Blackleg?

[sallys452001]

Someone "sold" us a steer. When we went to look at it this steer was pretty sick. He had a bad case of diaherra. It was smeared all over his rear, etc. It also had a huge lump on the side of its face. Almost like a football. It looked rather skinny and its belly looked bloated. We saw this and immediately told the seller we did not want this animal. The guy turned around and delivered it to our daughters property. 3 days later the steer died. It wouldn't eat, had green slime coming from its nose or mouth, etc. We are going to court but the seller of this steer claims he delivered a healthy animal and that we killed it. He had told us the vet gave it a clean bill of health but never produced any papers whatsoever to prove this. Any suggestions? We do have pictures of the animal before it was delivered. Funny he took it to our daughters after we told him we did not want this animal.

 

[PureCountry]

Sounds like you've got it figured out to me. If you're going to court, it'll get sorted out there.

 

[Faster horses]

Did you ever pay for the animal? Hopefully not! If not, I guess it just died on your daughters land.

Looks to me like the guy who previously owned the animal would be the one wanting to go to court; so the ball would be in his court (no pun intended.) I wouldn't worry about it til he acted. Why would you want to go to court unless you paid for the sick steer?

Good luck. Let us know how it goes.

 

[Ho55]

Did you pay for it or not? If you paid him the calf was yours no matter where he dumped it. If you didn't pay for it and he dumped it off to die then you've got a dead calf. Sounds pretty strange to me.

 

[Anonymous]

It appears as tho Colorado is a Mandatory Brand Inspection State:

An inspection is required every time an animal is sold or purchased (horses, cattle, mules and donkeys) or when any change of ownership occurs, regardless of whether or not the animal is transported after or prior to the sale.
http://www.colorado.gov/cs/Satellite/ag_Brands/CBON/1251621325590

so the seller should have gotten a brand inspection and given that to the purchaser (you) as a bill of sale showing change of ownership... The brand inspector would then be available to verify the condition the animal was in...
If none of that occurred then you just have a trespassing animal that the guy dropped off- and no legal change of ownership...

 

[perfecho]

Why was he there 3 days later.....I would contacted local authority to tell them I had a stray steer..........

 

[sallys452001]

Thanks so much for the brand inspection information. This helps so much. We did not pay for the cow but he had a beautiful bugling elk mount that he owed us for and was going to "trade" the steer for. We are going to court to get the elk mount back. Several times the man made appointments with us for us to pick up the mount then he was not there when we tried to pick it up. Now he says he sold a healthy animal and our neglegence killed it. But healthy animals do not have huge lumps on the side of their face or rears covered in diaherra from where they cant even hardly stand to defecate. Plus, there was no brand inspection whatsoever. This is the best help we can ask for. Thank you!