Post by finallyfarming on Mar 6, 2015 21:56:16 GMT -5
I just can't figure out what happened and thought maybe the great minds on this forum might have an idea. So here is the story. Got a call at work from my neighbor that the cows were out, she was rather crabby about it, she being the landscaping type. I told her my DD was on the way home and would take care of it. My daughter called me twenty minutes or so later, absolutely hysterical, saying they had shot Little Man, our steer. He was down, on our property, thrashing around, tongue out, and couldn't get up. Well I told her to call 911 and a coworker said she would stay at work for me and I scooted home. It takes me 20 minutes to get home, my daughter had been in the house as the cops told her to not go anywhere with the cattle unless someone was with her. The two milk cows were home eating grass and the steer was still down, legs sticking straight out, on his side, not anywhere near the other cows. I thought for sure he was dead and we started up the hill to see when he just got up! He just stood there for a bit and I got to check him over. Not a mark on him, one eye was leaking tears and might be a bit swollen. But he had manure smeared all over his back end, and a huge pile where he was laying, not normal at all. I could tell by the ground he had been down and thrashing. So what happened? The neighbor claimed innocence, said she just shooshed them off her lawn. But the grass is way greener across the fence I don't know why all three cows were home when they could be eating better out of the fence. And the steer was down at least 25 minutes. DD has seen animals butchered, she works for a butcher, she knows what a animal looks like that has been shot and she is not by nature a hysterical type. What could cause a perfectly healthy, 2 year old jersey steer to have convulsions on the ground for 25 minutes and then get up and be fine? Could he have eaten something? Got hit in the face with a frying pan? I am baffled, any ideas? And should I be worried about him? He is in the barn until we can fix the fence so I will be checking him a lot tonight. I appreciate any insight!