hardware disease

[Alan]

Didn't want to hi jack "dead bull" thread, I'm thinking that hardware disease is usally an illness that takes a while to kill the animal, not a suddenly found dead thing. Also isn't couple of the signs of hardware a roach back and weight lose? Meaning, when you walk up to a animal with the late stages of hardware isn't it obvious there is a big problem? It's not a case of my bull is in breeding condition and today he's dead of hardware. Not trying to point fingers at anyone, just looking for clarifacation.

Thanks for the help.
Alan

 

[dun]

Typically hardware takes a while to kil and yes you would expect to see signs of it before it killed them. I suppose it would be possible to pick up a piece of wire and have it guickly penetrate the heart but that would be a real long shot (my opinion).
Picking up trash while grazing isn;t ver likely either. If it's a piece big enough that it wouldn;t have worked it's way to ground level the cow would probably spit it all out once she felt the wire. The longest pice of wire I can remember seeing on a magnet when we butchred was about 3 inches long. Hay baled using wire is the main culprit, I've seen small nails but 99% of the stuff looked like old baling wire. Just my experience.

 

[kenny thomas]

Alan, I agree. The ones I have seen loose weight, and usually have a big brisket which in advanced cases looks big all the way under the neck to the jaw.