Ethical question

[milkmaid]

Is this dairy sale only selling breeding stock? We haul our holstein steers to the dairy sale north of us. We haul our beef steers to the sale south of us. The beef sale is closer but we get more for our holsteins by going north with them. If your dairy sale is like ours, they are not just selling breeding stock. Take them to the dairy sale but tell them to not sell them as breeding stock. You could always stay at the sale and watch for them to come in the ring to make sure of how they are sold too.

Forgot to answer your post, farmhand... I'm not sure about this dairy sale. I've never actually been there (4hr drive), though my folks sold a springer for me there this past fall. From the auction report I'd say that they only sell breeding stock, springers, open heifers, and calves, to be specific. I know they have a beef sale the day before their dairy sale, which I'd assume is when you sell everything that isn't breeding stock.

 

[travlnusa]

I am happy to hear your choice.

I have a neighbor I buy calves from. If he told me to buy his 3 legged calf, that was blind, and coughing, I would because he have never misled me.

I know of another that I would never buy from. I have never even spoke to this man, but enough others have told me about him. Fair? Maybe not, but it is my dollars to spend.

 

[polledbull]

my 2 cents . Strickly about the cows. You could hang on to them a little while longer , get them on a good mineral program , exposed them to a bull for 60 days and recheck them . sometimes these with small tracts will settle, but only to a natural service , not to AI. As far as your reputatiuon , My Grandfather always said , A man must work all his life to protect and preserve his reputation and he can ruin it all in 1 day.

 

[Gate Opener]

We had a similar situation come up recently. Had a few that had problems and we sent them through as weigh cows. I don't want to pass our problem onto someone else(even though someone did that to us). Sure we lost money but we can look our self in the mirror and sleep real good at night.

You'll be happy you did the right thing.

 

[milkmaid]

Question for y'all. I did something I hadn't done yet :lol: and looked up "Infantile Reproductive Tracts" on Yahoo. There's been some comments on here and on the other websites about nutrition and minerals making a real difference.

Can't find specifics though. Anyone know specifically what minerals might help? I feel they're being fed well -- as well as any I've raised, and honestly, 10 month old bottle calves weighing 738lbs average is pretty good. The group has been keeping a 2.16 ADG since July, which tells me they're getting enough feed -- so that just leaves minerals.

It'd be a piece of cake to give them a shot of Multimin (selenium, zinc, magnesium, and copper) if that's all it would take to "fix" them. However, my favorite quote...

Your decisions are only as good as the information you base them on.

...so if I'm going to take a chance with keeping them another month or two, then I'd better have a good reason to believe this is what they need.

Comments? and thanks, y'all!

 

[KNERSIE]

Cattle that has grown up in a copper deficient area often struggles to get bred and a shot of Multimin +Cu is standard practice four weeks before the start of the breeding season. Whether a copper deficiency would prevent the reproductive tract from developing properly I don't know.

 

[Earl Thigpen]

Boy, it is refreshing that a lot of you put ethics and moral character that high up the scale.

Milkmaid, keep them for a while to see if they turn around. If not, fatten them up and put them in the freezer. I think you've already come to that conclusion, haven't you?

Good luck!

 

[dun]

The vet stopped by to BS and I asked him about this. His opinion is that it's probably genetic and all of the minerals and vitammins in the world aren;t going to help.

dun

 

[milkmaid]

The vet stopped by to BS and I asked him about this. His opinion is that it's probably genetic and all of the minerals and vitammins in the world aren;t going to help.

dun

Bummer. Well, thanks for asking, dun.