Grandpa
Well-known member
Ignorant as I am, I need all the good advice and/or suggestions I can get. Have a 8-9 year old angus/brangus mix cow that I bought almost 3 years ago. She has given me two good calves, the last one being a real big one. She got down about 3 days before she calved and I couldn't get her up at all, even though she has always shied away from me. She made it up later and moved to a different area and had the calf and seemed to be ok but moved slower than before. That was 7 months ago, and I got the calf off her about 2 weeks ago. Since then, I have noticed she is really poor, always the last one to come to feed, when I put out a bale of hay she will stand by until all the others have eaten, and she has a limp. It is not really noticeable when she is walking forward; she's just slow. But when she turns or pivots, she really doesn't want to put any weight on that left hind foot. I am wondering if she dislocated that hip or pinched a nerve from the delivery, but I also wonder if she just hurt that foot somehow. I have pictures below. The pic doesn't show how poor and bony she really is, and she should be 5-6 months bred, but she doesn't look it The inside toe on that left foot looks a little funny to me, but I don't know and there is no swelling and no fever.
My thought is that when the calves are weaned and turned back into the herd, to pen her up with the steer I am raising to butcher and give her stock fattener to put some meat on her bones, then load her on a trailer. I like her because she throws good calves, but I also don't want a problem child next calving season. Is it worth the price of a vet or just ship her? Thanks for any advice.
My thought is that when the calves are weaned and turned back into the herd, to pen her up with the steer I am raising to butcher and give her stock fattener to put some meat on her bones, then load her on a trailer. I like her because she throws good calves, but I also don't want a problem child next calving season. Is it worth the price of a vet or just ship her? Thanks for any advice.