ear problem

[9 ER]

Yesterday, I saw that one of my heifers had ripped a chunk(1"x3") of her ear on something(barbed wire?) and it was just barely dangling by the end. She is the only one that doesn't let me touch her so and I dont have a headgate so I got her penned up and in a stall with a rope around her trying to get her close so I could snip the piece off. She then jumped out off the stall. I got the rope off her, but I dont think that I will be able pen her up again today to take her to the vet. What are my options if I cant get her to the vet?

 

[txshowmom]

Leave it alone. Nature will take care of it and it won't kill her. We have had cattle rip their ears before too.

 

[sidney411]

It will more then likely come off on it's own in time if it is just barely hanging. There's no point rileing her up over something that is not a real danger. Save that for a real problem.

 

[9 ER]

Thanks txshomom and sidney411.

I'll just wait and see. How long do you figure it will take to fall off?

 

[SimmAngus]

Had a Bull that lost both ears to frostbite. The kids called him shorty!!! The loss of the ear skin never seemed to bother him, ended up being one of the better bulls I've owned.

 

[txshowmom]

Thanks txshomom and sidney411.

I'll just wait and see. How long do you figure it will take to fall off?

I don't know how long it will take and it may never come off, might just "heal and hang" for the rest of it's life.

 

[Workinonit Farm]

Just leave her be. It will most likely fall off eventually without any trouble. It will heal. May take a few weeks for it to fall off.


Katherine

 

[9 ER]

Strang thing happened when I went to feed yesterday evening, I thought that "ripped ear" would be hesitant to come up. Not only did she come up, but she let me rub her head. If I had a pair of sissors I could have snipped it off. She has never let me touch her before and I just thought it was strang that she would let me now after the tussle we had the day before.

 

[shorty]

She might be telling you that she'll let you help her , who knows ? they suprize us sometimes

 

[sidney411]

BUT - if she is showing this new improved behavior and you inflict pain to her ie. snipping the piece of ear off, then she may revert again and not be sociable. Just a thought.

 

[dun]

BUT - if she is showing this new improved behavior and you inflict pain to her ie. snipping the piece of ear off, then she may revert again and not be sociable. Just a thought.

My thoughts exactly. It will either fall of or not by itself, why mess with it?

dun

 

[docgraybull]

What are my options if I cant get her to the vet?

Get a headgate.

 

[9 ER]

it fell off yesterday. Thanks for the advice.

Get a headgate

What a great idea. Why didn't I think of that? Thanks doc. Since I'm loaded with cash on my teaching salary, I'll just get the squeeze chute and tractor that I want too. Why stop there, there is a Ford F350 4x4 that I saw the other day and maybe I'll even get an aluminum stock trailer.

Now I know I'm going overboard, but that just goes to show how my morning has gone.

 

[Chuckie]

I have two cows with ears that were ripped. It looks to have been an ear tag that was torn out. One I call Bullwinkle since the tag must have been set deep. I also saw a bull sale last fall that had ears that had been frozen off. He was a year old and sold for $2000 for half interest. He was a nice bull.

 

[jerry27150]

you can pick up a headgate at a sale for around 100 dollars.

 

[jerry27150]

with that teachers salary you should be able too afford alot.

 

[Arnold Ziffle]

9 ER ---- Don't want to sound too "preachy", but a headgate is one of the pieces of equipment that it is pretty hard to do without if you are going to run even a few cows, which I'm sure you indeed realize. I've never seen a decent used one available for approx. $100 at auction, but I don't think they are outrageously expensive even new. Call around or go see what TSC and a few other places have for sale and how much they cost at full retail. Then if you don't want to pay their price you could consider attending some equipment auctions (like the one Mark Switzer has every 3 or 4 months in Sealy, Tx.) and see if you can get one that is in good workable condition & not all bent and/or rusted out, of course being mindful of what the retail prices are! But I really think that's too much effort and driving around for too little potential $$ saved. When I started out I knew I wanted a new Preifert headgate, so I just compared prices at a few places via telephone and then bought from the farmer's co-op over in Hungerford --- time and money well spent.

 

[docgraybull]

Get a headgate

What a great idea. Why didn't I think of that? Thanks doc. Since I'm loaded with cash on my teaching salary, I'll just get the squeeze chute and tractor that I want too. Why stop there, there is a Ford F350 4x4 that I saw the other day and maybe I'll even get an aluminum stock trailer.

Now I know I'm going overboard, but that just goes to show how my morning has gone.

I wasn't picking at you, I just think that if you are going to have even one cow on the place that it is essential to have a headgate, and (access to) a trailer. Opinion. You originally asked what your options were. One option was to get a headgate, run her in there, have a look, and doctor it up. Another option was (as Dun refers to it) benign neglect, which obviously worked out pretty well.

 

[9 ER]

Hey doc, I know you weren't picking. I was just fustrated yesterday morning and needed to vent. My apologies. I'm closing in on equipment left to purchase. Just got my trailer a copuple of weeks ago and next will be squeeze chute and headgate. Trying to do 1 piece at a time without taking out a loan. It takes a while, but to me its better than making another payment every month. I already have a few of those . Sure wish I would have had these things before I bought the heifers, but wanted to make sure that I still enjoyed working with cattle like I did when my dad had a couple hundred head. Of course, how much work can a 7 year old do. But I did remember how much I liked being around them then and I still do now. I enloy coming home everyday to feed and be around them. My wife sometimes says that I care more for the heifers than her. She may be right! jj

Hey Arnold, thanks for the info. I'll start looking and comparing prices

 

[jerry27150]

the old man never had a real headgate, he just made a kind of stachion with a piece of pipe that was stationary at the bottom but the top would latch up tight when pushed over