The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Cattle => Topic started by: SallyintNorth on October 19, 2014, 10:42:41 am
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Jersey #4 is at bulling age but I am considering putting her in the freezer / sell the meat instead.
She had a humungous wart on the end one teat, which was removed (with veterinary assistance), but the quarter is still bothering me. The vet was not worried about the swelling in the quarter when he attended to help remove the wart, but I am just worried that it, along with any scar tissue from the wart, could give her problems.
We don't *need* another Jersey; in fact it can be a tall order to find enough calves for three of them to rear, and I do have another wee heifer calf coming on.
If I am going to bull Kitty, I want to do it next time she comes a-bulling, so that she is well-established in her routine by the time we might want to be away on holiday next year.
So I need to make my mind up in the next fortnight.
She's 22 months old.
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I know nothing about cattle but it sounds to me as if you have really already made the decision for her to go.
I had a lamb born this year with warts on her face. The vet said they were just cosmetic and nothing to worry about but I was afraid that she might pass them on to any lambs so she went a couple of weeks ago. Her skin is one of those I am currently salting for tanning so there was nothing wrong elsewhere on her body. She was just ugly ;D
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I had a 18 month old jersey heifer put in the freezer earlier this summer for just the same reason. She had a football size group of warts growing on her udder, it grew from one little egg sized wart to a mass of cauliflower growths within 2 months, she also had tiny warts all over her face and legs. Had her blood tested for every disease known to the cattle kingdom incase she was struggling with her immune system and unable to fight the wart virus. She was totally clean of every other disease but the warts just kept growing. Due to the risk of flystrike within the cauliflower segments of the warts and the fact her udder was probably totally wrecked i had her shot and butchered for the freezer. Really sad as Annabelle was a cracking little heifer and was never destined for the freezer but i have to say her meat is the best beef i have ever had the pleasure of eating. :innocent:
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I know nothing about cattle but it sounds to me as if you have really already made the decision for her to go.
I think I've probably expressed that the logical decision is that she should go. Actually *making* that decision, and *enacting* it, is another step, and not an easy one.
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:hug: :hug: :hug:
for sally
that is all :-)
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I know nothing about cattle but it sounds to me as if you have really already made the decision for her to go.
I think I've probably expressed that the logical decision is that she should go. Actually *making* that decision, and *enacting* it, is another step, and not an easy one.
It is "even" harder than usual to make that decision, when for their whole life they have been reared with the intention of being kept as part of the herd. I guess there is also a vet bill for having the wart removed which if you had intended to slaughter her you might not have had done.
What is the worst case scenario? That she calves, and that quarter is unviable? That she gets mastitis? But if the mastitis can be treated, then there could be a healthy calf there.
:hug: On deciding what to do.
Beth
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Thanks for the hugs, folks :-*
You're right that it makes it harder when up to very recently the expectation and intention was that she'd be a longstanding resident here.
She's not in calf yet, Beth, or the decision would be very easy - we'd let her calve and deal with any complications that arose.
If the quarter simply didn't work, I don't think that would be too big an issue. We don't push them to their limits, so she'd have plenty of scope to produce the amount of milk we need of her from 3 quarters.
The worry would be more that the quarter works but the teat is damaged, so yes, then mastitis / ill cow, wishing I hadn't put her through it...
And I don't need a fourth Jersey in the herd, so should I risk creating problems for her and for us?
If I had a meat sales operation set up, I think I might find it easier (not easy, but easier) to take that option. But I've got 8 wether / non-breeder female lambs I'll need to find a use for next year, so I probably have to go that route anyway.
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I know thsi isn't really helpful to Sally but mine all get warts on their teats. Our vet said leave them be and they'll go; which they have. Maybe I was just lucky though.
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Big :hug: to you Sally, I bawled my eyes out when Annabelle had to go, but i knew i had made the right decision for her. Yes it was a far more serious case of warts than you are dealing with but you will make the right decision at the right time. x
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I know thsi isn't really helpful to Sally but mine all get warts on their teats. Our vet said leave them be and they'll go; which they have. Maybe I was just lucky though.
Aye, the others get warts too - but their warts are wart-sized and cause very little problem, just sometimes some cracking and bleeding in the summer which attracts flies. But we can work around them, and they do seem to disappear on their own.
This one was much larger, the size of a big blackberry (the fruit not the 'phone) on the end of the teat, the weight had pulled the teat open and there was some swelling in the quarter.
The vet tied a string around the wart, telling us to replace the string with a castration ring when the string became loose. The wart was so close to the end of the teat we couldn't get the tie right around the base of the wart, but the vet was wanting to reduce the size so it would stop pulling the teat open.
The vet was not worried about the quarter at that time, saying that the swelling was just 'fellon'. However, because I was clearly worried, he gave her a strong antibiotic to make sure there would be no bacterial complication.
The wart itself has now completely disappeared and the teat looks normal. But the quarter is still swollen, and whereas it used to be pliable to the touch, it is now firm. Kitty shows no reaction when it is palpated and it is not warm.
Of course I could get the vet to look at her again and I'm not in the slightest bothered about paying for a callout and consultation. It's just that I suspect I won't actually be reassured, and will then find it even harder to make the difficult decision.
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If the quarter is firm/hard then Im sorry but I wouldnt put her in calf,
even if she is 3/4 the 1/4 that is hard may in the future be more prone to mastitis, injury and problems
udders arent meant to be hard and everyone knows that already but if theres a problem in the milk bag then she isnt so good, we keep 3/4 friesians in the herd as the rest of the udder usually pulls through and makes up for the lack of yield, but not if the 1/4 is firm or hard or has any problems
If you dont have room for the meat the fatten her up and sell her as a cull?
hope all goes well either way
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Sally,
we all know which way this is going and it's the right way. She has had a better life than many with you though possibly shorter than you had hoped. We cant keep them all can we? And the beauty of smallholding is that we can afford to select only the fittest fittest and best to reproduce. I think your concern about the udder is justified and exactly the reaction that I would expect from a caring smallholder. A vet who is used to commercial systems might be happy to encourage a farmer to push a cow through another calving in the interests of economy and it may indeed make financial sense for some farmers.
But that's doesn't strike me as your approach and as we can't keep breeding if we dont shift what we have then perhaps it;s her turn to go. If you are worried about freezer space and are able to do beef boxes I would be interested if that makes the decision easier?
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I think your concern about the udder is justified and exactly the reaction that I would expect from a caring smallholder. A vet who is used to commercial systems might be happy to encourage a farmer to push a cow through another calving in the interests of economy and it may indeed make financial sense for some farmers.
A vet used to commercial systems most definitely would not encourage a farmer to "push through" with a cow that may prove to become unprofitable and lose money in the future, it takes a long time to make money back from a heifer and generally only start making money in 2nd lactation after calving down at 2
I dont know of any dairy farmer who would put a heifer in calf who is already having udder problems now :o
Commercial farmers are caring too! not just smallholders
Smallholders are known to keep an animal on when it has problems or even not suitable for breeding any more even though that animal is no longer profitable as they are sometimes pets (trying to be careful what I say here)
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I am very grateful for the honest opinions being expressed here.
I guess the next step is to explore the logistics of beef boxes with my butcher. I may post a q about selling beef...
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Oh Sally, it' must be an awful decision for you knowing how much you care about those gorgeous wide eyed girls :hugcow:
I'm trying to think logically for my input instead of my heart for your girls :innocent:
This girl isn't 100% and will probably be a constant worry about her abilities. No vet can give a definitive answer so calving will be the only indication if that mammary gland will work or even continue to work on subsequent calvings. Letting her go will free up the ability to keep another special girl should one be born to one of the special girls who are still very capable of milking anything you give them.
How hard that would be I just could not comprehend. I've only just got my head logically balanced on the dispatch of our chooks.
:hug: :hug: :hug:
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Thanks MS - and :hug: for the choox decision :hug:
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Have you got any other beasts that are due to go to slaughter with her that may make the decision easier as if your sending a few, I know its still not easy but some people find it easier, or is there the option of selling her on if you don't want the hassle of her - e.g at a local market or privately? x
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We don't finish beasts here, no, so no others going to the abattoir.
I've always said I'd never sell one of my Jersey girls through a mart - I know some farms use Jerseys to produce British and Belgian Blue calves, using implantation and caesarians, and I don't like the idea of that being the destiny of one I've bred.
A bit of me has been disappointed to not get a bull calf at least one of the last two times - because I'd always planned that I'd rear him for meat for us. So it's not the way I'd expected it to come about, but it's something I'd expected to be doing one day. Just not with one of my girls.