Anyone ever process a cow ?

[ConnessCrazyAcres]

well our 5 yr old cow will not get bred - soooo she is gonna have to be sold for either beef or hamburger -- has anyone ever had a cow processed ? i would like to post her for sale just for that purpose - I do not want to sell her to anyone and they turn around and try to get her bred and then I have them complain about it --

so looking for advice ;D

[otf]

Has your vet checked her? Has she ever been pregnant? AI or natural service (some that don't breed by AI do okay with live cover)? It would be a shame to part with a cow for something that can usually be fixed easily (cysts or something).

If you do sell her, put the condition of the cow in the contract so the buyer knows exactly what the status is and cannot complain.

[ConnessCrazyAcres]

yeah - she has had 4 calves - and all with live cover and we had the vet come and check her out and he determined that she has a very thick cervix wall which has made it almost impossible for the egg to attach - our vet has tried a few different things starting last fall - but she has cycled like clockwork every 21 days except when it was really cold or really hot ! which made for some false hope and oh made a mistake she turned 6 this year..

[kansasdexters]

We have processed a couple of Dexter cows. One was 4 years old and she was properly grass-finished and fattened before processing. The meat quality was excellent, well marbled, flavorful, and very tender.

Be that as it may, a six-year old cow that has already produced 4 calves probably doesn't have a problem reproducing. If she had her first calf as a 2-year old in 2007, 2nd calf in 2008, 3rd calf in 2009, and 4th calf in 2010, it means that she has only missed having a calf in 2011. So she didn't get bred back in 2010. Depending on when you were trying to breed her, she may not have been able to conceive due to the extreme heat conditions that we had in the summer of 2010 and again in the summer of 2011. Most cows can't settle properly when the temperatures are extremely hot.

The fertilized egg does not attach to the cervical wall, it attaches to the uterine wall, so I'm not sure that your vet explained things very well to you. A cow with a very thick cervix may be more difficult to AI breed because the person doing the AI cannot feel the position of the tip of the AI gun very well through a thick cervical wall and he/she may have a problem positioning it properly for effective insemination. Live cover with a bull doesn't have that problem. Try exposing the cow to a bull when the weather is cooler and see if she will conceive. She may be just fine when she isn't stressed by the heat.

Patti

[ConnessCrazyAcres]

your right I probably didn't get the explanation right in fact I know I probably didn't She had been exposed and we had witnessed her being bred numerous times starting last spring by a different bull. we then brought her home and because we did not have a bull on our place then we did not notice her cycling - oh did forget to add that her last calf she had had was a bulldog calf and alittle bit of a difficult time. maybe that has something to do with her not getting bred again. well we got our young bull and had noticed in the meantime after we put everyone together that our steer was riding her. so then just started counting her cycles and had our young bull bred her numerous times since last fall and with a couple of exceptions with the extreme cold or when it was in the 100's she has cycled normally and like I said we have had our vet ( a wonderful guy someone who really cares about the animals he works with !) out numerous times and he has done blood-work and internals on her and stuff I can't remember so after this last cycle we just had to make some sort of choice about her

[ConnessCrazyAcres]

here's a picture of her just taken a couple weeks ago - she for sure is in shape !

[otf]

Conness, I'm a bit confused. You say the last calf she had was a bulldog calf? It was aborted and deformed, was it not? (Then she must be a chondro carrier and the sire was also.)

Your present bull has been breeding her for almost a year with no results? I trust he is not a chondro carrier. I notice he is quite young so may not have any calves on the ground yet. Has he impregnanted other cows?

If this cow has successfully calved four times, as Patti says, I would wait until the weather cools off and see what happens. Cows that get bred in very hot weather don't always hold that pregnancy. I would observe and make notes on the calendar when she is in heat, when breeding takes place, etc., so you have some history on her. Best times to watch are early morning and late afternoon.

[ConnessCrazyAcres]

yes her last calf was a bulldog - and yes she is a carrier - we knew this when we bought her - the previous owner had bred her to a Mini Jersey bull which she found out later was a carrier - after she had the bulldog she was still with the previous owner and she had her in with their bull and witnessed her being bred. and yes our bull is a youngster and both myself and my husband have witnessed him breeding her successfully and he is not a carrier and he is not proven yet . and we have kept track of all her heats and breeding's on a calender.

looking at her history -- she had
a 2007 heifer in Oct
a 2008 heifer in Sept
a 2009 heifer in Aug
a 2010 bulldog in July
and we purchased her at the end of July and did not pick her up right away and the previous owners had her in with their Dexter bull and witnessed her in heat and being bred numerous times. So since July she has been in with the previous owners bull then with our bull when we got him in late October early Nov and he was 6 months old in October.

We have just made the choice that we can't afford to keep feeding her with nothing to show maybe that sounds harsh - we are purchasing her 2009 daughter with a bull calf by her side and she is getting vet checked to verify pregnancy.

[ConnessCrazyAcres]

If anyone wanted to purchase her as a cow for breeding knowing her history we would sell her that way. we had figured on listing her for 750.00

[kansasdexters]

After seeing her photo, I agree with your decision to cull her, but for a different reason. I would process her for beef (rather than use her as registered breeding stock) because she doesn't have a nice udder and she appears to be quite fat and ready to be processed.

This is the best time of the year to harvest pastured cattle since they have been consuming green growing grass all Spring and Summer and they're in the best condition that they can attain on forage. The best tasting steak that I ever ate came from a 7-year old, well fattened Dexter cow, so don't be afraid to put cow beef on your own table. This is an excellent opportunity for you to turn a negative situation into a positive one.


Patti

[ConnessCrazyAcres]

Thanks Patti ;D and you are right she does not have a great udder. and she was the most easy keeper we have had.. she has never lost condition she even looked heavier over winter - she is a eating machine ;D if we didn't have the steer that we are processing in November that what we would do - but its gonna be tough making room in the freezer for the steer because we already processed 2 of our Hereford pigs and they are in the freezer now too along with the chickens we processed ourselves . so a pretty crowded freezer right now but really good eatin ;D

are we in the right ballpark with a asking price of 750.00 ?

[Olga]

I don't see any reason to go any lower than $1.00 per pound live weight. She should turn out well marbled and good fat cover and yummy in every way.

[ConnessCrazyAcres]

Well it looks like My sister in Law , her 2 Daughters and their family are gonna take her and split up the meat between the 3 of them . so that works out well she can stay here and then go to our processor with our steer and keep each other company in the trailer which will make it easier on the both of them - Thanks everyone for your opinions on her!

I LOVE this forum ! ;D