Calving in Below Freezing

[cjc]

I just wanted to update you all on my news. I ended up having to euthanatize my girl on Saturday. She started a steady decline about a week ago and stopped eating again. Her incision started draining really heavily. I tried to combat it with more drugs but it just wasn't helping her at all. I tried to give her as many days as I could to turn around but Saturday morning we woke up to her head down on the ground moaning out in pain. I called the vet in for an emergency and we euthanized her via injection. Sad day but we all felt at peace letting her go.

I ended up calling a dead livestock guy to remove her body because the ground is so frozen here we couldn't bury her and it brought up a whole other topic for me. The guy was trying to convince me not to euthanatize her via injection but to allow him to shoot her. I get it, most cows do go this way but not this girl. I wasn't willing to put her down that way. When he came to get her after the vet had put her down he explained to me why he wanted to shoot her. He wanted to use her meat in dog food. I explained to him that she was VERY ill, literally oozing in puss. He said it didn't matter.

Now, we feed our farm dog a raw meat diet. It's about 50% beef. Now I cannot stop thinking about WHAT IS IN THAT FOOD! I always assumed it would be lower quality meat, obviously, but not severely ill animals. I don't eat beef myself because of some of the things I've seen around. But geez, I was super bothered by this.

 

[Hens and Roos]

so sorry to hear

 

[NH homesteader]

Sorry to hear that. And wow... He didn't care about her illness or all of the medication you had given her?? That's amazing. I can't imagine.

 

[babsbag]

I'm sorry, you certainly went above in beyond trying to give her a good chance at life. I hate it that we are sometimes so helpless and that we can't just save them all.

That is VERY disturbing about the dog food. With all of the antibiotics she had been given plus the infection I would hope that they wouldn't use that meat. It is no wonder that our pets have skin issues and other things going on. I wonder if intense processing of the meat to turn it into dry kibble would remove all that?

 

[cjc]

Ya exactly, totally disturbing. I know its clearly not legal for human consumption but I dunno, I don't think that's ok for anyone's pet to consume either. You're right I pumped her full of a TON of meds. Pain Killers, Antibiotics, etc. I can't imagine any processing would get rid of that or the amount of infection I know she had in her system.

He told me the only thing that stops them from using the meat is the drug they used to euthanize her. Once I did that she could only be incinerated.

 

[TAH]

So sorry cjc!

 

[babsbag]

I was thinking of taking my surplus bucklings and using them for jerky for dogs treats and then sell the jerky. Then I found out that I have to make the "dog food" in a commercial kitchen. Since my state is so strict on that I wonder what their take would be on the quality of the meat. I was just talking to my DH that other day about that venture and wondering if the meat for the jerky has to be USDA inspected.

I just find it disturbing.

 

[farmerjan]

@cjc ; So very sorry for the loss of your cow. You couldn't have done much more for her, and did much more than 99% of the people would have. At least you do know that she had every chance in the world, and for a little while did have some quality of life back. I know it was a terrible expense on top of the heartbreak.
I don't know what to say except that it was better all the way around that you did use the vet and euthanized her with the injection. This way you are totally satisfied that she is gone, and no thoughts of her being a meal for another animal. I am not so surprised about the idea of dog/animal food; most drugs do have a withdrawal time although she did have more than most ever do and the withdrawal would have been way extended. The infection part does bother me quite a bit, but let's face it; how much do we really know about what is being fed unless we raise all the food we, and our animals ingest.

There used to be a time when dead animals like that were used as blood meal and bone meal for fertilizer and even as additives in feed preparations. The BSE, aka as Mad Cow Disease, put the kibosh to that. I don't know if it costs you to have them picked up, up there. We used to get paid for a dead animal, then it was free, now we have to pay. Some counties no longer allow a farmer to bury them on their own land. Some I know have "a place to take them" out in the "back woods", and the wildlife just takes care of them, which is really what nature intended rather than contaminating the ground with the burying. Our county landfill will let you take them there for free.

 

[Green Acres Farm]

I'm so sorry.

 

[WildRoseBeef]

Sorry about the cow CJC, but I can explain about the euthanasia thing.

I would never ever leave an animal that was euthanized with a lethal injection of barbiturates--that's typically the drug used to, well, kill her (sorry to be this blunt)--for wildlife to feed, let alone for dogs, because the barbiturates are a toxic compound that can poison and possibly even kill any scavenger that feeds on her. That's not good. So incinerating or burial is the best option to take care of her body.

Did the fella know that she was full of antibiotics? I know you told her she was very sick, but did you also tell him the number of times and types of medications you put into her? If you I have a hunch that he wouldn't be saying "it wouldn't matter" if he knew just how full of drugs she was. And I'm hoping that he didn't say it didn't matter if you actually told him!

And no amount of processing is going to remove that drug residue. None whatsoever. That stuff is ingrained in the tissues of any animal. If there was a way for those drugs to be removed from tissue of processed animals, we would never hear again of the issues surrounding antibiotic residue in meat. Literally.

I mean, the rendering will kill any pathogens, but not drug residue.

But regarding just the mere aspect of infection and not the drug residue, that's something a bit different. As long as the infection or disease is not contagious, killed animals with either cap-bolt or gunshot can be rendered. You better check with the BC government regulation standards with rendering carcasses with drug residues, because I just have the Alberta one pulled up doesn't have much else other than some regulations under the CFIA and Health Canada. http://www.qp.alberta.ca/documents/Regs/2014_132.pdf