Expected but rather sad news from our vet....

[ozark_jewels]

Prissie, our old rescue cow will never have another calf due to to massive scarring from a uterine infection. So she will have to be put in the freezer. I really wanted a heifer calf......but she gave us four good years and two bull calves. She is a fat happy cow....guess there are better ways to die. When she didn't calve in October, I suspected something and then when she didn't re-cycle.....well, I rather expected this but was hoping.....oh well! Good thing we had a nice crop of heifers come fresh this year.
Good news is that all the other cows are settled including the two we are about to put up for sale. In fact they are heavy-bred, being at least 6 months along and the one is at least 7 months along.

[willow_girl]

Prissie, our old rescue cow will never have another calf due to to massive scarring from a uterine infection. So she will have to be put in the freezer.

Why does she HAVE to be put in the freezer?
Where's the law that says you have to kill her just because she won't breed back?
It really doesn't cost that much to feed a cow, you know! Especially a dry cow.
And if she's old, how long are you gonna have to feed her for, anyway?
A year or two?
So you might have to spend a couple hundred bucks. Is it worth it to see a fat happy cow enjoying her retirement?
Put her in with the calves, and let her spending her days licking them ... she will love it, and they will be the better for it.
And it will make you smile every time you look at her ...

[ChickenMom]

That sounds wonderful "cow retirement" but it's not very "farm smart" if you are trying to keep your farm afloat and make a profit.

[Ronney]

I read this post earlier and thought the same as Willow but didn't quite have the guts to say it for fear of treading on toes.

I would be keeping her too as company for the calves or for the bull when I wasn't using him - and who knows, she could defy nature and still produce a calf. I would be taking the view that as a rescue cow that had produced two calves worth x amount of dollars, she owed me nothing and would still have a use in keeping other stock happy and (to pinch Willows words) make me smile.

I do hope your in a position to rethink the situation.

Cheers,
Ronne

[ozark_jewels]

I had a feeling this would happen.....no, we cannot afford to feed and keep a cow who won't produce. We are a working farm here and we are struggling to feed our 150 head of goats, 20 head of cows and many calves at the prices of everything right now. Its just not smart to keep a cow who is useless. She is not a pet either, doesn't appreciate human contact except for feeding and for milking(before she was dried off). She has been dry over a year now and we carried her through a winter for no profit. She must go to make room for a productive animal. We have no need for bull or calf buddies as we have those already and they are productive.
You think thats cruel?? The other option is hauling her across to the livestock auction where she will be sold for slaughter, hot-shotted into a crammed trailer to be hauled to the slaughterhouse where she will be frightened and stressed until she is killed. I don't think so. We have the slaughter guy come out, shoot her while she is happily eating, and she dies happy.
You do what you can do, but thats the way it is here. I feed her through a winter, I can't afford to feed a productive cow. The facts of life in the real world.

[ozark_jewels]

Originally Posted by ChickenMom

That sounds wonderful "cow retirement" but it's not very "farm smart" if you are trying to keep your farm afloat and make a profit.

Thank you.

[ozark_jewels]

Originally Posted by willow_girl

And if she's old, how long are you gonna have to feed her for, anyway?
A year or two?

"old" is relative. We have always thought of her as old, because of the way she came to us....but actually she is only 8 years old. Our oldest cow here is heading toward 17.....so she could have a good many years of unproductive life ahead of her. Our options are butcher or salebarn. Believe me, butcher is more humane. Do I like it?? No, but thats life on a farm. Decisions have to be made for the good of all. I'm sure some of you here have had to make those decisions before.

[Slev]

...no problem here, farming is farming. besides I just heard that the cost of milk is going up .40 cents a gal. and cheese will go up .60 cents a pound! all becaue of the grain issues. With the recent pet food scares, I have considered going to the auction and buy a "whatever" to have the whole thing made into hamburger and shot into those sausage tubes. then just cut off the amount i need to feed my dogs!

[Up North]

I wouldn't of expected Willow Girl and Ronnie to be the softies on this issue. I don't think many people have the luxury of keeping a cow that isn't pulling her weight. As it is I think Emily's cow has gotten away with a free ride a lot longer than most cows would of. There's nothing I hate more than having to ship an old girl that has made us a lot of money over the years and has never given us a problem. But I do it anyways becuase we are running a business.

Heather

[savinggrace]

Originally Posted by Wind in Her Hair

there's real farming and ranching and then there's
hobby farming and hobby ranching.
This situation illustrates the difference perfectly.

I resent that remark!

[savinggrace]

Originally Posted by Wind in Her Hair

Don't you mean -"I resemble that remark"?
I've straddled the uncomfortable fence rail on both of those issues.

No offense intended -just objectively looking at the conflict.

No, I fully ment to say Resent.

We live on outside sources of income; therefore I feel it is most appropriate to catagorize what I do as 'hobby farm'.

However, I have had to make real, diffacult decisions along the way-I too cannot justify keeping an animal larger than the occasional (pet) chicken that does not pull it's weight. I take some offense to the generalization that 'hobby farmers' do little more than keep around a glorified petting zoo. Or that 'hobby farmers' drive around bright, shiny expensive sized down equiptment and employ others to do the dirty work. I patch stock tanks; just as 'real farmers' would. I shovel manure and waste onto tarps and drag them back to the compost pile in the hot sun. A 'real farmer' would use a bob cat and could do the job I do in half the time for 10X the amount of animals. I'm saving up to buy a used bob cat. Maybe next year I will have one!

My children are being raised to know where food comes from. To have the same amount of emphathy for animals we raise to be food as animals we keep who are pets. Heck, even my dogs have jobs! (albeit, my gr. pyr pup's job currently is to be an equal opportunity chewer) But hey! At least she is learning how offensive it can be to generalize.

To me, what seperates 'true farmers' from 'factory farmers' is empathy. Emily farms as a living, and I strongly relate to the uncomfortable situation she is in. Even being a 'hobby farmer', I would make the same decision she has made, and would console myself with knowing Prissie has lived a good, productive life thus far. I would see Prissie to the processor, would unload her myself, out of respect for what she has done for me. I don't shelter myself from the realities of farming. Yet I am a 'hobby farmer'.

[ozark_jewels]

Originally Posted by savinggrace

Yet I am a hobby farmer.

You may have a "hobby farm" but you are a real farmer. Your post proved that.

[savinggrace]

Thank You.

[lgslgs]

I'm glad we're not in the position of having to "retire" our livestock to the freezer (and since we don't eat meat that would be kind of pointless anyway), but I certainly understand the need to keep limits on your herd.

We don't breed our animals and keep the ones we do have here for life. That makes us the perfect home for a freemartin cow or a hermaphrodite doe. You can bet that I sure wanted to find a way to give Nutrageous a lifetime home but we can't add to our herd without risking overgrazing/browsing to the point where we'd need to buy hay or feed rather than feed everyone with free-range browse.

I think that "retiring to the freezer" is often a more caring form of animal custodianship than selling them out of the herd and off into conditions unknown. Even if the next home is good, it's a sad fact that few people can house retirees and an awful lot of animals end up like Black Beauty - in a progression of poorer and poorer living conditions as their perceived value drops with age or health decline.

Hoping that a particularly sweet animal can be the one to go to an auction and beat the odds and find a wonderful new home is a nice dream - but not realistic. Sometimes ending an animal's life sooner than you'd like, harvesting them respectfully (on land they know and among people they trust), and not "selling them down the river" is the most humane option.

I also think that anyone who truly believes that to be the most humane options usually feels really bad about not having any better options available.

Lynda

[jerzeygurl]

I am at a loss as why this has turned into a debate instead of support for someone who is having a sad time.


sorry for the loss, but apreciate the gain, meatwise...life hands you lemons make lemonade...or chili

[Ramblin Wreck]

Originally Posted by Wind in Her Hair

there's real farming and ranching and then there's hobby farming and hobby ranching.
This situation illustrates the difference perfectly.

I understood what you meant. I grew up on a real one but now I very much resemble the remark about hobby farming.

Sorry Em. Stuff happens.

[james dilley]

I beleive that Emily has the Best interest of the Cow and her Family in mind, It is Not A easy decsion? to make but having been to To many slaughter houses I Know her method is the right one. After All it is her cow right??Plz. understand that there are those among us who are in Support of Emily's plan.

[ozark_jewels]

Thank you all for the thoughts on this....I truly wasn't meaning to cause a small war.....

[DJ in WA]

We have the slaughter guy come out, shoot her while she is happily eating, and she dies happy.

Man, I wish I could go out that way. Especially if I become nonproductive and someone decides I should be put out to pasture in a rest home.

"Here's an ice cream cone, Mr. D"........lights out......

Yep, this cow is having it pretty nice.

[ozark_jewels]

I feel very blessed that we have the choice to have the gentleman come out here, shoot her on the property(it never takes more than one shot), and no stress involved. The cost is very minimal, actually less than if we borrowed a trailer and took her in, at the price of gas these days.
Let me say right now that I don't think I could butcher our old milk cows if *I* had to do the butchering like we used to here at home. But I can handle it if he comes, she is killed and 2-3 weeks later comes home in neat plastic packages.
We used to say that when our old milk cows needed retired that we would feed them till the quality of life was poor, then shoot them and leave them in peace on the back property. But over time we have agreed that it would be a waste not to use the meat. So now, thats what we do.
We do the same with our cull milk goats. Only I butcher them myself because I cannot justify the cost of a butcher for as many goats as we butcher a year. Its hard, but the hardest part is the shooting. After their gone, its just meat and a job that needs done. And as I do the shooting myself, I *know* they never suffered. Which as their caretaker is the best thing I can do for them at that point.
Anyway...now I'm rambling.
Yes, DJ, I agree. I wish I could be guarenteed as nice an ending when its my time.