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Cow that can't get up

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WyomingRancher

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How many days would you give a cow who can't get up, time to get up, before shooting her? My interest level is right at 0 on having a daily "project", but might give her a few more days if there's a chance. She does have strength to prop herself up on her front end, and can stand for a bit if I lift her with the loader.
 
i've done the same thing using the loader, then ended up shooting the cow anyways. seems the longer they are down, the harder it is for them to get up. if she's not showing any improvement, i'd just get it over with. IMO
 
Have you tried the Calcium/Phos solution in the jugular? That's always my first thought when a cow goes down. Or was she injured in some way? Last winter I had a young cow go down on the ice. I babied her for about a week and she got up. So I let her back out with the herd who promptly started to ride her and within an hour she was down again. A week later I shot her. :? Some days are better than others.
 
Every cow I've ever had that was "down" never seemed to make a recovery. The only one that came close was a cow that got stuck in the river one day. After a half day's work we finally got her out. She was never the same and went to the slaughter house no long after.
 
I had a cow down for 10 days and lifted her twice a day,she could stand on her front legs and after a couple of days she could stand on her own after i lifted her.After 10 minutes or as soon as she went to walk she would fall down,after about a week she just gave up but we kept trying.I finally shot her yesterday.
 
Had a cow go down after a difficult first calf delivery. Seemed to be paralyzed in the hind legs. Rolled her over from side to side twice a day, carried hay, water, etc, for the entire time. Finally decided to shoot her. To get the angle just right, I laid down in the mud to line up the shot, pulled the trigger, she snorted, jumped up, and has been fine ever since...... 5 years! :roll:
 
eldiente said:
Had a cow go down after a difficult first calf delivery. Seemed to be paralyzed in the hind legs. Rolled her over from side to side twice a day, carried hay, water, etc, for the entire time. Finally decided to shoot her. To get the angle just right, I laid down in the mud to line up the shot, pulled the trigger, she snorted, jumped up, and has been fine ever since...... 5 years! :roll:
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:lol2: :lol2:
 
WyomingRancher said:
How many days would you give a cow who can't get up, time to get up, before shooting her? My interest level is right at 0 on having a daily "project", but might give her a few more days if there's a chance. She does have strength to prop herself up on her front end, and can stand for a bit if I lift her with the loader.[/quote

That depends on why she is down WR ?
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eldiente said:
Had a cow go down after a difficult first calf delivery. Seemed to be paralyzed in the hind legs. Rolled her over from side to side twice a day, carried hay, water, etc, for the entire time. Finally decided to shoot her. To get the angle just right, I laid down in the mud to line up the shot, pulled the trigger, she snorted, jumped up, and has been fine ever since...... 5 years! :roll:
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Fine except for that bullet wound anyway. :D :D

We had a cow years ago that couldn't stand. We carried hay and water to her and lifted her with the loader for over a week. Finally one day she was standing on her own when we went out. A few hours later she died. It was strange. :? :???:
 
eldiente said:
Had a cow go down after a difficult first calf delivery. Seemed to be paralyzed in the hind legs. Rolled her over from side to side twice a day, carried hay, water, etc, for the entire time. Finally decided to shoot her. To get the angle just right, I laid down in the mud to line up the shot, pulled the trigger, she snorted, jumped up, and has been fine ever since...... 5 years! :roll:
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a few years ago i was helping the neighbor gather buffalo. long story short, a bull went through about 2 fences and didn't show any signs of slowing down so the owner told the hired man to shoot him. anyways, he put about 5 shots in this bull before giving up and the bull is still runnin' with the herd today. we still joke about it...other than getting shot 5 times, that bull had a pretty good day. :lol:
 
its too bad there isn't the technology to download a ranchers memories and post them as videos on here - it would be great entertainment!

good luck with your downed cow!

the couple i ever had ended up dead too. one after falling thru a hole i chopped in the ice that i have no idea in hell how she fit thru it, but when i found her all that was sticking out was her head - atleast she kept the hole from freezing over again for the cows to drink. the other was an older angus cow i bought from an uncle when he retired from cows. that group was calving and she just got old and decided she wasn't getting up - packed feed and water for probably 10 days or better and she started to get fluid in her lungs.... i was maybe only 12 or 13 and asked dad what to do - so he says go down there with a sharp knife and cut the calf out and shoot her, but get the calf out first. i probably stood there with the knife in my hand looking at her for half the day and finally got the nerve to do it. got the calf out, shot the cow, and messed with the calf for another 3 or so days and its skull wasn't closed on top and had to tube feed it with some milk that was taken from a dead cow... anyhow - i thought the calf was just suffering and my old man said to just end it and told me to just take that knife and shove it in the soft spot in its head. quite an experience for a kid.
 
I don't know what she did to herself, I assume she slipped on ice, but who really knows. I do know I've got way too much on my plate to put much more time into her. This is the worst part of ranching for me.
 
I too have to agree with the masses. Only time i ever had one get up was on a mineral deficiency after switching water wells one time. Hauled alot of feed to them on certain occasions, but not sure i remember one getting up at all after being down more than a couple days. It's never easy to shoot cows, but once done they weigh a lot less on your mind, and you can get to worrying about other things!
 
The cow must have logged on to Ranchers and read what the consensus was. When I went to check heifers tonight, she was up, eating hay. She's definitely not out of the woods yet, we'll see what tomorrow brings.
 
WyomingRancher said:
The cow must have logged on to Ranchers and read what the consensus was. When I went to check heifers tonight, she was up, eating hay. She's definitely not out of the woods yet, we'll see what tomorrow brings.
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Is she heavy bred WR ?

Glad she is up, hopefully she takes it easy and keeps her feet under her .
 
hillsdown said:
WyomingRancher said:
The cow must have logged on to Ranchers and read what the consensus was. When I went to check heifers tonight, she was up, eating hay. She's definitely not out of the woods yet, we'll see what tomorrow brings.
Click to expand...

Is she heavy bred WR ?

Glad she is up, hopefully she takes it easy and keeps her feet under her .
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She's fairly close, that's why she is near the corral. If she stays on her hay island tonight, she has a chance :) .
 
I've had several over the years. Kinda go by attitude, if she'll try, i will. Generally, if she can be gotten up for any tme at all, she's got a real good chance.

If you can put some gravel, dry dirt, anything around to increase footing, it helps. If you put her out with other cattle too quick, almost instantly somebody shoves her, rides her, etc.

They used to sell a 'hip clamp' to lift them with. If you see this, shoot the guy selling it, the guy using it and the cow---probably in that order, but take your pick.
 

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