Now I've seen it all

[Jogeephus]

Was sorting some calves on Sunday and a 50 lb calf ran and scooted itself under the wooden gate to get back to its mother and a 3 weight calf saw this and tried to do the same and charged toward the gate and went down on its knees and got about a third of the way under the gate before he got stuck. Once under the gate he struggled to stand up but couldn't budge the gate. He struggled pretty hard two or three times then he seemed to give up. I grabbed its head and turned him around so he wouldn't be facing the way he couldn't go and he just laid there. I then opened the gate but he seemed lethargic and wouldn't get up. I gave him some time then I helped him to his feet and he walked out of the pen then laid down by the mineral trough. I knew something wasn't right with him but figured he had pinched a nerve or something and a little rest would have him up and about so I didn't pay him any more attention. Found him dead by the mineral feeder today. I'm scratching my head on this one. All I can figure is he must have really done a number on his back trying to follow the little calf.

I think whoever said a cow is just a four legged animal that spends its time looking for a way to die hit the nail on the head.

 

[Anonymous]

Blood clot from his neck maybe and it broke loose? Of course it couldnt be the 50 lb calf that you didn't have as much time or money invested in.

 

[Jogeephus]

That's sortof what I was thinking. Friend of mine's wife fell from a horse and broke her leg and some of the marrow or whatever got in her blood stream and killed her dead a few days before the cast was to come off. Don't know what you call this but I suspect it was something similar because the calf was healthy as it could be.

 

[3waycross]

Would you consider this calf a Fullblood Imbalancer, A purebred Imbalancer or an F-1 cross imbalancer. I only ask because i fear that you may have bred a fatal gene into the Imbalancer genotype.

Seriously Jo I am very sorry to hear about what would appear to be such a senseless loss.

 

[M5farm]

I have seen calves stress out and die before. Could have been a stroke.

 

[Jogeephus]

Was definitely a full blood herd sire quality bull calf worth every bit of $16,000 if someone would agree to pay me that for him.

It really sucks though. Never seen one go down so quick from what appeared to be a seemingly insignificant trauma. Of course it does speak well of my gate building abilities. ;-)

M5, you may be right but it really didn't struggle that much under the gate. Maybe three pushes up then it just stopped so I'm thinking it must have hit something in the backbone just right. But I honestly don't know.

 

[sim.-ang.king]

Was definitely a full blood herd sire quality bull calf worth every bit of $16,000 if someone would agree to pay me that for him.

It really sucks though. Never seen one go down so quick from what appeared to be a seemingly insignificant trauma. Of course it does speak well of my gate building abilities. ;-)

At 300 pounds he must of been a 2 year old right? :lol2:

Bad luck on that one, and like hook said it's never the younger ones, it's always the biggest one that kicks the bucket.
He might of also tore something of value inside. Major rupture of the liver would kill them pretty quick.

 

[M5farm]

I've seen them run into a head catch and not be real upset get their shots and open the gate and they collapse and die. Something happens I'm the neck or back. Freak accident. Was it the one I SOLD you. I can get you another bill of sale for your taxes if you need it.

 

[highgrit]

I wish I hadn't read this. My new Hereford bull somehow crawled into the calves creep feeder. Had to take the feeder apart to get jackass back out. He seemed alright when I went hunting, I guess I will know in the morning. Sorry to hear about your bad luck Jo.

 

[Anonymous]

I wish I hadn't read this. My new Hereford bull somehow crawled into the calves creep feeder. Had to take the feeder apart to get jackass back out. He seemed alright when I went hunting, I guess I will know in the morning. Sorry to hear about your bad luck Jo.

Lol. Got pictures?

 

[highgrit]

NO pictures. :dunce:

 

[skyhightree1]

Jo sorry that happened to you that really sucks .. High that's crazy.hope hes ok.

 

[Jogeephus]

I've seen them run into a head catch and not be real upset get their shots and open the gate and they collapse and die. Something happens I'm the neck or back. Freak accident. Was it the one I SOLD you. I can get you another bill of sale for your taxes if you need it.

It was the one I paid you $50,000 for in gold.

My guess is it died from acute vertebral osteomyelitis.

 

[Commercialfarmer]

Those events are just hard to explain. One can get hit by a train and live and another can get hit by a pebble and kill over dead.

 

[ohiosteve]

Maybe he was just sleeping. I'd go check on him again if I was you. Or maybe it was fence toxicity. There's been a lot of that going around and the symptoms are very similar to death.

 

[Jogeephus]

If he's sleeping he is in a deep sleep. ;-)