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Tranquilizers

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johndeerefarmer

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Location
north Texas
Do any of you use tranquilizers and the CapChur gun? I have several cattle that need their hooves trimmed and thought that this might be easier and cheaper than buying a squeeze chute.

How safe is it to put a cow under? What percantage will not wake up?

Or should I buy a squeeze shoot and try to pull the cow's back leg out the back of the chute with a come-a-long?

Thanks
 
Now NR, I think he was asking a serious question. :wink:

JD, how about hiring somebody with a tipping table to come do those cows for you. It's alot faster, safer, and it doesn't cost that much.
 
I think NR was serious as well. Bad feet are a heritable trait. Get rid of them. I just shipped a seven year old bull prefect feet I hated to see him go. There are things that make it easy to cull cattle and bad feet are one of the most visible.
 
Big Muddy rancher said:
I think NR was serious as well. Bad feet are a heritable trait. Get rid of them. I just shipped a seven year old bull prefect feet I hated to see him go. There are things that make it easy to cull cattle and bad feet are one of the most visible.

I can think of alot different reasons to can a cow other than bad feet. Temperament being the main one. As for bad feet being inheritable, I have to beg to differ. I had an old crock that was bought for me many years ago as an anniversary present, who had to have her feet trimmed every year. I did not mind spending the money on her because she was sweet-tempered and always raised me a dandy calf. Most of my cows I have now trace back to her, and I very seldom, if ever, have their feet trimmed.
 
Big Muddy rancher said:
I think NR was serious as well. Bad feet are a heritable trait. Get rid of them. I just shipped a seven year old bull prefect feet I hated to see him go. There are things that make it easy to cull cattle and bad feet are one of the most visible.
Hire someone to trim them and then sell them . bad feet are a heritable trait. Take advantage of your good cull cow prices. :)
 
Bad feet can be heritable, I do notice dairy guys trimming lots of feet, I think that goes back to how hard they are pushing them with feed.

I always believe that you will continue to fight problems as long as you allow them to be around. This goes for bad udders, bad feet, big calves , prolapses and bad dispositions. Sometimes you don't realize how much of your time it was consuming until you get rid of it. I have heard every excuse under the sun for kleeping the above mentioned problems around. I always think, "Well, I guess it is your mess, if yuou are happy with it, who am I to say yopu should do otherwise." Please just don't rant to me about how hard it is, LOL,

PPRM
 
PPRM: I agree. You can make the cows work for you or you can work for your cows. I just depends how you want to handle the situation. With the price of bred cows today I think you can afford to sell your problems.
 
I'll try and answer your original question. CapChur guns, at least in Canada, are not cheap. A neighbour of ours got a gun, some extra darts, charges and blanks, and it set him back about $750 Canadian. Rompun is a couple of bucks a cc as well. Shoot a couple of $25.00 syringes out into the bush, and it can get even more expensive! :shock: He could have built a pen in his pasture to doctor cattle for less money.
Trimming a couple of cows is not worth the investment.

I'd find someone with a tipping table and haul the cows there. As for the feet, if they're good cows otherwise, I wouldn't be too quick to can them. I also wouldn't keep any daughters for replacements. You might want to recheck your feeding program if you're getting a couple of these a year. Do your bulls have good feet? If not, they're the ones that need to go.
 
The other thing is if you don't have a Chute and alley, you don't have the ability to handle emergencies or to do any preventative things, primarily, VACCINATE!

PPRM
 
And to go along with PPRM, if you don't have a chute, alleyway, any way to handle these critters safely.....get rid of them cause unless you have half way useable facilities...someone or somethings gonna get hurt and hurt bad.

A neighbor here didn't have ANYTHING to handle cattle....called the vet...used tranq's on the cow....for some unknown reason to this date...cow jumped up half stoned and ran over the vet. Four hours of surgery later...artery repaired and internal bleeding stopped , the vet's gonna make it but has a long way to go in rehab. So now the vet's here will REFUSE to deal with your large animal unless you have suitable facilities....and ya can't blame them.


And, the more time you shoot ( tranq) a cow....the harder they are to deal with next time....they're like elephants....they NEVER forget a stressful situation...and I mean NEVER!!!!
 

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