Sometimes you should just stay in bed.

[hillsdown]

A few days ago I woke up to to find one of my favorite 2 year olds (my husbands favorite heifer dead). We were hauling a few calves that morning so I had them in the corral system ready to head out at the break of dawn. I had checked on them and Lady Lolita( as she was due to calve any day now) at 11:30pm the night before and everything was good. Lolita was laying down chewing her cud by the round bale feeder .

Do not know how the heck it happened , but she got herself cast and was unable to get back to her feet :cry2: . We have used these tire feeders to supplement grain or second cut alfalfa during a drought or a if we are feeding below par hay and need to add some supplements to them . We have never ever seen anything like this in our lives and have seen some freakish events happen in dairy and beef.

Just wish I would have found her in time to help her or the very least to put her down and cut her calf(s) out . We ended up having a post mortem done on her that afternoon and she was carrying twin heifers calves, they were already in position to come out so she most likely would have calved that day .

She comes from one of my favorite cow families, her mom is the sweetest, gentlest cow and raises a heck of a calf each year . She is also one of my dam of merit cows . Lolita had the same disposition as her dam; when we fed or walk through to check she some how always ended up by you for a quick scratch on the head .It was Lolita's aunt that I lost back in 2009 to a broken femur and had to be put down . Maybe this family has a blk cloud over its head .

 

[hillsdown]

 

[chippie]

: ( I am so very sorry. I do not like the tire feeders. A friend had a horse get stuck in one and it too died.

 

[hillsdown]

: ( I am so very sorry. I do not like the tire feeders. A friend had a horse get stuck in one and it too died.

Thanks Chippie .

That is why I chose to use only the smaller shorter ones so that they would be able to move them if need be and that they can just walk over them , these are 2 feet high at best . Such a freak thing , can't figure out how she managed to get hung up like that . :???:

 

[highgrit]

HD, that's some bad luck right there.

 

[cow pollinater]

I'm sure sorry to see that. :frowns:
It sure seems like it's always the favorites that it happens to though, doesn't it?

 

[3waycross]

I am sure sorry to see that Wanda. I remember that heifer she was a dandy. :frowns:

 

[slick4591]

Sorry.

 

[hillsdown]

Thank you .

Vic I remember you commenting on how nice she was ,but how folks would dock her for that diluted blue/grey color in your area.
Edit to add ... The twins were dark red , like their sire .

I should have sold her to that fella that bought my gold bull Tuff Enough last spring, he had his heart set on her and I refused to sell. At least she would still be alive now . :frowns:

 

[Aaron]

Sorry for your loss, HD. I lost one the same way last Saturday. One of the best heifers of the bunch.

But it is a good reminder for me that any time someone wants to buy cattle, everything is for sale. They can die on them as easily as me and I might as well take the money while I can.

It's not easy raising things with a heartbeat.

 

[hillsdown]

Lady Lola had a heifer again this year so I will be keeping a close eye on her and hopefully she fits my profile for replacement heifers .

As far as temperament and personality , well she is just like her mom and sister . ;-)

Would really like to replace Lolita as I could sure use more in my herd and that was the main reason I refused to sell as I am building my herd from the bottom up through AI and being closed herd ect. and you can see really see the difference from even 3-4 years ago in the replacements that I keep . The uniformity is very close now .

 

[Anonymous]

That's a tough one. Don't beat yourself up though.

 

[Workinonit Farm]

Heartbreaking! I'm sorry this happened.....I really hate that kind of thing, and I hate for you that it happened.

I hope that new heifer grows out to be all you wishe her to be.

BTW....cute pics of the baby with Nikki.

Katherine

 

[MistyMorning]

So sorry for the loss Wanda, I spend a lot of time worrying over those freakish accidents. My time will come too someday. Beautiful heifer in the pic with Niki!

 

[dryfork2]

Sorry to hear of your bad luck. It's always a favorite one. Can't be one on the list to head to town.

 

[Isomade]

Dang I hate that happened to ya HD. But, you did nothing wrong. If you had sold her she could just as easily had something happen at the other mans place. It's just the down side of raising cattle. I'm sorry.

 

[CKC1586]

So sorry. Loss is never easy.

 

[Calman]

Sorry foe your loss HD.
It never fails that a cow will do what you know it can't do.

Cal

 

[2/B or not 2/B]

HD, my goodness that's an immense loss all at once. I'm so sorry. There are so many different unexpected things that can happen with cattle. You can go a good while with good luck and then the weirdest thing will happen.

 

[hillsdown]

Thanks everyone ! :tiphat: Still expect her to come and nudge me for a head scratch when I am cutting the twine off the hay, it feels empty in the heifer pasture without her .

It has not been a good year , Pinta got run over by a gravel truck she survived after a long stay in the ER , Spartan our LGD was poisoned by our neighbors and died in my arms as we were rushing him to the ER. Nikki was diagnosed with a liver shunt and had a very risky but life saving operation and Miss Lolita decides to get herself in the most horrible situation during the middle of the night and by the time I am out there first thing in the morning it is too late . :frowns:

Our luck has got to change for the better soon , right :help:

However no matter what we have thrown at us I am truly grateful for all I have and thank God every day for being graced with such a full and rewarding life .