Spaying a pet cow?

[littlecowfl]

Has anyone ever spayed a pet cow? I know some beef cattle folks spay cull heifers before sending them to the feedlots. There is even a tool they use to make it easy. I think the vet charges $4-$6, but, of course, they do hundreds at a time. We live near a vet school, so I was thinking of calling them for a price. They are usually very reasonable especially because we can easily trailer this cow and she is very easy to work with. However, if it would cost hundreds, that's too much.

This is a very tame cow and our son's pet, so culling her isn't the best option. She has two bad quarters that are not working at all with her most recent calf, despite various treatments. She has been a good steer producer for us, but I don't want to breed her back after this. Keeping her separate would be difficult because we are moving to a smaller farm, so, we thought spaying her might be a good solution.

[otf]

Hi littlecowfl, I haven't ever had this procedure done on a cow, but I did watch a horrendous video a while back and it seemed to me the cow was in a great deal of pain during the procedure. I have not tried to find that video again. Perhaps there are newer and better methods these days. I did look up an article about it and have pasted a link here: www.cattlenetwork.com/drovers/features/should-you-spay-heifers-114067714.html.

If you opt for this procedure, I hope you'll post back and let us know how it was done and the outcome, please?

Gale

[littlecowfl]

Oh yes, there are always laymen methods. That isn't an option for a pet cow. Our vet school would not do anything without proper pain control. Since we are not milking our pet cow, there is no reason to withhold pain control.

The older procedure involved going in through the side. The method used by beef producers uses a tool inserted in the south end of a northbound cow. I'm sure there is pain, but not as traumatic as cutting through the muscles of the flank (like they do for a bovine c-section). I suppose big producers are trying to keep costs down by not using pain control.

I will certainly report back. I am waiting for a call back from the vet for the livestock side for the school. They have a full house whenever we take a cow there and the costs are low. The students don't get a chance to see cattle very often and they really like working with our friendly herd.
We only take them in if our mobile vet is out of town.

[otf]

I'd say you are moving in the right direction. I cannot believe some of the things that are done to livestock in the name of efficiency and low costs. I'm all for sedatives and pain relief myself. Hope this all works out for you and your cow!

Gale

[hoperefuge]

zephyrhillsusan 

[otf]

Hi Kim, I hope Susan will get word that you flagged her on this post, but I don't know if that a happens with regular boards the way it does on Facebook. I, for one, am hoping that the regular boards like this will get a new lease on life because the threads are easily identifiable and remain as long as needed. Not so on Facebook where sometimes they show up and sometimes they don't.....I refer to it as a trashcan. Guess I'll get slapped for that, huh?

Hope things are okay down your way!

Gale

[hoperefuge]

Won't get slapped by me.  I don't do FB at all!

Things are going pretty well here, thanks!
Kim

[littlecowfl]

We don't do facebook either. Quit awhile back before the primaries heated up. That was a good move, lol!

[littlecowfl]

Well, spaying is not an option because of cost ($1,000!). Spaying heifers is different because it's done using a simple tool to sever the ovaries. I suppose they don't worry about the body healing itself because these heifers are slaughtered. A cow that has had calves would be more complicated. The vet would have to make an incision in both flanks and extract each ovary that way. She would need to not eat for 36 hours prior to the surgery and recover for a day or two at the hospital. Hence, the $1,000.

[otf]

Yikes! Costly procedure. I don't think even a c-section on a cow is that expensive. The heifer procedure is probably the one I saw that appeared to be extremely painful; as I said, I haven't looked for it cause I doubt I could watch it again.

Regarding Kim's reference to Zephyrhillsusan, here's a link to Susan's blog; you'll see the entry that details her cow's history and surgery. Perhaps you can contact her through the blog?

zephyrhillfarm.blogspot.com

[littlecowfl]

Our regular vet is on vacation. When she gets back, I'll ask her about other options for our pet cow. Or, how to better manage her if she does get bred back. She does make some nice (tasty) offspring.

[otf]

In the event she does get bred, there's always Lutalyse.

[littlecowfl]

Yes, thank you. I have to admit it gives me the willies. Much rather prevent altogether or manage better. It's also not something you should give repeatedly. SHe would make a lovely weaned calf babysitter.

[zephyrhillsusan]

littlecowfl , how far are you from Nashville? It cost a whole lot less to get Siobhan done, and they did an additional procedure, plus kept her for a whole week and gave her antibiotics because her small size (relative to what they usually do caused some hemorrhage when they did the additional procedure. That was to ligate the two main arteries that supply the udder, an extra precaution in case any calves ever sucked on her, to give extra reassurance that she wouldn't start to lactate again.

If you want a referral to the vet we used in Nashville, PM me. I'm leaving town on Sunday for a week and won't be checking my email notifications while I'm gone, but I can give you my phone number so you can text me. I really hope you find a solution for her!

Thanks for tagging me, hoperefuge.  For some reason, my email notifications don't always come through, but since you tagged me, I got it!  By the way, Ebby and Royal are in the process of making us another beautiful calf for next year.  Hoping for another heifer as sweet as Bunny!  

[zephyrhillsusan]

littlecowfl , here's the blog post I did about having Siobhan spayed.  I hope it's helpful.