Need Opinion's

[Stepper]

Ok, my neighbor just had a heifer to try and calf today. He wound up calling the vet. They had to cut the calf in half to get it out. I was not there but supposeadly the calf was to big to be born. They said the vet broke his puller's tring to pull it.

The other night while my neighbor was on vacation i called the vet out on another of his heifer's and the vet pulled that calf also. But the heifer never got back to walking good afterwards. The vet told them that the heifer/now cow would probably get down and never get back up again. And that they would be lucky to get its calf up to weaning age before this happen's.

Now, will the heifer who they had to cut the calf in half be ok to rebreed later or should he get rid of it ? And the heifer who has trouble walking. Is there anything that can be done to maybe help save it. The vet who he is using is questionable as far as his reputation goes. So i am not ruling out the possiablity of something being done to save the heifer that has trouble walking.

All of these heifer's that my neighbor bought was bought at the sale barn. One of the 11 is a wild cow, all of them were supposeadly bred to a low birth weight bull. Two of them have had trouble calfing because the calf's were to big.

This has me rethinking ever buying any first time heifer's at a sale barn now. It is possiable that these heifer's got bred buy a bull other than a heifer bull. And the wild heifer was probably a cull due to it's disposition. It looked like maybe the heifer's came from two different farm's due to the color of the ear tag's. So that is something that i will diffinately take into consideration the next time i think about buying any breeding stock that has already been bred at the sale barn.

 

[SPRINGER FARMS MURRAY GRE]

Ship them both for slaughter. ;-)

 

[Crowderfarms]

Ship them both for slaughter. ;-)

Absolutely. Why would you want to get burned on that stove a second time?

 

[Stepper]

I wonder how much of a loss he will take by saleing them for slaughter ? And the one with a calf. Should he go a head and take a chance on tring to weight until it is weaning age ? Or what should he do with it ? It is only about a week old now.

 

[stocky]

The heifer that is having trouble walking might straighten up over time, or she might not. He might as well keep her and see if she gets better or not, she wont bring much now. The one that had the calf cut out, it all depends on how much damage was done with the pulling. She may rebreed just fine, or she might have been torn up too badly. I would also keep her and let her fatten up and if she breeds back, he can consider keeping her, or sell her in July when she has fattened up for the feedlot. As was said over and over in these forums----NEVER believe what is anounced at a sale barn. Use your own judgement over what is announced. Any time you buy a first calf heifer at a sale, ask yourself one question----would I pay this price if she is bred to a big-calf bull? If the answer is no, then leave her alone because she might be. I know it is tempting to believe the good auctioneer story, but over and over on these boards we are reading about someone who had problems that werent supposed to be, because at the sale barn "they said". It is a shame that you cant believe what is said, but dont do it.

 

[Stepper]

stocky,

Your 100 % right. You know i have always herd that all the cattle sold at the sale barn are not all bad. But all the bad cattle to be sold are sold at the sale barn. And i have been a little skeptical about buying from a sale barn. I am new at it and have just bought young calf's at the sale barn. But from now on i am going to try and buy any potential heifer's for breeding purpose's from people i know.

 

[backhoeboogie]

stocky,

Your 100 % right. You know i have always herd that all the cattle sold at the sale barn are not all bad. But all the bad cattle to be sold are sold at the sale barn. And i have been a little skeptical about buying from a sale barn. I am new at it and have just bought young calf's at the sale barn. But from now on i am going to try and buy any potential heifer's for breeding purpose's from people i know.

Maybe it is not the heifer. This happened twice. My guess is your neighbor is breeding to the wrong bull.

 

[Stepper]

backhoeboggie,

He bought these heifer's at a sale born and they were in their 3 rd trimester when he bought them. He did not know anything about their back ground as far as what they were bred to.

 

[Beefy]

might as well keep the vet on speeddial...

time will tell whether the two cows will recover enough to rebreed. they will likely never have any more calving difficulty if you decide to keep them.

 

[randiliana]

might as well keep the vet on speeddial...

time will tell whether the two cows will recover enough to rebreed. they will likely never have any more calving difficulty if you decide to keep them.

I think maybe I would find a different vet. Having a vet pull a calf that he should KNOW is too big makes me wonder..... otherwise I agree, keep them, try to rebreed, or just fatten and sell them later on.

My take on sale barns, is that unless it is a dispersal sale, or a reputation seller, that animal is there for a REASON!! Could just be that she was some guys least favorite cow, or it could be attitude, the bull she got bred to, feet, udder or any number of other reasons.

 

[Beefy]

might as well keep the vet on speeddial...

time will tell whether the two cows will recover enough to rebreed. they will likely never have any more calving difficulty if you decide to keep them.

I think maybe I would find a different vet. Having a vet pull a calf that he should KNOW is too big makes me wonder..... otherwise I agree, keep them, try to rebreed, or just fatten and sell them later on.

My take on sale barns, is that unless it is a dispersal sale, or a reputation seller, that animal is there for a REASON!! Could just be that she was some guys least favorite cow, or it could be attitude, the bull she got bred to, feet, udder or any number of other reasons.

yeah thats a good point too. the first time i read this (a long time before i replied) my initial thought was that the vet sounded questionable if not downright sketchy.

 

[George]

Ok, my neighbor just had a heifer to try and calf today. He wound up calling the vet. They had to cut the calf in half to get it out. I was not there but supposeadly the calf was to big to be born. They said the vet broke his puller's tring to pull it.

The other night while my neighbor was on vacation i called the vet out on another of his heifer's and the vet pulled that calf also. But the heifer never got back to walking good afterwards. The vet told them that the heifer/now cow would probably get down and never get back up again. And that they would be lucky to get its calf up to weaning age before this happen's.

My first thought when i read your post was,your vet is defiantly an IDIOT!!Find a new vet immediately,someone that knows something about cattle.If he broke his pullers trying to pull a calf,it would have been obvious even before he started pulling it,that the calf was to big.I would imagine he damaged that heifer,and i doubt if she rebreeds.If the second heifers calf was that big and he pulled it,that he paralyzed that heifer.He probably has ruined her also.So lets see,your neighbour now has 1 ruined heifer,a heifer that probably will die.The first calf was dead,and the second one will probably turn into a bottlefed calf yet,plus he still has a vet bill to pay.Now if the vet knew anything about being a vet,he would have done a c-section on both heifers.Your neighbour would have 2 heifers that would have a 80% chance of rebreeding,and 2 calves that were alive.Find yourself a new vet,this one is costing you to much money!!

 

[Susie David]

Doesn't sound like your neighbor has alot of experience in cow buying. How long were the heifers in labor before you know there was going to be trouble. C sections are expensive but worth the money. All it takes is a quick check to tell if the calf is a monster. I'd talk to some of the other folks about the vet.
I think I'd ship the gals and look for a private treaty replacement.

 

[Stepper]

This vet does have a bad reputation here. There are only two vets here. And the best one of the two is always tied up. I tried to call the good vet the night the first heifer was having trouble. But i only got an answering machine that said he did not take emergency call's on Wednseday's. He works the sale barn on Thursday's so i guess he takes Wednseday off.

The heifer that they had to cut the calf out of yesterday was probably alot of my neighbor's fault for waiting so long to call a vet to begin with. He found her at about 10 a.m. and did not try calling a vet until 5 p.m. He said the feet was out at 10 a.m. and he thought everything was going to be alright.

You know when i first started coming to this site i took offense by the way some of the seasoned cattlemen talked down to people who is new to getting into the cattle bussiness. But after reading some of the post by newbie's and what has happened with my neighbor's heifer's. I can see why they feel the way they do. I myself am new to the cattle bussiness and can see that i needed to do things alot different than the way i am doing them. By that i mean i should have got with someone who new what they were doing and learned about how to take care of cattle before i got them. But i have owned, broke and trained horse's for alot of year's now and did not think there would be that much difference in cattle and horse's. But i have learned there is a world of difference.

Alot of people like my neighbor (myself included) has no intention's of doing harm to these animal's when they buy them. But they unknowingly do harm to them by just not knowing how to take proper care of them.

 

[dun]

Stepper;
Congratulations, you've just taken the biggest step to being succesfull in the cattle business. The ability to learn from others experiences and the realization that it's a learning curve as long as you have cattle is the beginning. That sort of sounds pompous but isn;t meant to be. I would hazard a guess that evryone of us that's in this business, doesn;t matter if a newbie or a crusty old phart like CB, we're all still learning new stuff about cows.

dun

 

[Farminlund]

Just when you think you've seen it all - there's a new problem/situation to deal with. The learning curve is steep for the first few years then begins to flatten out, but never stops going "up". Which in some ways keeps life interesting, albeit sometimes a hassle, but it sure beats the hum drum existance some in other walks of life live. As Dun stays, you have seen the "light" & will make a good cow person with that attitude.

 

[Beefy]

i definitely wouldnt have wanted that vet doing a c-section! [/i]

 

[Farminlund]

Now if the vet knew anything about being a vet,he would have done a c-section on both heifers. Find yourself a new vet,this one is costing you to much money!!

I beleive that is exactly what George was saying - this guy don't know squat above doctoring on cattle but a real vet would have & the "C section" would have been the obvious course of action.