the only ones that a barn won't intake are the downers....its a shame that these cattle were brought in sick but they did sell, didn't they, and the buyer knew what he was bidding on and loaded up anyway. I'm sure that the buyer vet treated these animals and thought that he made a good deal in the process.
Sorry to see sick animals sold buy it is one of the cold hard facts of the business. DMc