Would You?

[Kay]

Just had a 8 year old Hereford Cow have surgery for a RDA on Thursday went into labor 48 hrs. later delivered a dead calf.Calf was 60 lbs. probably a week or so early.Cow is recovering very well almost back to normal.My ? Do you think I should breed her back or cull her.Nice cow / nice calves.Can they get another RDA? The vet said it was a fluke that she got this one,but said it does happen.Thanks

 

[1982vett]

cut your losses....GONE

 

[cow pollinater]

Cull her and take a look at your feed.
DA's are always culls in my mind but when they happen with beef cattle(and with dairy cattle), the feed is almost always the problem. The only time I've ever seen a beef herd that had problem with DA's they were feeding tons of grain and not enough stem and they were show cattle being fed like dairy cows.
When you factor in a dead calf, she'd be a cull for me even if I decided it was my fault that she had a DA.

 

[cowgirl_jenna]

It can be a tough decision on a good cow, but unless shes really really good or a pet/whatever, i'd have to agree to send her down the road. I used to give cows a second chance (the dairy girl in me) i guess, but i've learned 9 times out of 10 its best to get rid of them. sorry for your loss,
Jenna

 

[Fire Sweep Ranch]

I have not been involved in an DA in a long time (used to work on a diary where we did a few of these), however we kept everyone of the dairy cows and none of them repeated it. They milked great, and went on to several more lactations. When we did the surgery, the vet sewed the abomasum to the abdominal wall, and it adhered from scar tissue so it could never flip again. She lost her calf, treat her like any other cow that loses her calf. It depends on her value to you. She should bred back and have no further complications. It is just too bad this happened right before she was due to calf. You might want to check how your feeding program has changed... to prevent other instances.

 

[Kay]

We only feed round bales in the winter,in summer they are pastured and in fall they get corn silage.The vet said sometimes it just happens.

 

[cow pollinater]

It's been a while since I've looked but I want to say that heritability for DA is 11%. That's enough of a reason for me to cull when I see it... especially when there's no calf to raise.
I think DA's a happen in beef cattle more than people think but they just get culled for being hard keepers without getting checked for DA.