What would you do with this cow?

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obie105

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Oct 17, 2011
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780
I have a first calf heifer that calved close to her second birthday this Fall Small calf milked well great mother no problems til we turned her out with other cows this fall. She had been a show heifer. She will not eat with other cattle. It's not lil there isn't enough room she just refuses to come up and eat when others are present. Her condition is suffering and now I am faced with what to do with her. Her calf is old enough to wean. What would you guys do?
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Wean calf. Bring cow and calf home put both on feed try to get cow fat enough to rebreed and sell.
Sell now as a pair
Sell open cow and keep calf

Money is on the table for pair it would be about half of what I paid for cow in beginning. Calf is a decent calf eating well on creep.
 

BogartBlondes

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Nov 10, 2013
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I have had a cow do this before, it's always the best ones!

Keep it gradual: tie her with at least one on each side of her tied to a feeder. Leave them there from morning until night and then let them off with no feed for the evening. Tie them again in the morning and untie them again in the evening. Do this for about a week.

This worked for my heifer. Wean the calf first for sure. Also try feeding her grain in the hay feeder while she's Tied.
 

mark tenenbaum

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Mar 23, 2009
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Virginia Sometimes Iowa and Kansas
Shes probably getting beat up by the older cows-if you cant separate her with younger ones (or dont want to) find her a GOOD home-with people who maybe dont have alot of cattle-If she raised a calf-1st time after showing under that stress-shes got the goods,and probably will produce kid friendly calves-because Ill bet she was fairly good natured O0
 

firesweepranch

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Jun 17, 2010
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SW MO
Why sell her, unless you really do not like her? She did her job, had a calf and raised it. Why has she not been re-bred? All of our fall calving group have been re-bred already, but we wanted all September/October calves.
Our 2  year old first calf heifers usually have a tough time keeping weight on, and like Mark said, she is probably getting beat up by the bigger, older cows. If our two year old cows struggle with weight, we often give them some DDGs for a few months to help them keep in top shape. If she was mine and I liked her, I would separate  her so she does not have to compete for feed, and give her a little extra if she has gotten too thin.
 

obie105

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Oct 17, 2011
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780
Her condition is poor enough she has not recycled. Since she has been kicked out she will not come up even when she was here at the house with 4 head she will not come up. We are in the process of moving and all the cows are with a friend now that has a couple hundred and the situation hasn't gotten better. He tries to baby her along but I know he doesn't have the time to baby along one. The calf will be weaned this weekend and I will pry have to go get her and bring her the 3 hrs back home to feed with a couple of bull calves I have left here. I have never had one that just wouldn't come up and would let herself get this bad. I would have loved to had her rebred this fall but it hasn't worked and probably won't until the calf is off of her. That's the big reason for considering to sell is having time and extra money to put into one head. I like the cow that's not the problem at all.
 

RyanChandler

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Jul 6, 2011
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Location
Pottsboro, TX
Barring sickness or injury, any cow that needs to be seperated needs to be sold.  I have delt with the same scenario many times and that cow's faulting condition bc of lack of vigor will be an annual occurrence. 
 

Duncraggan

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Joined
Jun 2, 2012
Messages
821
The fact that she has not re-bred means she is no longer profitable.  She is causing you/your friend stress so, she is no longer a pleasure to keep!  If you eliminate the profit and the pleasure, what is the point?

IMO, bring her back, fatten and sell her for slaughter.  If the calf is better than average, keep it, if not, sell it too!
 

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