I have to agree with the masses on here. Yes there are C-Sections that are disasters, and many many people are scared of them or just shoot the cow instead of trying to save her because they believe it is most likely goin to end up that way anyway. The problem is that they believe this only because they only ever here the horror stories. Just like the news on television, the good outcomes very rarely ever get talked about. I dont know what the vets exact game plan is, but the fact that they are scheduling for Monday and saying to induce on Sunday leads me to believe that they are going to reevaluate before they cut into the cow, and may possibly let her try it on her own. But just like everyone said, well planned and well carried out C-Sections most often have good outcomes. The ones that generally have bad outcomes are the ones when nobody was anticipating any trouble, then after watching the cow struggle spend more time trying to pull, which puts more stress on the cow and uterus and possibly causes tearing, then they realize its time to call the vet for a C-Section. Having worked for vets and done a number of these, my personal opinion is that in the C-Sections that are complete disasters the most damage is often done before the section ever begins. When you start in a bad scenario like that, its a lot more likely to end with a bad result. I dont see any major reason for concern with this one, they caught the potential for trouble in advance, and they seem very well prepared to deal with it.
As far as commercial cattleman not doing them and show producers doing them, it comes down to economics. While there are some people who are fortunate enough to make a living with show cattle, for the majority of us it is a hobby. Whereas you are much more likely to see people earning their livin with commercial cattle, and they view ther commerical cattle operations much more as a business. In there point of view the cost of doing a C-Section, and definately doing one in a manner to save the cow, the cost does not allow them to profit, therefor they dont do it.
I am also glad that others have pointed out that the female plays just as big of a roll in calving ease as the bull. A bull can only do so much for calving ease if the cow is full of genetics that throw half grown calves. Also there are a lot weights being thrown around, but bw isnt all there is to calvin ease, yes it plays a roll but there are other factors as well.
Never the less, everyone is not oing to agree on this topic, or any topic for that matter. It sounds to me like showin shorties did everythin possible to have a good outcome, and their planning started when they picked a calving ease bull that had worked in the past. Its just part of the industry that things dont always go as planned. So I think the only friendly and neihborly thing to do at this point is wish them luck and hope that they have a good outcome.
