[MKay]

Goodevening folks,

We had a rather stressful week this last, involving horned Dexter cattle and a byte. The result- two hours of reconstructive surgery by a rather talented vet.

First off, the vet- Ian Miller from Wick, what a job he did.

Now, we went of down to Munros, Dingwall with a trailer of sheep in the mid afternoon after finally completing AI'ing the cattle, on arriving home we found a grown Heifer with horns red. Tucked away in the corner in front of her a very small yearling- torn from top to bottom on her rump, naturally called the vet and got her out the byte and into the crush.

Once able to examine her it became clear how the damage had been done, the Heifer had inserted her perfect upwardly curved horn into the vulva and then torn it upwards and out, over and over again, effectively tearing the vagina and anus apart and taking half the rump with it. We were or she was however very lucky, 1/8th or the rectum remained attached to the anus which retained it in place and through his shear skill the vet rebuilt her passage allowing her to defecate and urinate. She will never be able to be covered let alone calve but she is prospering thanks to copius amounts of metacam and LA Penicillin. Thus we should be able to get her to beef weight.


This hell came about because the youngster mother who will shortly be shot, is a nut job, she bullied the two Heifers into one of the old feed stalls from the days when the dairy cows were kept tethered and then repeatedly beat the Heifer who then took out her fear and frustration on the yearling in front of her.

The psycho cow is in solitary confinement as is the wee one in a hospital wing, the Heifer, who is very good with humans was dehorned the next day and is being given a second chance.

Anyone with horned cattle- have them off! Even a gentle soul can be bullied into desperation and you or others may get the brunt.

[shygirl]

how horrendous for you. 

[Sbom]

That sound utterly horrific for all involved, hope she continues to recover x

[HappyHippy]

Oh my, what a horrible thing for you and them to go through 
Great news that the vet did such a good job  If you'd like to post a photo of the youngster (just her face will do, so I know what she like) I'll send some reiki to help with the healing process.

As someone who has horned cattle (Shetlands) can I just say thanks for sharing this  it would never have even occurred to me that such a series of events would occur.
Hope all goes well from now on 

[Rosemary]

How awful. We've housed our horned Shetlands without incident but it's good to be aware.

[SallyintNorth]

   That's truly awful and you must feel terrible.    the youngster makes a good recovery.

Of course the situation is worse - potentially tragic - when one or more of the beasts is horned, but the moral is to know your stock, know the interrelationships and not cohouse, or corral in small spaces, and leave unattended, animals who do not get on / have a propensity to bully, etc.

Interestingly, the old-fashioned method of tying up the cattle for the winter meant everyone had a peaceful place, a bed of her own, and a freedom to eat and drink in peace.  Now we all have loose sheds or cubicles, winter can be a miserable time for a timid cow if she's not grouped appropriately.

And the other thing which may not be obvious, is that a timid cow who's been bullied will quite likely be a terrible bully herself if she's put in a group with smaller, younger, weaker animals.   So when housing cattle, always keep a close watch for a few days and make sure everyone's settling together safely.

[Rosemary]

I was thinking about this when I was up at the cows today - they will be comng in soon.

We bought two heifers from the same breeder - their mothers were full sisters and they have the same sire. We have retained our first homebred heifer, born 2012 and now in calf, and intend to retain the heifer born this summer (to the other original cow). All four, plus the 2013 bullock, will be housed together until Charlie is weaned. There is a very clear hierarchy.

I have sometimes been tempted to buy more cows, now we have some rented grazing but have decided to let the herd grow organically, by retaining homebred heifers. I know this isn't an option for everyone but I think it means that upsets are less likely. I hope so anyway.

I agree Sally about the tying - it's still popular on Shetland. The cows are tied and the calves are loose housed and just go back to their mammys to feed.

I hope folk aren't put off keeping breeds like Shetlands by this horrible experience.

[belgianblue]

my advice is to get rid of the daughter as well.  why you may ask,  we kept a nice cow that turned into absolutely horror, we kept her daughter guest what turned to horror as well, grand daughters is touch and go.
now I won't tolerate any nutty cattle, you only have 1 life, use it well

[Rosemary]

my advice is to get rid of the daughter as well.  why you may ask,  we kept a nice cow that turned into absolutely horror, we kept her daughter guest what turned to horror as well, grand daughters is touch and go.
now I won't tolerate any nutty cattle, you only have 1 life, use it well

I love my  but if one turmed nasty, she'd be down the road asap.

[SallyintNorth]

Absolutely, we don't keep any aggressive beasts, full stop.

A coo is allowed to be maternal and shake her head at us when she calves for 24 hours tops - and even then, she has to be a top coo, because it's putting us at risk if we have to intervene to help her calf suckle.  (By contrast, Hillie the Jersey moos after me to stay with her when she's going to calve!  I've always been there and she likes it that way, silly old moo.  ) 

Aside for that highly hormonal few hours at calving, any beast shows us aggression, it's down the road.

But, on the hereditary thing - there's clearly a component but it's not black and white.  BH used to have a lovely quiet Charollais bull but all his calves were bonkers.   So poor old Lad had to go.     However BH says he'd certainly not keep for breeding anything related to an animal that perpetrated such an attack as the OP describes.

[SallyintNorth]

Oh, I should add that according to Val Porter, the social relationships between herd members are complex.  It's not a straight hierarchy - every animal has its own exclusive relationship with every other animal, and it is possible for it to be the case that A bosses B, B bosses C but C bosses A.   There also seems to be an element of group dynamics, so that the relationship between A and D may change if another animal is added to the group, or if one animal is removed from the group.

And for that reason one has to take care whenever animals are moved from group to group, even if they have known each other all their lives.  More so, I guess, if it's an unknown newcomer.

It's one of the things I love about coos and working with them - they are complex and, I believe, extremely clever. 

[MKay]

I do agree, but horns off, other than to look pretty they are entirely unnecesary, the heifer in question would have had them off had the vet not been reluctant to do so the week prior(once it was a welfare/danger issue he aquiesed). Those three animals had been in together their entire lives, all purchaced together. Who knew the cow would be claustraphobic?!

The cow was a little spooky once in hurdles, but only when we were about and she was only scooting about, once inside a buuilding it was a different matter, going in the byre with her(there is a hurdel between us) is like getting in a bull ring, her eyes are out on stalks and she is chin to the ground digging holes in the concrete! Im half waiting for the Ataxia to come on! either the breeder screwed us and sold us a psyco cow or she has BSE.
Either way she'll be gone to the abattoir or FSM. I just really dont want to put her through a cull sale and her end up god knows where for who knows how long but I dont have space for 250kg of beef sausage(assuming she tests clean and just nuts).

The injured party will go DTR either Feb or Sept depending on how things go, the perpertrator is getting one chance now she is horn free. But yes, apart from my three lovelies, Orchid, Fern and Daisy(mum, last calf & current calf) all cattle will be old fashioned tethered when they come back in in Feb to be housed for the winter.

I have both pictures of the yearling and the injury, morbid but also very interesting, with permission(and only if requested) i can upload both.

[SallyintNorth]

MKay, thanks for sharing your experience; it sounds truly dreadful.

You're right that some beasts can change character completely in a different scenario - we had a few Charollais X calves were dopey and almost wooden at home, then when they came out the trailer at the mart had changed into Torro.  Thankfully even when completely wound up a Charollais will generally give way to a sufficiently energetic human! 

I knew one of these animals had 'changed' at the mart - I was watching the sale and saw him come charging into the ring, tail up, crest raised.  I knew from BH's behaviour that something was up - normally BH walks behind the beast to keep them moving around the ring, but as the gates opened, BH's eyes were seeking the safety exits and he walked straight over to the nearest!  He said later he'd had to climb the walls of the entry chute to get out of the way of the agitated animal.  And this beast was a dopey great puddin' at home!

In fact they always look well when they're worked up and we're sure it adds £50 to the price - but we'd rather they didn't get themselves so upset, of course.

We mostly rear Angus cattle these days - and they are usually so calm you can struggle to get them to move at all, lol.

[shygirl]

yes, thanks for sharing, im an amateur with cattle so its good to know about the worst case scenarios. mine all live out as we arent lucky enough to have enough cattle barns.
i know how frosty my horned goats can get but their horns arent so sharp or pointed forward as cattles. it takes them a wee bit of effort to get a tip in the right place.
hoping for a quick recovery 

[mowhaugh]

That sounds really traumatic, so sorry.

We don't have cows any more, but when we did, we had Highlands and Blue Greys, and could only ever house the two groups separately, and in age groups.  Once we did put them all in a shed together (an absolute emergency situation when we extremely badly flooded in 2008) and there were terrible fights until we could split them into their groups.  It did, however, on that occassion save them from drowning, and I'm afraid we left them to it until we could be sure no sheep, and none of our neighbours, were in danger of drowning.

We used to buy them in as young heifers, as we bulled them with a Simmental and sold all the calves store, and they were tied in the byre over their first winter, made them much easier to handle, and the atmosphere in there was always lovely and calm.

When we sold the cows, one particular cow had to be destroyed in a few months of being in its new home due to agression, which was a huge shock to us, as she had never been anything but delightful here.