Anyone ever had a ruptured heifer fixed?

[swiss.susan]

I went to look at a Holstein heifer today, she is a year old and a real nice calf. They didn't tell me she was ruptured or I wouldn't have went but it got me wondering how in depth it was to fix. Do people have them fixed or do they cull them at a younger age? It is about the size of a baseball and I was able to put 4 fingers in it. Her condition was excellent. I would have snapped her up if it weren't for that rupture, and still may consider her after I have talked with our vet, just wondering if anyone on here has any experience with that?

 

[jhm47]

Where is the rupture located?

 

[cedarcurve]

navel, I'm guessing...

We always keep them- sometimes it gets worse and we butcher them. sometimes they'll grow out of it.

You can sew it back up, not a huge deal as long as you get the gut back in place. What happens most often is the rupture gets longer and longer, and eventually it pinches the gut.

is it genetic, i'm not sure... don't seem to have enough of them to correlate.

 

[swiss.susan]

yes, it is the naval area.

 

[redtailgal]

With a hernia that size on one that old, I'd cull. But I am a harsh culler............

 

[Bossroo]

I would run away fast... there are too many normal cattle out there to take on a known health issue. Yea, a vet can suture the hernia, but will charge an arm and a leg. $$$ down the drain !

 

[jhm47]

Are you positive that it's a hernia? All cows have lumps where their navel was (some much larger than others), and it's possible that she may have had a navel infection that left a lump. Depending upon what your plans are for a cow, she likely would be fine as a butcher animal. I wouldn't breed her. If you can get her dirt cheap, I'd take a chance on her for a slaughter animal.

 

[Stubbornhillfarm]

Are you positive that it's a hernia? All cows have lumps where their navel was (some much larger than others), and it's possible that she may have had a navel infection that left a lump. Depending upon what your plans are for a cow, she likely would be fine as a butcher animal. I wouldn't breed her. If you can get her dirt cheap, I'd take a chance on her for a slaughter animal.

Good Point! When we first got our heifer, we went and looked at her at the farm she was born at. Didn't notice anything but her cuteness. We unloaded her from the truck at our house and she had a huge lump about the size of a baseball near her navel. First thing we thought, "Oh, crud! We just bought a calf with a hernia!" Low and behold, it was not a hernia at all. Just a lump and it has gone away with age.

You can barely see it in this picture, but you can. Just a bad angle as we were stanging higher than she was.

 

[swiss.susan]

nope, i'm sure it's a rupture. I fell in love with this kid that was trying to sell her, my heart just went out to him. He had given me kinda sketchy directions to his house, I pass it and then pull over and call him. He says " I will stand outside with her and you can't miss me cause i'm awful big"...He is overweight and was just so dang sweet. He tells me her name is Olivia and she is super well cared for, like I said earlier her condition was excellent. The first thing I say was did you know she was ruptured? He says "yeah, they told me that when i bought her as a little calf " He nor his dad had any idea what that meant or that is was a serious fault. So i'm actually standing here considering this and my husband is giving me the silent signal for " no way, what are you thinking...??

I did call and talk to my vet and he said he really didn't think he could fix her because of her size. Just to put her under would be a small fortune and even if she stitched her up he doubted it would stay.

I am getting so foolish in my old age I guess, I knew the calf should stay right where she was but more than anything I wanted to help this kid out. He didn't want her to go to slaughter, he was very attatched to her My husband still doesn't know what got into me, we don't want ruptures in our factory but it just wasn't about the cow.

 

[Cricket]

That's so tough! But then if you did buy it, you'd be kicking yourself for having to deal with the problems! I just had an opportunity to buy a beef calf, but it was obviously sick, I had nowhere to put it in the back of the truck, and the guy wouldn't name a price. My husband decided a few years ago that anytime I brought home half dead critters that had to be finished off afterwards, I was going to have to do the shooting. One application of that has made me think twice on a number of animals!