Her tail is gone!

[tbest101]

My husband was checking his herd this morning and found a cow missing her tail! Totally ripped off! What could have caused this?

 

[Rancher]

Any number of things, my first thought is she caught tail in fence or tree crotch and pulled her tail off. We need more info on her habitat

 

[alacowman1]

seen them stepped on ,but that pretty high up..and Fesue will usually involve the switch..unless the tail was damaged and took a while to fall off..it don't look like a fresh wound

 

[daneg]

Wolves will do that.

 

[Dave]

You will have to sell her wholesale. Because you can't retail her.

 

[Warren Allison]

My husband was checking his herd this morning and found a cow missing her tail! Totally ripped off! What could have caused this? View attachment 34178

You need to go back in your profile and put in your location. That info helps us answer questions so much easier,

 

[Travlr]

My husband was checking his herd this morning and found a cow missing her tail! Totally ripped off! What could have caused this? View attachment 34178

Where are you located?

 

[wbvs58]

I would think it has been cut maybe caught in some roofing iron or the like or it has been strangulated by something like twine wrapped around it then the dead part fell off.
It would take a lot of force to just pull a tail off in that position as it is very strong and a straight force like that would more likely cause it to separate up near the sacrum and causing some nerve damage affecting her gait and around the vulva.

Ken

 

[Mat Man]

It looks more like a circulation problem .
Something wrapped around it ?

 

[TCRanch]

Holy cow! I've had them ripped off but never that high up. Agree that it looks more like something was wrapped around it and the dead part fell off because there's no residual blood or other signs of trauma. The ones I've found were a veritable blood bath and in one case, actually found the rest of the tail wrapped around a tree.

 

[Mark Reynolds]

You need to go back in your profile and pout in your location. That info helps us answer questions so much easier,

You beat me to it @Warren Allison.

Wolves came to mind, and so did fescue as well as possibly coyotes. But, and it's been already noted, this is too high up and looks to be a clean/fairly clean cut. Looks as if it were almost 'tied off'. And fescue would just be the switch.

 

[MurraysMutts]

I've seen some places that have old hotwire/barbwire laying around. (We just cleaned up a small spot I've got for the winter) I've seen cows get tangled and drag that crap everywhere too. I suppose it's possible she got it wrapped around her tail and maybe made a clean cut herself!
Especially if the other end of said wire was still attached to something sturdy.

 

[Mark Reynolds]

The cause would be good to know. Make some educated guesses and check the pasture. Care and treatment of the fallout, ( or 'fall off') is a bit more important at this point.

 

[TCRanch]

Only other thing I can think of is residual effects of frostbite. Had a calf years ago that lost the majority of both ears and one day, most of his tail just freaking fell off.

 

[Travlr]

Find the missing body part and I bet it will tell the tale.

 

[TCRanch]

Find the missing body part and I bet it will tell the tale.

That's how I found out what happened the 2nd time a cow lost her tail.

 

[Mark Reynolds]

Only other thing I can think of is residual effects of frostbite. Had a calf years ago that lost the majority of both ears and one day, most of his tail just freaking fell off.

Interesting, but in August??

 

[coachg]

Fescue causes something ole timers called hollow tail .

 

[TexasJerseyMilker]

Alien UFO from outerspace.

 

[kenny thomas]

Fescue causes something ole timers called hollow tail .

They split the tail and put salt in it for hollow tail.