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Post by jayh on Jul 13, 2015 14:55:43 GMT -6
Well check on my cows Friday like normal and all were good. We had a hell of a storm Saturday night so I checked on them sunday. Well my bull is at the vet right now. He says he was hit by lighning. He has a burned place on his right rear hip and looks like his right rear hoof will come off. Vet has him trying to do whatever but I am betting I am going to need a bull. My little bull wont be a year till November I think and I haven't pushed or fed him anything so he will be to small.
The good news is I have insurance on him and it will cover that they said. I hope so. DAMN RAIN AND BAD LUCK CAN STOP ANYTIME.
I know some of you need rain but we sure don't. Sorry for the rant.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 13, 2015 15:20:42 GMT -6
Sorry to hear that jay. Lightning is a freak thing and we've had our bad luck with it a few times too. Good thing you have insurance but you still can never completely replace the animal you lost which is the worst part of it. Last time we lost cattle to lightning was in 2011 when we found 3 laying dead in the same spot that a lightning strike hit overnight including a Dam of Distinction and her calf and a 1st calf heifer (spared her calf though) out of another of our DOD's that to this day is still the only heifer that cow has ever had. Pretty sad sight, we've had a few other single animal deaths to lightning over the years but never a strike that was as big of a blow as that one was.
My house actually got hit by lightning last summer, my wife was home at the time it happened and said it sounded like a gun shot. Took out our Dish receivers, 2 TVs, computer, a surround sound system, and a few other misc electronics but the strangest thing it did was pop a hole in the drywall of our upstairs guest bedroom where the energy from the strike exited is what the fire dept thinks happen when we had them check to make sure we didn't have a hot spot in the attic from the hit. A piece of flashing from the roof overhang/soffit on the other side of that wall was laying in the yard but the strike actually hit our dish on the other end of the house and apparently it traveled through the metal flashing till it had no where to go but into that wall. Just one of natures wonders how each lightning strike can have different results.
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Post by George on Jul 13, 2015 15:55:56 GMT -6
I lost Diesel to lightning and it left me scrambling for a bull. Good ones are sure hard to replace.
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Post by hoekland on Jul 14, 2015 0:16:59 GMT -6
My predecessor used red angus bulls, but never sent hair in for DNA profiles, so by the time I had to send the birthnotifications in al the calves was listed as pending registration because of the lack of DNA profile of the sires.
In the meantime one of these bulls was exported to Namibia while the other remained in the Kalahari dessert. The one in the Kalahari was easier to get to so I pulled hair on one of my visits and low and behold the next week the bull was hit by lightning and killed.
The one in Namibia also died, but we knew where the carcass was so we could just go and cut a piece of skin with hair on, they do some chemical process and can extract the follicles that way, it works 99% of the time, except in the case of a lightning strike, then for some reason the DNA in the follicles is useless. Did this exercise and the result came back as the bull was hit by lightning and therefore they could not retrieve usable DNA. Luckily they could derive a profile because they had DNA of the other bull, so his calves could be identified and I had pulled hair on every single cow in those herds after the loss of the bulls, otherwise I would have had to explain 58 unregistrable calves.
WHat are the odds of both bulls that at one time was used as multisires in the same herd getting hit by lightning within days of each other in two different countries!
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Post by larso on Jul 14, 2015 3:40:12 GMT -6
I'd say about as high as winning the lottery, maybe you should have brought yourself a ticket!
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Post by Deleted on Jul 14, 2015 8:26:49 GMT -6
Seems like most of the lightning stories you hear it's always a bull or one of someone's best cows or something that gets hit unfortunately. Rarely do you hear a guy share a lightning story that ends with "well she was going to the sale barn this fall anyways so its not a huge loss."
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Post by guffeygal on Jul 14, 2015 20:23:33 GMT -6
Jayh, Was it your 6V bull? How is he doing?
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Post by jayh on Jul 14, 2015 20:44:47 GMT -6
Jayh, Was it your 6V bull? How is he doing? Yes it was 6V. His hoof looks a lot better after they cleaned it all up. Vet has him on some pain meds in an I-V ( had him on it anyway) and he is alive still but don't know if I can use him or not yet.He is up and alert. I know he will be out for some time but guess it depends on how long I want to wait on him. He wont go anywhere for awhile. I have semen on him so its not a total catastrouphy . I have the little bull at my barn lot and he will start getting some feed and we will see what time brings. I know I will be A-Iing several head this fall so may just do them all. Question - 6 months I should be able to have a 600lb ( little bull ) weighing enough to breed 10 head ? If I get 50% A-I that's what he would have to do. Vet said definatly lighning |
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Post by hoekland on Jul 15, 2015 0:19:26 GMT -6
You should have your little bull ready in less than 6 months, but I'd rather feed him hard now and taper off closer to breeding season than start too slow and having to push him harder later. Even as low as 900 lbs and 13 months he should get the job done, but it really isn't difficult to get him to gain 100lbs per month, for my showstring I aim to get 120 lbs a month and that is very achievable even for a cheapskate like me.
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Post by larso on Jul 15, 2015 0:48:08 GMT -6
Harley this is going a bit off track but I'm starting to feed 10mth old bulls now to show in Sep-Oct, get them use to leading and showing for May-June next year, my biggest problem is knowing how much feed to give them now. I'm paranoid of over feeding and blow their hocks. Do you work on % of body weight etc. I'm not a total novice but I still worry about that aspect, having them looking good but not ruining them in the process. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
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Post by hoekland on Jul 15, 2015 4:31:14 GMT -6
Peter, I always feed using a cafeteria system where I always have really stemmy hay or straw availabale and feed them as much as they can clean up by the next feeding. I mix my own feed and ad 10 kg feedlime/t and never have any problems. The protein should also never exceed 14% in the beginning just after weaning and in animals 300 kg and heavier 12-13%. The crux is it is preparation for a show or a sale and not for a block test, so exercise is the key. If the protein is right, you've added lime and they walk enough, you'll never blow a hock or grow a hoof, unless the animal was structurally unsound to begin with.
I exercise mine by chasing them downhill and back uphill down an alleyway as fast as they can run for about 500m in one direction. I know an oldtimer who sells 3 year olds that he raises on veld, make them really fat and about 6 weeks before the sale starts chasing them in the farmroad to the mainroad with a horse 2km one direction and back. The first few days they look like they're going to drop dead, but by the 3rd weak the hardly breath heavily, in all the years I've known him he didn't get a single return because of a break down or an animal falling apart and semen that doesn't test right is a rarity for him.
In your situation if you are worried give them good hay for a week and then stemmy hay or straw from there on and start feeding at 1% bumping it up every other day untill you get to 2.5% and from then on feed as much as they'll clean up or adlib, but continue with the cafeteria system even if you feed a TMR.
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Post by larso on Jul 15, 2015 14:00:55 GMT -6
Thanks Harley, my country is fairly steep so the exercise part wont be that hard, these blokes are over the 300kg mark so I will check up on the protein level as it is prepared commercially.
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Post by jayh on Sept 1, 2015 10:41:13 GMT -6
Update. 6V is walking better and gets around good. Hoof is growing funny but vet said probably would. I take him back to get semen checked this weekend. If he is good I am going to throw him with 4 cows in a small lot. Just to see if he can get the job done.
Guess I better just see if he checks good before I make plans.
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