Problem Cow

[inyati13]

I have an older cow that has become shy of the handling facility. I have a complete facility with squeeze chute, palpatation cage, allies, sweep, crowding pen, holding pen,etc. I also have the system set up to be able to load out of the set-up. I generally bait my cows into the holding pen and move them through the system from there. I have a cow that needs to be treated for mastitis that she has gotten since her calf was recently weaned. I would like to treat her then ship her. She is very determined and a clever cow. She knows what goes on in that system and wants no part of it. Does anyone have any tips on how to get a cow to do something she does not want to do?

 

[dun]

I had a cow like that a while back. I rigged the door of the stock trailer with a rope so I could close it from being out of sight. Put her in a pen by herself and threw hay in the trailer and a tub of water so that was the only place she could drink. Kept an eye on her and when she finally went into the trailer I pulled the door shut behind her and went to the sale barn. In order to treat her we would have had to tranq dart her.

 

[inyati13]

Got her in the crowding pen and into the squeeze chute. Milked out the infected teat. It was full of infection. I treated each teat with one of the mastitis infusions and gave her 54 ml of LA 200 (oxytetracycline). Put her back in the crowing pen. I plan to watch her a day or two and then put her in the holding pen for later shipment after the required hold time from slaughter due to the medications. This cow has a chronic problem with mastitis.

 

[cow pollinater]

Just curious... Why treat her if you're already planning on shipping her? She'll go to slaughter either way so why feed her in the meantime?

 

[inyati13]

That is a good question. I think the answer is more personal than economic. On a personal level, I take a lot of pride in being a good keeper of my animals. I treat my cows the same way I treat my dog. I take their well being as my responsibility which is not always guided by profit or what it will cost. I am fortunate that I do not rely on my cows to pay my way. If I did, my view on the circumstances would be very different. Nevertheless, I don't want to carelessly lose money. My immediate goal was to improve the health of the cow. She was stressed by the pressure and pain of the infected mammary glands. She would lift her foot and kick down as if she were being bothered by my dog (young blue healer who loves to nip the cows). I was aware that this problem was chronic and knowing I would be revisited by it in the future, I decided to cull her. As mentioned, she is tired of the handling facility which has only made matters worse. It came down to deciding to give her some treatment before she was sent to market. I also thought it might make her more marketable if she did not go to sale with a bad case of mastitis. I will need to hold her for 28 days because of the LA 200 injections. I am feeding her alone both hay and some feed. I would like to see her leave healthy. It is not about economics. I would not want to keep animals, if I could not take care of them as I on a personal level believe I should.

 

[CowgirlUpNY]

That is a good question. I think the answer is more personal than economic. On a personal level, I take a lot of pride in being a good keeper of my animals. I treat my cows the same way I treat my dog. I take their well being as my responsibility which is not always guided by profit or what it will cost. I am fortunate that I do not rely on my cows to pay my way. If I did, my view on the circumstances would be very different. Nevertheless, I don't want to carelessly lose money. My immediate goal was to improve the health of the cow. She was stressed by the pressure and pain of the infected mammary glands. She would lift her foot and kick down as if she were being bothered by my dog (young blue healer who loves to nip the cows). I was aware that this problem was chronic and knowing I would be revisited by it in the future, I decided to cull her. As mentioned, she is tired of the handling facility which has only made matters worse. It came down to deciding to give her some treatment before she was sent to market. I also thought it might make her more marketable if she did not go to sale with a bad case of mastitis. I will need to hold her for 28 days because of the LA 200 injections. I am feeding her alone both hay and some feed. I would like to see her leave healthy. It is not about economics. I would not want to keep animals, if I could not take care of them as I on a personal level believe I should.

:clap: :clap: :clap:

 

[BettyLandercasper]

They fear the confinement, that they can't get away, more than any of the Rx IMO -- except LA 200 burns, they do hate LA 200.
Don't get hurt fooling with her.