Missing tail switch?

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tom4018

Dumb Old Farmer
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Noticed one of my heifers tail switch gone this evening. End of the tail was dark looking. For some reason the movement of the tail seemed stiff or maybe it just looked that way from the lack of long hair. She did seem to be hold the tail out a little. Think she might have hung the switch up in something and made the tail sore? Anything to worry about? Might not be anything to it but sure looks differenet now.
 
she'll be fine. its probably sore from being ripped ya know..

they sure do look different huh.
 
Instead of being able to swish flys away she'll just learn to bat them.

dun
 
tom4018":2r44857z said:
Noticed one of my heifers tail switch gone this evening. End of the tail was dark looking. For some reason the movement of the tail seemed stiff or maybe it just looked that way from the lack of long hair. She did seem to be hold the tail out a little. Think she might have hung the switch up in something and made the tail sore? Anything to worry about? Might not be anything to it but sure looks differenet now.

The dark color was probably dried blood, and a missing switch does have a tendency to make the tail movements appear to be stiff - we've got a couple of cows that have lost their switch. Yep, having the switch ripped off will sure make the tail sore for a few days. I wouldn't worry too much about it, though, just keep an eye on it for possible infection. It does tend to catch one's eye, doesn't it?
 
She "could" calf on or before labor day with her first calf. I was going to keep an eye on her anyway. Just hope her being sore already doesn't interfere with her labor.
 
she'll be over it in a day or two. like pulling your hair out or cutting a nail too short..
 
She'ld have to be awfully, awfully sore for her tail to cause anything to go wrong with calving.

dun
 
tom4018":3rrm8rcj said:
She "could" calf on or before labor day with her first calf. I was going to keep an eye on her anyway. Just hope her being sore already doesn't interfere with her labor.

Highly unlikely.
 
Is she on fescue? Endophyte will cause them to lose the switch. It will look like a knife cut around the top of the switch and just fell off.
 
Last week 1 of my herd bulls broke off the end of his tail. Probably caught it in the fence or something. When I saw him this white Charoilais bull was red from shoulders back, and many of the cows had a good bit of blood on them. And when I got close he srayed blood on me. The flys were bad and his tail going constantly, he was losing a lot of blood.

This was a 3500.$ bull and I got a bit worried. Loaded him up hauled him home. I doubled his tail back and tied it up good, stopped the bleeding. Then spayed the flys. Three days latter he was back with the herd. I've had a few cattle pull tails off, bleed a while, no problem. I think I would have lost this bull without treatment. :shock: :cboy: 8)

mnmt
 
I've got a few without switches but as far as I know they fell off due to fescue rather than being pulled off - never saw one with blood after the switch showed up missing. Now they can't cover themselves in poop.

The dairy farm down the road removes all the switches from the cows to keep everything cleaner including him when he's in the milk parlor.
 
I feel most tail switches are lost from being stepped on by another cow. When she gets up, the switch stays under the other cows foot & it gets pulled off. Ouch! I have seen some get pretty bloody. Only thing to worry about would be blow flies and/or infection. But usually not a problem.
 

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