bottle heifers from auctions

lasergrl · #1 01/27/09, 05:06 PM

So I picked up a holstein heifer yesterday from the auction. I probed to see if she was free martin, she isnt as far as I can tell. I won her at a $30 bid. Got her home and she doesnt suck the bottle, mild scours. Tubed electrolytes last night, and tubed her again this am, she half heartedly sucked this afternoon.
She doesnt like to stand much but will. No nasal discharge, no rattles. I gave 5 ml baytril, thinking she may have pneumnia starting.

So my question is, what are the typical reasons a dairy would take a heifer to auction like this? Do they just not want to bother with one that gets ill? Perhaps she was a twin and they just assumed freemartin? I guess i just find it odd, especially since today she is improving with meds. Seems too valuable an animal to not have at least tried treating if it was just a case of her not sucking.
At any rate I figured at $30 it was worth the gamble to see how she turns out. The only people there were veal buyers so anything that wasnt over 100# wasnt selling well, good for me

Too me it just seems like a i got a too good to be true deal here........

topside1 · #2 01/27/09, 05:57 PM

Lots of heifers sell for $30 at my local dairy auction, all freemartins, all checked prior to the start of the auction. Just using a lubricated test tube or something similar and you can check her out yourself. Otherwise you will have a 14 month wait to see if she can be bred, that's a lot of hay. My local auction moves 1000 dairy animals each week so the folks buying expect professional inspections of each heifer calf sold. Out of the 1000 head 100 to 200 are calves. Hope you scored with a fertile animal that will re-sell well or livin up your farm....Topside

lasergrl · #3 01/27/09, 06:20 PM

the probe goes in 3 inches before dead ending, so did I buy myself a veal calf after all?

topside1 · #4 01/27/09, 06:23 PM

Google freemartin probe...

lasergrl · #5 01/27/09, 06:28 PM

I used a test tube. The instructions online say a free martin is 7 cm or less, she is right on the border at 7.62 cm. Im guessing if she was fertile it would be even longer.

This auction is small and doesnt probe or at least they dont ever say they do or dont. They had this heifer seperated from the other bunch that had a couple heifers mixed in also.

Dodgegal79 · #6 01/27/09, 06:59 PM

I just googled it and looks like she is freemartin. one that is not is 14 cm plus. Anything between 7 and 14 should have a chromosome test to see.