Two headed calf

[wacocowboy]

It ain't going to hurt nothing showing a 2 headed calf. their are a bunch of them in freak show museums all over the country. I have seen 5-6 in person and photos of a lot more. stuff like this happens in the wild has nothing to do with ranchers crap happens every once in awhile.

 

[branguscowgirl]

It ain't going to hurt nothing showing a 2 headed calf. their are a bunch of them in freak show museums all over the country. I have seen 5-6 in person and photos of a lot more. stuff like this happens in the wild has nothing to do with ranchers crap happens every once in awhile.

Agree waco! It is all part of nature, and it happens with no outside interference. Most of us come to this site to learn from other peoples experiences. Just because I make light of someones response, does not mean that I do not care about the animal.
My animals are family to me. They eat and get better medical care than I do. I would be proud to have any "undercover media" on my farm at ANY time.

 

[PLTannery]

Very cool. Did you happen to have the taxidermist save the skull and see if there was any fusion? Although it seems your taxidermist could have used a few reference pictures. I'd love to hear your story on this one as I'm putting together a book that will basically be the "Layman's guide to What the Heck is that?" for birth defects in livestock. Describing them in a way the average person can understand. Helping them understand if this is a environmental, genetic or just an oops, and if it is something they could have prevented. If you have a picture of the calf before it was skinned I'd love to see it.

And for the rest of you... if you EVER get one of these or anything odd... Call me... I am looking for all types of examples and I do buy them so that I can prepare and photograph them for my book. Just freeze them until you get ahold of me.

 

[cowgirl8]

I do, but i'll have to dig through some old pictures in a external hard drive...when i get a chance i'll take a look..

 

[Kingfisher]

This one was found dead and decomposing. Never made the food chain but does show that these things happen and who knows why? Humans with the similar disorders have lived long productive lives. ;-) dam!!!!! Ain't you got a plane to fly or an american patrol to lead that's too dangerous for anyone but you?? You are one of a kind...guess that makes you a freak too !!!! ;-)

I agree, need to share these things with other cattlemen, vets, and students. All a good educational opportunity!
If all was hidden and not talked about, what would we all know? ;-)

Can you kindly explain what is " educational" about your trophy? Thanks in advance.

 

[branguscowgirl]

This one was found dead and decomposing. Never made the food chain but does show that these things happen and who knows why? Humans with the similar disorders have lived long productive lives. ;-) dam!!!!! Ain't you got a plane to fly or an american patrol to lead that's too dangerous for anyone but you?? You are one of a kind...guess that makes you a freak too !!!! ;-)

I agree, need to share these things with other cattlemen, vets, and students. All a good educational opportunity!
If all was hidden and not talked about, what would we all know? ;-)

Can you kindly explain what is " educational" about your trophy? Thanks in advance.

King, not my "trophy" as you called it. I would not refer to it as that. However, I do find it educational to look at the anatomy and think about how I would deliver this calf if I reached in and felt this. An instructor may share this visual with students. I am a nurse and I can honestly say that I learn more by seeing "real life" things, rather than what is just written in a text book.

 

[Kingfisher]

Your missing my point...(. I love ya Bez...Happy Easter) but I have you confused with Mrs Chicken Chit and for that I do apologize....

 

[cowgirl8]

This one was found dead and decomposing. Never made the food chain but does show that these things happen and who knows why? Humans with the similar disorders have lived long productive lives. ;-) dam!!!!! Ain't you got a plane to fly or an american patrol to lead that's too dangerous for anyone but you?? You are one of a kind...guess that makes you a freak too !!!! ;-)

I agree, need to share these things with other cattlemen, vets, and students. All a good educational opportunity!
If all was hidden and not talked about, what would we all know? ;-)

Can you kindly explain what is " educational" about your trophy? Thanks in advance.

Well, lots of people find it educational and cool....i find it cool..Your Welcome..

 

[PLTannery]

Thanks Cowgirl8, I appreciate it!

 

[cowgirl8]

I can dig around and see what else i can come up with PLTannery..Last year we had this weird calf born premature..It was so strange. His head was big and his shoulders normal, but his backend was all dinky..I think i took a picture of it, i'll look for it too. We also had a calf born with all his intestines outside his body. It was covered in skin with hair and was the sized of a large watermelon..Sadly, i didnt have a camera with me all the time, it was probably 15 or so years ago. The vet cut the skin off, cut some stuff off he didnt think the calf would need, ?, and shoved everything back in. He went on to wean at a normal weight. I named him Guts..lol...

 

[Gelbvieh 5]

I can dig around and see what else i can come up with PLTannery..Last year we had this weird calf born premature..It was so strange. His head was big and his shoulders normal, but his backend was all dinky..I think i took a picture of it, i'll look for it too. We also had a calf born with all his intestines outside his body. It was covered in skin with hair and was the sized of a large watermelon..Sadly, i didnt have a camera with me all the time, it was probably 15 or so years ago. The vet cut the skin off, cut some stuff off he didnt think the calf would need, ?, and shoved everything back in. He went on to wean at a normal weight. I named him Guts..lol...

Cowgirl8 do you by any chance live downwind from a Nuclear facility? You seem to have an inordinate amount of freaks born on your place! In just this thread you have described at least 3 very deformed calves born on your place and also posted a picture of a cow with neurological damage. I think if I was you I would be getting some soil and water tests done to determine the cause of all these freaks.

 

[HDRider]

Someone told me one time that appearance matters.

 

[branguscowgirl]

I can dig around and see what else i can come up with PLTannery..Last year we had this weird calf born premature..It was so strange. His head was big and his shoulders normal, but his backend was all dinky..I think i took a picture of it, i'll look for it too. We also had a calf born with all his intestines outside his body. It was covered in skin with hair and was the sized of a large watermelon..Sadly, i didnt have a camera with me all the time, it was probably 15 or so years ago. The vet cut the skin off, cut some stuff off he didnt think the calf would need, ?, and shoved everything back in. He went on to wean at a normal weight. I named him Guts..lol...

Cowgirl8 do you by any chance live downwind from a Nuclear facility? You seem to have an inordinate amount of freaks born on your place! In just this thread you have described at least 3 very deformed calves born on your place and also posted a picture of a cow with neurological damage. I think if I was you I would be getting some soil and water tests done to determine the cause of all these freaks.

I suspect it is the numbers of cattle that she runs, her odds increase with seeing things like this. Plus she watches her herd closer them most people with those kind of numbers, increasing the chances of actually seeing these defects before something carries them off.

 

[cowgirl8]

I can dig around and see what else i can come up with PLTannery..Last year we had this weird calf born premature..It was so strange. His head was big and his shoulders normal, but his backend was all dinky..I think i took a picture of it, i'll look for it too. We also had a calf born with all his intestines outside his body. It was covered in skin with hair and was the sized of a large watermelon..Sadly, i didnt have a camera with me all the time, it was probably 15 or so years ago. The vet cut the skin off, cut some stuff off he didnt think the calf would need, ?, and shoved everything back in. He went on to wean at a normal weight. I named him Guts..lol...

Cowgirl8 do you by any chance live downwind from a Nuclear facility? You seem to have an inordinate amount of freaks born on your place! In just this thread you have described at least 3 very deformed calves born on your place and also posted a picture of a cow with neurological damage. I think if I was you I would be getting some soil and water tests done to determine the cause of all these freaks.

Since i've been in the business for 35 years, we've had thousands of calves. Now, my responsibility is for every calf to hit the ground alive. I'm out there a lot..Now, take preemie calves, if you dont get there hours after they are born something is going to eat it. If you dont see this preemie, you dont know what it looked like. It was aborted for a reason and its usually clear as to why. Ever have a cow that you thought was going to calve but in the end she has no calf. You never saw the calf, so how do you know something wasnt wrong with it. How about the cow who died, did you cut her open? Did you find her already partly eaten? First thing vultures and coyotes love eating is the calf. They dig in there a feast, you find it, hum wonder why she died could it be she had a dead 2 headed calf in there festering? Almost nothing gets past me, i see everything. If you're just checking your cows once a day, your missing tons of things. If you have a handful of cows, averages is the only way to know if things are normal. If i had 20 cows, sure, this would seem weird. But out of those 20 cows and you have one thing every other year happen, my averages are going to be the same or better...Averages, averages..... Speaking of averages, the uhoh calf brought our calf crop up in averages..instead of a loss of 4, its now 3..Now if i could just have a several sets of twins, i'd like to have a loss of 0

 

[TexasBred]

I can dig around and see what else i can come up with PLTannery..Last year we had this weird calf born premature..It was so strange. His head was big and his shoulders normal, but his backend was all dinky..I think i took a picture of it, i'll look for it too. We also had a calf born with all his intestines outside his body. It was covered in skin with hair and was the sized of a large watermelon..Sadly, i didnt have a camera with me all the time, it was probably 15 or so years ago. The vet cut the skin off, cut some stuff off he didnt think the calf would need, ?, and shoved everything back in. He went on to wean at a normal weight. I named him Guts..lol...

Cowgirl8 do you by any chance live downwind from a Nuclear facility? You seem to have an inordinate amount of freaks born on your place! In just this thread you have described at least 3 very deformed calves born on your place and also posted a picture of a cow with neurological damage. I think if I was you I would be getting some soil and water tests done to determine the cause of all these freaks.

I suspect it is the numbers of cattle that she runs, her odds increase with seeing things like this. Plus she watches her herd closer them most people with those kind of numbers, increasing the chances of actually seeing these defects before something carries them off.

I doubt it. We use to calve out about 500 holsteins every year and never had a malformed calf like these being described. Had a few abortions over the year but no deformed calves.

 

[cowgirl8]

Who knows, maybe its an angus thing.. And you have to remember, these things have happened over the many years. 2 headed calf was 10ish years ago. Guts calf was maybe 15.. Aborted deformed calf was last year and the first i've ever seen like that. I believe it was some sort of injury early in the pregnancy, kind of looked like his back had broken.

 

[PLTannery]

People may be surprised how many deformed babies are born. Although I personally would say, from my experience, that most of them are Angus influence (black hided). I buy a lot of dead livestock. Normal and not. An I have purchased frozen things that the owner didn't comment about only to thaw it and find out it had no brain, or No eyes or a similar deformity... People notice and remember the two heads, extra legs, but may not notice a cleft palate or no eyes, especially if the calf is still slimy/dirty or been dead a day.

They also tend to come in groups... For example, this year it was brain deformities... Exencephaly, anencephaly, Neuropathic Hydrocephalus.. 4 years ago it was Dwarfism... Bought 2 dwarf calves that year, and not from the same operation. One year I got two calves (*one bison) born with no eyes. Deformities like parrot jaw are common too. Even in purebred herds (line breeding doesn't always work...). I've personally had a calf born with 3 legs as a result of a hay crop too heavily applied with 24D on Old orchard ground. Should I cull that cow? Not likely... considering the gene that creates legs turns on at day 6-8 of gestation and it is a much better bet to change hay suppliers.

Certain years around here I might buy 20 calves with twisted limbs/contracted tendons from lupine infested range.. Now should every cow that had a lupine calf be shipped? Not in my opinion.. but if I had a cow with a Neuropathic Hydrocephalus... you bet, cow and bull would both be burger. But a twinning defect? No, I wouldn't cull. But everyone is entitled to their own opinion and the ability to manage their livestock as they see fit.

cowgirl8 I'd love to see your other calves.. my email is [email protected] if you would rather email me directly instead of posting here...

Thanks!

 

[chippie]

I can see why Bez said what he did.

The Internet has changed how people look at things, and most of the time they have the wrong ideas from reading c r a p on the Internet. Anyone can make a page and make it look official and reliable. The Internet is like the children's game gossip. Facts get distorted as people repeat them.

Due to the nature of my jobs I come in contact almost every day (except Sunday) with people who have misconceptions about our food and how it is grown and raised. Just yesterday, a woman thought that GMOs blew on the wind to contaminate other plants. She also buys raw milk from an individual and told me that it was safe because she did her own Kinesiology tests. BTW Kinesiology is the study of human movement, something that physical therapists study.

I could go on and on, some of the things are beyond ridiculous. Like hormones in chickens. If a chicken is feed steroids, it passes through the chicken and doesn't do a thing to it. The chicken would have to be injected. I am sure that the chicken producers have someone injecting 10s of thousands chickens - right. Besides The FDA banned the use of hormones in poultry production by 1960.

The thing is, someone can do a search and find this thread and read about cattle birth defects and probably draw the wrong conclusion about the safety of eating beef.

And for the touchy feelie folks, I don't hug my chickens or my cows, not even the baby calves (and yes that is a common question).

 

[TexasBred]

The thing is, someone can do a search and find this thread and read about cattle birth defects and probably draw the wrong conclusion about the safety of eating beef.

And for the touchy feelie folks, I don't hug my chickens or my cows, not even the baby calves (and yes that is a common question).

So you too think a person should just hide the evidence and pretend it never happens. :shock: Do you feel this way about special needs children as well? Hide them?

 

[PLTannery]

Lack of accurate information will not protect us from idiots. Accurate, available information can help educate the unknowing to see the cause of these happenings and help them make an accurate decision about their choices. With accurate information they could learn that twinning defects have been happening and been recorded since Roman times. It is only now, with the advance of the internet that everyone hears about it. 40 or 50 years ago something like this might have been the talk of the county newspaper and nothing more.

This site is about education... And to ignore one or two facts because it might be "misunderstood", would be stupid on our part. We are here to help people understand, and help ourselves to understand...