cattle60
Well-known member
Tall Timber , Was this one of the show me select heifers? Sorry for your problems, Know the feelings. What vets do you have to use? Mine came out of Farmington.
cattle60":1r3mj01v said:Tall Timber , Was this one of the show me select heifers? Sorry for your problems, Know the feelings. What vets do you have to use? Mine came out of Farmington.
cattle60":3vuzth9x said:Tall Timber , Was this one of the show me select heifers? Sorry for your problems, Know the feelings. What vets do you have to use? Mine came out of Farmington.
Lucky_P":3vuzth9x said:tt,
I wouldn't necessarily have put her down.
I've seen cows/heifers standing there peacefully chewing their cuds as if nothing were amiss, while you rake rotten, decomposed calves out, in chunks, by the handful. Granted, it's not desirable, and not all will be in that good condition, but I wouldn't shoot 'em just because there was a dead calf - or part of one - left in there.
I can't comment specifically on your (or anyone else's) difficulty getting a large animal veterinarian out...but having been one, I have some thoughts on the matter.
Fire Sweep Ranch":3vuzth9x said:One of the worst accounts I had of a bad birth was when I was younger and worked for a research company. The study we were on was a big dairy study; Upjohn was trying to beat everyone and get rBST in the market first. We had 270 dairy cows that were in the study, that we were going to follow through 5 lactation cycles using the rBST.
Anyway, we had a cow that failed to progress at calving, so we called the vet. I was the assistant, and the vet made the call that the calf was dead (flexion test), so we were going to do a fetotomy instead of a c-section. My job was to hold the chains tight, keeping tension on the calf while he ran the blade over the shoulder blade to remove the shoulder, thus allowing the calf to fit through the pelvis. As he started sawing, I felt the calf jerk! I told the vet the calf was alive, and moving. The vet assured me the calf was dead, and the jerking was from him cutting through the tendon and muscles. My gut told me otherwise, but I was not a vet so I did as I was told. Once the leg was severed, we pulled out the leg/shoulder, then pulled the rest of the calf with a few tugs. Imagine our surprise when the calf shook it's head, and attempted to try to stand on THREE legs!!!!!! The vet ran back to his truck, got some of the pink stuff (beuthanasia), and immediately put the calf down. He was sick to his stomach, very apologetic, and just broke over the incident. I have never forgotten that, and when I check a calving cow and do not get a response from the calf, still do not give up until the calf is out and I am sure it is dead!
cattle60":2qgq1yd9 said:Tall Timber , Was this one of the show me select heifers? Sorry for your problems, Know the feelings. What vets do you have to use? Mine came out of Farmington.
greatgerts":1yuswqnk said:cattle60":1yuswqnk said:Tall Timber , Was this one of the show me select heifers? Sorry for your problems, Know the feelings. What vets do you have to use? Mine came out of Farmington.
My vet is out of Farmington/Fredericktown. Works at both clinics. They have enough vets on staff that even when you call the after hours number, you'll normally get a call within 30 minutes, unless they are on another emergency call.
Very good to work with, and reasonable on prices.