Phew - almost lost one

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Jeanne - Simme Valley

Jeanne - Simme Valley

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Cattle Today Supporter
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Dec 9, 2004
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Central Upstate New York
Went out to feed replacement heifers. There was a group in the bottom, and they didn't come up. Then, I saw one on the ground with legs up. Oh shitzz. Thought she was dead. Just before I got to her, I saw her move. She was just "slightly" downhill - very bloated. Was still strong enough to struggle, but couldn't get up. Nephew & I wrapped a rope around bottom hind leg & rolled her. She jumped up & ran off.
That was lucky timing!
It is amazing how just a little slope can screw them up.
 
I am so glad it turned out well. It is so easy to lose one when they get into a position when they cannot obtain good footing. It doesn't have to be an extreme slope. If they get on their side and their feet in the air, bad results happen fast.
 
Good save! Feels like you just got gut-punched when you see legs in the air. 8 years ago we just happened to show up in time to see a bred heifer on her back in a feed bunk. Nothing but pure adrenaline allowed us to tip the bunk just enough her weight flipped it the rest of the way over.
 
Jeanne - Simme Valley said:
Went out to feed replacement heifers. There was a group in the bottom, and they didn't come up. Then, I saw one on the ground with legs up. Oh be nice. Thought she was dead. Just before I got to her, I saw her move. She was just "slightly" downhill - very bloated. Was still strong enough to struggle, but couldn't get up. Nephew & I wrapped a rope around bottom hind leg & rolled her. She jumped up & ran off.
That was lucky timing!
It is amazing how just a little slope can screw them up.
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i don't know much about cattle, but why was she bloated. bloated because something she eat or went to sleep on a slope? not trying to be a detective here, but when something goes astray i always wonder exactly what caused it and what to do to keep from happening again.
 
Jeanne - Simme Valley said:
When they get laying 'downhill' (back downhill & legs uphill), they bloat in a very short time. If she layed there much longer, it would have killed her, even though there was nothing wrong with her. Once you get them on their feet, the bloat gets released and they are fine.
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thanks jeanne for the explanation. i appreciate your knowledge and post.

we had a cow found dead on a slope of a terrace several years ago and didn't know what happened, maybe this was it. i think her legs were upslope.

glad you were able to see yours in time.
 
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ccr - yes, that sounds like a possibility for yours. If legs are uphill, they just can't roll their body upright. If it is enough of a hill, they sometimes roll downhill, feet going up & over and they will get right up. That is how we got her up. I'm always careful to just wrap the rope around leg with a loop in the middle & hold both ends of rope. That way, when they get up, the rope just slips off the leg.
Was glad to see her up & eating like normal this AM.
 
Glad you got her saved. Sometimes there is a lack of appreciation on behalf of the saved animal and a quick exit can be paramount.
 
Silver said:
Glad you got her saved. Sometimes there is a lack of appreciation on behalf of the saved animal and a quick exit can be paramount.
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LOL - you are soooo right. But, it sure was great to see her upright and running.
When you find one like that, you "hope" it's because the stupid thing got stuck, but there could be other reasons. So, I take it as a WIN this time.
 
Neighbor B was telling me that he pulled into a field to feed. He saw a cow laying like you described. He thought oh great, a dead cow. Got done feeding and as he was driving past her on his way out of the field he saw her blink. Jumped off the tractor and rolled her over. She lived to have another 3 or 4 calves.
 
Was on our way to the maple festival in the next county with some friends a couple years ago. Going down the road, saw a cow laying and it was a little slope and her back was down the hill. Son stopped the truck on the side of the road, hopped the fence and went over to look at her & call the owner.... saw she was alive and managed to get a foot and roll her over . Dangerous yes because he didn't have a rope, but he is big and was able to give her enough momentum that she got over. She'd have been dead otherwise....
Come to find out, it was a Sunday morning, the owner HAD already been there, put out some hay, saw her, FIGURED SHE WAS DEAD from a distance, and told himself he would come back after feeding everyone else and get her loaded on the truck. DUMB @#$ didn't take the time to go over to her and check. If it wasn't for us, she would have been dead......GRRRRRR...

I panic when I see one laying like that, or even out flat.... and I keep a chain in every vehicle, just in case.....

Have lost 2 over the years to being upside down in a feed trough... saw a cow one day take her head and butt another from the side, down low, and it toppled the smaller cow into the trough, would've lost her if I wasn't there & had that chain to tip the trough over. Have found that it is better to not have cows of a big difference in size if we are feeding grain in the troughs, just to stop some of the "bully" tactics of a bigger "grain hog" cow.
 
I don't have any kind of feed trough, because we don't grain the cows, but I sure don't have any FLAT land. LOL
Yes, I was sure she was dead. Four legs up & stiff as a board with heifers all around her. As I walked towards her, I kept yelling HEY, but no movement. Finally, just as I got close, she struggled a little. Phew.
 
Good save. March 2018, I had a hereford/shorthorn heifer ready to calve. She was in a small paddock that was flat. I checked on her at 2 am. Just lying there in the corner chewing her cud. Came out right before 6am and found her lying with her feet uphill on the mound where the round bales had been fed. It wasn't much of a hill but enough that she was stuck. Calf feet sticking out about 8 inches. She was exhausted from trying to right herself. My daughter and I grabbed her feet and flipped her over. She was too tired to push. We each grabbed a leg on the calf and we pulled him out pretty easy. She could have had him without assistance had she not laid in the one spot. It took her a bit to get up but both her and the calf did well after that. This is why we need to be checking on heifers when getting ready to birth. Some are just not smart.
 

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