# Blind cow



## FarmerIvan (Dec 30, 2013)

Anyone ever had a blind cow in one eye? Is there any bad thing about having a blind cow?


----------



## vicker (Jul 11, 2003)

Well, they can't see where they're going, if you catch my drift and, I wouldn't put them with any blind barn cats. Well, ok, maybe I would.


----------



## idigbeets (Sep 3, 2011)

Yea we've had the occasional vision loss of one eye in cattle before, no big deal, they have 2 eyes. Hell, I'm blind in one eye too.... Cattle can scratch up the eye on seed heads, tall grasses etc, and get infected causing partial or total blindness. Pink eye can also blind them.


----------



## SpaceCadet12364 (Apr 27, 2003)

A neighbor has one blind in both eyes from pinkeye as a young calf. now 10 YO. She does well as long as another cow moo's to tell her to follow. If not she will bawl till one of the others comes and gets her. The rest of the herd watches after her even the calves do. Its weird to watch a calf lead her by mooing every few steps and she follow along till she catches up with the rest. She doesn't run for anything.


----------



## FarmerIvan (Dec 30, 2013)

Is it a bit tougher to take care of em? They need more attention than the ones that can see with both eyes?


----------



## farmerdan (Aug 17, 2004)

I had a Lowline bull that lost vision in one of his eyes due to pink eye. He is fine and went to be a herd sire. It's best to let them know you are approaching so that you don't startle them and have them accidently hurt someone.


----------



## sammyd (Mar 11, 2007)

We had one that was blind in one eye. Didn't have any problems with it.


----------



## springvalley (Jun 23, 2009)

One eye should not be a problem, just have to take your time with them and don`t get in a hurry for anything.


----------



## sv.maple (Feb 16, 2014)

Just make sure she knows your there and go on good side as much as possible. I had a cow that went blind in both eyes couldnt see anything at all. Always had to talk to her and when out to pasture always kept in same one never took her out of milking herd when dry she knew the pasture and where fences were never a problem. Had the ocasional misjudgeing of barn door n walk inta barn wall or stall deviders but if with others usually fine.


----------



## FarmerIvan (Dec 30, 2013)

What could be some causes of blindness? Besides pinkeye. A gal that I got the heifers from said they were twins one of em is fine, a bit bigger but the blind one is smaller and doesn't have one eye. She's smart and acts like her sister. They run around, eat. Could there have been some problems with em with they were young?


----------



## idigbeets (Sep 3, 2011)

scratched corneas as a calf from tall grasses / seed heads can cause blindness, pink eye, ingestion of jimson weed... , any sort of infection of the eye, I'm sure there are more reasons. 

The point is, with one blind eye that cow will be fine


----------



## Oakshire_Farm (Dec 4, 2008)

I have a blind holstein, she was the sweetest cow. BUT she was HORRIBLE on fences! She would walk right through them. I would run a top stand of electric she would touch it and spook and go through the fence. The pasture had a little bit of over grown, she ALWAYS have weaping eyes, she would poke her eyes on everything. I had to keep a horse fly mask on her to protect her eyes. The only reason we butchered her was that she never cycled. My plan was to use her as a nurse cow, but after 2 years, with a bull on the other side of the fence, she never showed a heat. So we butchered her. She would have been a fantastic nurse cow, I could have just filled the field with calves!


----------



## momagoat61 (Mar 30, 2008)

vultures are the main reason around here for blind calf's. Had a calf born at noon on Friday of last week and mom went out to check on the cow and 13 vultures had almost wore the cow down so much she was about to give up her new born calve to them, cow was hot and her tougue was hanging down from running at the vultures, not a sight you want to go out to. Lucky we didn't lose the calfs eyes to them before mom got them ran off. Had a blind cow for 9 years and that's what happen to her eyes when she was being born. We hate calfs born during the day, much reather have calfs born at night for the very reason.


----------



## Awnry Abe (Mar 21, 2012)

No issues whatsoever, except at working time. They have a more difficult time figuring out what you want of them. Nothing that patience won't compensate for. Out in open pasture, absolutely no issues. They can calve, too.


----------



## FarmerIvan (Dec 30, 2013)

Since they are a few months younger than my bull calves, do yall think they'll be fine together especially the blind one? We've had them all together for about two weeks now and they seem fine. The bulls only sniff the heifers behind but they don't try to mount them. The bulls mount eachother lol. Should I just keep an eye out or should we separate em? And do any of yall know about making a homemade chute? We haven't seen any stores local that have cattle chutes.


----------



## gone-a-milkin (Mar 4, 2007)

FarmerIvan, You have been repeatedly advised that if you keep those heifers in with the intact bulls they will get bred at a young age.
The moment they come into heat you can bet your bottom dollar the bulls will mount them.
You are taking a risk.


----------



## FarmerIvan (Dec 30, 2013)

Right right right. I forgot about the heat cycle. We'll be getting em castrated here soon. So we won't have to deal with em getting testy with us.


----------



## Awnry Abe (Mar 21, 2012)

I've have a calf that had a serious jaw infection. It eventually blew out an eye. No amount of antibiotics did any good. He is an add mix of breed, so he is destined for my freezer anyway.

Do NOT expose those young heifers to a bull. You'll ruin them. Once weaned, you should count on as early as 8 months to be sexually active. Let them get bred then, and you've wasted them.


----------



## FarmerDavid (Jul 16, 2012)

Awnry Abe said:


> I've have a calf that had a serious jaw infection. It eventually blew out an eye. No amount of antibiotics did any good. He is an add mix of breed, so he is destined for my freezer anyway.
> 
> Do NOT expose those young heifers to a bull. You'll ruin them. Once weaned, you should count on as early as 8 months to be sexually active. Let them get bred then, and you've wasted them.


Why do you say they are wasted? I've talked with several local farmers that have had accidents and got a heifer bred young and still made a good cow. Even know one guy that does it on purpose, claims by doing that and continually moving his breeding season up he gets an extra calf out of a cow in her life time. I'm certainly not advocating that just curious why you say it wastes them?


----------



## G. Seddon (May 16, 2005)

What I have learned is that breeding too early puts both the heifer and her calf at risk. 

While the heifer may have reached puberty, she is not physically mature, she is still growing and her growth will be negatively affected by being pregnant. Some people think that a heifer should be at least 15 months old about 60-65% of her adult weight when first bred. (When we keep a heifer, I bump that time up so that she will calve in either fall or spring...heifer might be 20 months old, which is fine by me.)

There are risks of injury associated with breeding a young/small heifer to a mature bull.

She is not emotionally mature; she'll make a better mother when she's a bit older (less likely to reject the calf and more likely to nurture it).

The younger she is, the greater the chance of dystocia (difficult birth) and breeding back will probably take longer.

Yes, you might get an additional calf out of a cow over her lifetime, but why do this at the expense of your cow's health?

If you realize that a heifer has been bred too young, your vet can give an injection to terminate that pregnancy. It won't affect her breeding in the future.

I'm sure other people can chime in on this too.


----------



## Awnry Abe (Mar 21, 2012)

FarmerDavid said:


> Why do you say they are wasted? I've talked with several local farmers that have had accidents and got a heifer bred young and still made a good cow. Even know one guy that does it on purpose, claims by doing that and continually moving his breeding season up he gets an extra calf out of a cow in her life time. I'm certainly not advocating that just curious why you say it wastes them?



Only say it because I have the bone pile to back it up. My very first season with a group of heifers, I lacked the patience, resources, skill, ability, wisdom, etc. to run a group of heifers apart from the herd, so I tossed them back in with everyone after weaning. That put calving at 24 months, give or take. I had a mix of success(luck) and tragedy. Taken collectively, it appears at this point that I gained nothing. I suppose if I had a particular bull, and particular heifers, I could do it. But my starter herd is complete randomness in the gene pool. So I am going to continue to do as I do now and turn them in when the bull comes out in March, so they will be ready when he comes back in June. That will be 30 months, give or take. I am pretty hopeful that this 6 months will make a difference.


----------



## G. Seddon (May 16, 2005)

Awnry Abe said:


> I am pretty hopeful that this 6 months will make a difference.


 
I bet it will.


----------



## FarmerDavid (Jul 16, 2012)

G. Seddon said:


> What I have learned is that breeding too early puts both the heifer and her calf at risk.
> 
> While the heifer may have reached puberty, she is not physically mature, she is still growing and her growth will be negatively affected by being pregnant. Some people think that a heifer should be at least 15 months old about 60-65% of her adult weight when first bred. (When we keep a heifer, I bump that time up so that she will calve in either fall or spring...heifer might be 20 months old, which is fine by me.)
> 
> ...


I've just been asking because I have a heifer that got bred young and I'm trying to decide if I should give her a shot or not. It almost is funny to hear the differences in experiences, opinions and advice. With that I'm not talking about on here I'm talking about farmers in my community. I really feel that they are genuine in their advice. Most everyone here breds heifers to calve at 24months. The guy that breds young intentionally will AI on their second heat. He claims to not have alot of problems and he watches them like a hawk when its time to calve. His approach is 100% not for me but he dÃ´es have nice cattle. 

I'd been leaning towards giving my heifer the shot but the curiosity of the 22vs24 months with her led me to ask several questions. The wasted comment just made me ask more. When is to late to give the shot to a heifer?


----------



## G. Seddon (May 16, 2005)

I *think* it can be given between 8 and 60 days after exposure to the bull. But you should check with your vet before giving it (you'd have to get the drug from the vet anyway).


----------



## sv.maple (Feb 16, 2014)

U can give shot at any time. If just bred or late preg she WILL abort the calf.


----------



## tommyanunnaki (Apr 30, 2014)

I had a 4H steer when I was a kid that somehow poked his eye out on an S hook that we used to latch the gate. To this day I don't know how he managed to do it. He went on to have a normal life. He would cock his head around to look at stuff. He didn't make a very good show calf. He would always cock his head around to look at stuff when I was trying to get his feet set.


----------



## FarmerDavid (Jul 16, 2012)

G. Seddon said:


> I *think* it can be given between 8 and 60 days after exposure to the bull. But you should check with your vet before giving it (you'd have to get the drug from the vet anyway).


My heifer I thought was bred is in heat so I dodged that bullet!


----------



## 65284 (Sep 17, 2003)

When I was a youngster a neighbor gave me a blind calf, 1/2 Holstein 1/2 Guernsey. I bottle raised her and became my nurse cow and she was a 4 legged milk factory, she raised a lot of bull calves from nearby dairies. Back then bull calves were given away or knocked in the head. 

She had exclusive use of a part of a small barn and her own 5 acre pasture. She quickly learned her way around and never had any problems. She raised 8-10 calves a year for about 8 years, the best mama cow a person could ask for.


----------

