Blind cow

FarmerIvan · #1 05/14/14, 11:59 PM

Anyone ever had a blind cow in one eye? Is there any bad thing about having a blind cow?

vicker · #2 05/15/14, 01:24 AM

Well, they can't see where they're going, if you catch my drift and, I wouldn't put them with any blind barn cats. Well, ok, maybe I would.

idigbeets · #3 05/15/14, 05:36 AM

Yea we've had the occasional vision loss of one eye in cattle before, no big deal, they have 2 eyes. Hell, I'm blind in one eye too.... Cattle can scratch up the eye on seed heads, tall grasses etc, and get infected causing partial or total blindness. Pink eye can also blind them.

SpaceCadet12364 · #4 05/15/14, 06:52 AM

A neighbor has one blind in both eyes from pinkeye as a young calf. now 10 YO. She does well as long as another cow moo's to tell her to follow. If not she will bawl till one of the others comes and gets her. The rest of the herd watches after her even the calves do. Its weird to watch a calf lead her by mooing every few steps and she follow along till she catches up with the rest. She doesn't run for anything.

FarmerIvan · #5 05/15/14, 03:27 PM

Is it a bit tougher to take care of em? They need more attention than the ones that can see with both eyes?

farmerdan · #6 05/15/14, 04:17 PM

I had a Lowline bull that lost vision in one of his eyes due to pink eye. He is fine and went to be a herd sire. It's best to let them know you are approaching so that you don't startle them and have them accidently hurt someone.

sammyd · #7 05/15/14, 06:19 PM

We had one that was blind in one eye. Didn't have any problems with it.

springvalley · #8 05/15/14, 06:31 PM

One eye should not be a problem, just have to take your time with them and don`t get in a hurry for anything.

sv.maple · #9 05/15/14, 08:31 PM

Just make sure she knows your there and go on good side as much as possible. I had a cow that went blind in both eyes couldnt see anything at all. Always had to talk to her and when out to pasture always kept in same one never took her out of milking herd when dry she knew the pasture and where fences were never a problem. Had the ocasional misjudgeing of barn door n walk inta barn wall or stall deviders but if with others usually fine.

FarmerIvan · #10 05/15/14, 10:50 PM

What could be some causes of blindness? Besides pinkeye. A gal that I got the heifers from said they were twins one of em is fine, a bit bigger but the blind one is smaller and doesn't have one eye. She's smart and acts like her sister. They run around, eat. Could there have been some problems with em with they were young?

idigbeets · #11 05/16/14, 06:03 AM

scratched corneas as a calf from tall grasses / seed heads can cause blindness, pink eye, ingestion of jimson weed... , any sort of infection of the eye, I'm sure there are more reasons.

The point is, with one blind eye that cow will be fine

Oakshire_Farm · #12 05/16/14, 12:46 PM

I have a blind holstein, she was the sweetest cow. BUT she was HORRIBLE on fences! She would walk right through them. I would run a top stand of electric she would touch it and spook and go through the fence. The pasture had a little bit of over grown, she ALWAYS have weaping eyes, she would poke her eyes on everything. I had to keep a horse fly mask on her to protect her eyes. The only reason we butchered her was that she never cycled. My plan was to use her as a nurse cow, but after 2 years, with a bull on the other side of the fence, she never showed a heat. So we butchered her. She would have been a fantastic nurse cow, I could have just filled the field with calves!

momagoat61 · #13 05/16/14, 03:55 PM

vultures are the main reason around here for blind calf's. Had a calf born at noon on Friday of last week and mom went out to check on the cow and 13 vultures had almost wore the cow down so much she was about to give up her new born calve to them, cow was hot and her tougue was hanging down from running at the vultures, not a sight you want to go out to. Lucky we didn't lose the calfs eyes to them before mom got them ran off. Had a blind cow for 9 years and that's what happen to her eyes when she was being born. We hate calfs born during the day, much reather have calfs born at night for the very reason.

Awnry Abe · #14 05/16/14, 06:20 PM

No issues whatsoever, except at working time. They have a more difficult time figuring out what you want of them. Nothing that patience won't compensate for. Out in open pasture, absolutely no issues. They can calve, too.

FarmerIvan · #15 05/16/14, 07:59 PM

Since they are a few months younger than my bull calves, do yall think they'll be fine together especially the blind one? We've had them all together for about two weeks now and they seem fine. The bulls only sniff the heifers behind but they don't try to mount them. The bulls mount eachother lol. Should I just keep an eye out or should we separate em? And do any of yall know about making a homemade chute? We haven't seen any stores local that have cattle chutes.

**gone-a-milkin** · #16 05/16/14, 08:38 PM

FarmerIvan, You have been repeatedly advised that if you keep those heifers in with the intact bulls they will get bred at a young age.
The moment they come into heat you can bet your bottom dollar the bulls will mount them.
You are taking a risk.

FarmerIvan · #17 05/16/14, 09:02 PM

Right right right. I forgot about the heat cycle. We'll be getting em castrated here soon. So we won't have to deal with em getting testy with us.

Awnry Abe · #18 05/16/14, 11:13 PM

I've have a calf that had a serious jaw infection. It eventually blew out an eye. No amount of antibiotics did any good. He is an add mix of breed, so he is destined for my freezer anyway.

Do NOT expose those young heifers to a bull. You'll ruin them. Once weaned, you should count on as early as 8 months to be sexually active. Let them get bred then, and you've wasted them.

FarmerDavid · #19 05/17/14, 11:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Awnry Abe

I've have a calf that had a serious jaw infection. It eventually blew out an eye. No amount of antibiotics did any good. He is an add mix of breed, so he is destined for my freezer anyway.

Do NOT expose those young heifers to a bull. You'll ruin them. Once weaned, you should count on as early as 8 months to be sexually active. Let them get bred then, and you've wasted them.

Why do you say they are wasted? I've talked with several local farmers that have had accidents and got a heifer bred young and still made a good cow. Even know one guy that does it on purpose, claims by doing that and continually moving his breeding season up he gets an extra calf out of a cow in her life time. I'm certainly not advocating that just curious why you say it wastes them?

G. Seddon · #20 05/18/14, 07:19 AM

What I have learned is that breeding too early puts both the heifer and her calf at risk.

While the heifer may have reached puberty, she is not physically mature, she is still growing and her growth will be negatively affected by being pregnant. Some people think that a heifer should be at least 15 months old about 60-65% of her adult weight when first bred. (When we keep a heifer, I bump that time up so that she will calve in either fall or spring...heifer might be 20 months old, which is fine by me.)

There are risks of injury associated with breeding a young/small heifer to a mature bull.

She is not emotionally mature; she'll make a better mother when she's a bit older (less likely to reject the calf and more likely to nurture it).

The younger she is, the greater the chance of dystocia (difficult birth) and breeding back will probably take longer.

Yes, you might get an additional calf out of a cow over her lifetime, but why do this at the expense of your cow's health?

If you realize that a heifer has been bred too young, your vet can give an injection to terminate that pregnancy. It won't affect her breeding in the future.

I'm sure other people can chime in on this too.