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AngusLimoX":223ylqk5 said:
Jogeephus":223ylqk5 said:
If the fella would buy her to me I think I'd consider it but I'd still be scared she might have some funky contagious diesese which is causing her poor shape so his offer to me would have to be quite attractive..

That was my main worry as well, I'd quarantine her until it was obvious she was on the mend with proper treatment.
A 5 or more year old cow that hasn;t ever raised a calf needs a quarantine in the freezer
 
Chuckie":21irxu3a said:
A very nice heifer, that is allowed to go down to body score 3, or possibly a 2 , for the last two winters, and has never been wormed, has lost both calves in the spring, the two years that she has been able to calve.

At what point does a filly become a mare in your book? At what point does a gilt become a sow?

The "heifer" terminology in this forum aint ever gonna be something I can get used to. This gal has calved twice? You don't consider her a cow yet?
 
dun":2ezuqja6 said:
AngusLimoX":2ezuqja6 said:
Jogeephus":2ezuqja6 said:
If the fella would buy her to me I think I'd consider it but I'd still be scared she might have some funky contagious diesese which is causing her poor shape so his offer to me would have to be quite attractive..

That was my main worry as well, I'd quarantine her until it was obvious she was on the mend with proper treatment.
A 5 or more year old cow that hasn;t ever raised a calf needs a quarantine in the freezer

It's not as simple as that to me, but I see your point loud and clear.
I see a $300 cow giving me a dozen good calves, but I am a dreamer sometimes.
 
if she can't live on grass & hay, what good is she? even if she had worms, she should have developed an immunity to them before now. sounds like something more wrong with her
 
milkmaid":3arfg1u0 said:
How does she compare to other cows he has? are they all in similar BCS and similar reproductive history? If she's the odd one out then skip her - but if they all are about the same, then her BCS and history aren't so much her fault as her owner's fault and she'd be worth taking a chance on if you can afford the risk.

I know a herd that is never wormed and the cows are actually in excellent condition - so I'm not certain I'd consider that a good excuse for a thin cow unless she's in an overgrazed, overstocked pasture.
This is exactly my thoughts. I would be afraid of a PI carrier. You have to look at contemporaries.
 
Wise man says: Do not make excuse for open, late or dry cow. Cull at first convenient time.
My practice: open cow, whatever the reason (dead calf, aborted calf, not pregnant) means cull.
Late calvers, whatever the reason, either are sold alive as pairs, or culled after weaning the calf.
If the cow has a difficult calving and gets help, and calf survives, this cow is not as uneconomical to keep around for terminal purposes. She will likely succeed next year, but cows without calves are to expensive to keep.
 
I guess our OP has gone MIA to fill in the blanks..... and I presumed (perhaps incorrectly) that all of the cattle were in the same shape, but they may not be.

We also don't know the pasture conditions or if there is sufficient pasture, there again, I presumed that this is the main problem. It may not be.

I realize everyone's management is different but wormer is the last place and I do mean dead last place that I would try to cut corners on just to save a few bucks.
 
Here is the deal. He bought the heifer from us. He said he never worms or gives shots. So she was thrown in as a one year old into a pasture. From that point on, she received no attention. When I went out to see her, she was skin and bones, and the calves from the cows were still on their mothers from last years crop. The calves had large bellies, and their jaws were large, and they needed groceries. They were extremely hairy and not like a fuzzy smooth stuffed animal. There were some cows out there that looked OK. They were tiny cows, that were smooth looking, and looked as if they could eat bark off the tree and stay fat. But many looked bad, just like the calves and the heifer that I would like to get out of there. There is no mineal out for the cattle. She was a pretty heifer, and I see no reason for her to be in that shape!! I want to see if I can breed her and get a calf from her. This will be something for me to mess with at the house. Plus a couple other heifers, or three. This picture is not going to let me resize it without distorting it. It does just as well as increasing the zoom level on the screen.
Chuckie

 
If that's what she looked like when he got her. You should kick his a$$ and then load her up.

Actually you should call animal control and ask them to investigate him for cruelty...........kickin his a$$ would just be a bonus.
 
Chuckie if you want to give her a try, as a project, bring her home and put her to herself for quarantine. If you are willing to put a few dollars into her it wouldn't hurt to do an ear-notch for BVD and run a few more tests. If she's clean, then throw a few groceries in her direction, breed her and see what happens. If she had the maternal instinct and made an effort to clean the calves and try to 'wake them up' (even though they were dead) she'll probably raise a few. Could be that the calves were dead due to poor management.

Then go back and kick the guys butt ;-) . If people haven't got sense enough or ability enough to practice basic animal husbandry, they shouldn't have animals.

Spending the time and money on her....initially....can't be any worse or different than some of the folks who come here and spend lots of time and money on meds to raise a down cow, or cure a sick calf.

Katherine
 
When I went up there, she was totally dry of milk, and was calling for her calf. Here is a picture of her mother. She is standing on a slope, and Doc, she is not a funnel but, as the hill makes her appear. She has a flat back, and was one of the first registerd cows that I bought. All of my dates on the camera are wrong. Some even have the 14th month. But she is a good heavy cow. Anyway.......I am going to try it.
 
Good luck with her! I would repeat the good advice given before, keep her quarantined and get the health work done in case she is diseased and not just starved. And add, just start her off with good grass hay, salt and minerals. It might be all she needs to turn around, but even if she needs some grain, alfalfa, whatever, to get back in shape, she needs to get her minerals balanced and her gut used to the higher quantitity of feed first.
 
I am reading about Leptospirosis, and it sounds like it could be the culprit. I am not sure, but she has a lot of the signs. It can be cured, but it causes the calves to be very weak and they die or are still born. The cows can have no milk. This disease does not make the cow infertile, but keeps the cow from producing live calves. Or that is what I got from the article. This disease is included in the vaccine Vira Shield.
Chuckie
 
Chuckie":2mtpy3eu said:
I am reading about Leptospirosis, and it sounds like it could be the culprit. I am not sure, but she has a lot of the signs. It can be cured, but it causes the calves to be very weak and they die or are still born. The cows can have no milk. This disease does not make the cow infertile, but keeps the cow from producing live calves. Or that is what I got from the article. This disease is included in the vaccine Vira Shield.
Chuckie


Wouldn't hurt to run it by your vet Chuckie. Everyone vaccs for lepto around here, and a few vaccs have combo packages that include lepto.
 

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