I am new to the wonderful life of cattle. I came across a cattle auction on an AG channel this morning, and they ran 96 spayed heifers thru. Why would you spay a heifer? Do they finish better? Or did I misunderstand?
Spayed Heifers?
- Thread starter kjerckie
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Anonymous
Thanks for asking that question! I always wondered too. Now, next question... do you have a vet come out and do this spaying? Is a fairly major procedure, or expensive?
Michelle Pankonien
Well-known member
Not many people microchip cattle, and as with small animal recovery, if you do not have a reader or don't know that there could be a chip, to even try and scan one, they won't so once you have cut the head off it is a little late to care wether they were chipped or not, but yes i think chiping a calf, cow etc. is a great method of ID, and would love to push forward a movement to get all cattle in this country chipped with a chip like AVID makes, they just need to get right on the price
I spoke with my vet and he said that they are doing that to young feedlot type heifers and bacially it is a "blind surgery".
He also said that it cannot be done to an cow as once they have a mature reproductive tract, it is too risky and they can bleed to death....
It is interesting though....
He also said that it cannot be done to an cow as once they have a mature reproductive tract, it is too risky and they can bleed to death....
It is interesting though....
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Anonymous
Kat":i4re1ow9 said:
That’s strange. I know at least one of the vets on the large animal side of the clinic we use spays a lot of heifers every fall. That's why it's so hard to schedule him for preg checks, so we use a different one. Anyway, I don’t see why would it be any different for a mature cow to be spayed than say a mature dog, cat or even human. If I can remember when we get our girls worked in late sept early oct I’ll ask and report back.
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Anonymous
txag" spaying a heifer/cow is not the same as a small animal. it's not a major surgery. you're not going in & removing the uterus.[/quote said:
Michelle Pankonien
Well-known member
Spaying heifers is common practice for all female cattle comming from Mexico to go into feed lots
There are several reason, one prevent reproduction, reduce behavior trouble from estrous, and eliminate calve on young heifers, with bulls and heifers in same trap
It is usually done through the vaginal tract, and the ovaries drop into the body and are absorbed, usualy done on females who have not reached sexual maturity, thus minimal bleeding, and ovaries are the size of raisins
There are several reason, one prevent reproduction, reduce behavior trouble from estrous, and eliminate calve on young heifers, with bulls and heifers in same trap
It is usually done through the vaginal tract, and the ovaries drop into the body and are absorbed, usualy done on females who have not reached sexual maturity, thus minimal bleeding, and ovaries are the size of raisins
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Anonymous
It would seem to me that if the ovaries were not removed from the body it would be the same giving a bull a vasectomy. Does anybody have a link to one of the federal vet sites that regulate this procedure?
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Anonymous
Spaying a ( young) heifer is fine, but even our state vet school frowns upon spaying cows because of their risk of bleeding out... They have had it happen before and do not reccomend the surgery......
I am sure others do it, but after two seperate opinions I do not think it is worth the risk of losing the animal...
I am sure others do it, but after two seperate opinions I do not think it is worth the risk of losing the animal...
