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Bit of a wreck today

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Silver

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I had a bit of a wreck today, and I still feel a little sick over the deal. I had a cow calve and I couldn't read the cows tag so I ran her into the barn and into the squeeze. She seemed like a pretty good sort of a cow really, 7yrs old, quiet, in fact you'd almost hardly know she was 3/4 angus :wink: . After I stuck the tag in her ear I let her out of the squeeze and she ambled out and then just stood there. I stepped in with her and attempted to persuade her to leave, but she resisted my efforts quite calmly by turning towards me and slowly advancing and forcing me out of the area. She just stood there, sniffing things and generally being obstinant. But I took my time, figured she'd see the hole eventually. As I was just watching her, she headed over to the window (about 5 feet up, half covered by our big plywood 'hotbox') lifted her nose up and proceeded to attempt to jump out the window! Glass everywhere! She actually got her head and front legs through up to her heart girth, and for a minute I thought she was gonna make it. She finally came out of there
and thats when I realized I had trouble.... the glass had sliced her leg six inches or so above the pastern, right to the bone, tendons and all. For some reason after this she could see the exit hole that had eluded her to this point and left the barn with her one front leg not working properly at all. When she steps her leg doesn't stay straight but bends forward, her hoof being way out in fron of her leg. Gross.
I was heading to go get my gun when I stopped to consider..... someone's gonna have to feed that calf, and I'd rather it wasn't me.

So I guess my question is do you guys think it's possible that if I keep her in a small pen on feed and water (and she doesn't get infected) that she'll feed the calf for a few months?
I guess tomorrow will tell the tale. I might put her down then. I gotta sleep on it, I'm still kinda shook up about it.
 
Sorry to hear about your 'wreck'.

hate it when stuff like that happens.

But you might get lucky, if you can get her back in ....dose her with antibiotics.....maybe clean and wrap the area??? I know I hate havin to bottle feed a calf. I do it if I hafta...but if at all possible I'd rather not.

Keep us posted.
 
Silver, I feel your pain. If it is any consolation, I had a wreck last night also. A young cow was calving and didn't seem to be making progress very fast. I put her in the barn about 10:30 last night to check her out. The calf was way back, coming frontwards but upside down. She was not dialated at all, so it seemed like she needed more time. I decided to go to bed and let nature take its course. It did seem like it would be best to leave her in the barn in case I had to catch her again later. I pulled a gate around and chained it to a portable panel. This morning when I checked, she had evidently jumped up at the corner and came down with her head between the gate and the panel. She had very effectively strangled herself to death. Now I will never know the outcome of the calving dilema, because of course the calf died inside. :( My hind end is quite sore and black and blue from kicking myself all day. Had I just secured the gate better, this could have been avoided. I took her picture but decided not to post it. :roll:

At least the cow that choked to death while eating her afterbirth last week left her calf as a going away present.
 
Wow, I thought I had a bad day yesterday. Same sorts of trouble but better results. This job isn't always easy and boy do I sympathise with both of you. "Ya can't lose em if ya don't have em" (better here than on the quote thread) :?
 
Silver said:
So I guess my question is do you guys think it's possible that if I keep her in a small pen on feed and water (and she doesn't get infected) that she'll feed the calf for a few months?
I guess tomorrow will tell the tale. I might put her down then. I gotta sleep on it, I'm still kinda shook up about it.
Click to expand...

I think it sounds easier to feed the calf daily than have to feed/water and clean the cow's pen daily for a few months, let alone treat any complications with her injury than may arise. Could you just put her down and sell the calf? That seems like the easiest solution to me. I don't live very far from a sale barn and so that is what I'd do.
 
If it cut through the tendons, she won't heal. Best to put her down now, and feed the calf. Had a horse cut the tendons, and about all that could be done to save him would have been surgery, and that was no guarantee.
 
Silver, sounds like one of those situations that does make you feel sick. We had a feedlot steer try to make a gate out of a window once in the processing barn with similar results. We replaced that window with plexiglass in case it happens again.

If I were in your shoes I'd put the cow down and figure out the least problematic way to get the calf taken care of. I just couldn't look into that pen everyday and see the poor ol' girl in that much discomfort, knowing that she's as good as gone.

HP
 
Well, today she's not bleeding, laying up looking rather comfortable. She got up to eat when I put hay in with her, and the calf got another free meal. I expect it will heal over if it doesn't infect, and she can stumble around for a couple of months. She's on good bedding, got a roof over her head, 50 feet from a water trough and never more than 20 feet from a hay bale. She wont have to cover any country so I'll play the wait and see game.
I've seen cows come in that the wolves and / or bears have worked on that looked far worse than this. (Not saying they made another year, just keeping things in perspective).
So I'll just watch her for a while and if she doesn't manage well enough she can go 'rest' down by the creek with her ancestors.
 
Soapweed, I appreciate your 'consolation'. I have to admit though that the last line about the cow that choked caught me so by surprise I almost fell off my chair laughing... I guess just out of the whole futility of the situation. I've often wondered why they don't choke on afterbirth, but now I guess I know that they can. Sorry about your luck, but thanks for sharing.
 
Sorry to hear about both of your unexpected losses with those unpredictable cattle. It does put bad days in perspective. Now I can't whine about almost burning our house down.
 
I had one cut her leg bad like that a few years ago first calf heifer to boot the vet took her leg off at the knee she raised her calf and then we had alot of hamburger.
 
Ol' murphy has been busy lately! I sure feel for ya and the cut cow. It's always goofy when a perfectly open gate makes cattle try to go anywhere but through it. But when ya have cows, it will happen once in awhile. It still isn't any fun. And Soapweed's strangled cow is crazy too. I guess ya gotta chalk it up to bad luck and humility building. If it went great all the time then normal people would want to go to ranchin'! :wink:
 
there's some things that just can't be helped...others,well...

my old neighbor killed a good cow with kindness last week.he put out a 5 gallon pail of rye for the local deer...they didn't get any...
 
The new "portable" barn that I bought last winter has a pretty good set-up on the windows to keep cows from jumping through. The building is 50 feet long by 12 feet wide, with three 6' sliding doors, three windows, and two skylights. The windows look like this:

Barsonabarnwindow.jpg

Bars on the barn windows
Securelyweldedinplace.jpg

Securly welded in place
Anotherview.jpg

Another view

The building is also lined on the bottom with a composition board. This makes the building both warmer and quieter. The Flat River Corporation from Columbus, Nebraska, did a nice job designing, building, and delivering the barn.
 
Phewww! I thought Soapweed had posted the photo of his strangled cow for a second. Glad to see it was just barn pics :lol:
 
That looks like a pretty good deal Soapweed. Are those pics old, or have you got really clean cows? :wink:
Have you got an exterior picture of it? I guess it must have skids under it if its portable, have you had occasion to move it?
I've been considering something portable for future calving operations, and something like that might be just the deal. A couple of radiant heaters in the ceiling with a 500 lb pig outside might just make life a heck of alot easier.
 
Silver if you will use the ''search'' to look for them, he posted pictures of the barns arival and setup! Soap couldn't have a barn raising without pictures :lol:
 
mwj said:
Silver if you will use the ''search'' to look for them, he posted pictures of the barns arival and setup! Soap couldn't have a barn raising without pictures :lol:
Click to expand...

Lol, thanks mwj, I'll do that. I have to admit that alot of the time I don't look at pictures because they can take an hour or so to download :oops:
 

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