Downer

[Colin Chevalley]

Excuse my ignorance but whats a "downer"?
I'm from Australia. I surmise it is what we might call "a cull","a cracker"
or an animal that is hurt or ill.

 

[txag]

an animal that is unable to walk.

not sure how you use cull, but downer is not the same over here. cows can be "culls" for many reasons: infertility, old age, inferior calves, low milk production, etc.

 

[Colin Chevalley]

A "cull" here is exactly how you described it and for all those reasons.
A cow that is "down" would just be shot and burned here. If any others were sick or similar we would then thoroughly investigate. Thanks for the reply
Colin