Cow with TB

beeswax

Just had my cattle tested for tb, one cow went down. Problem is, she has twin calves thats are 3 weeks old. Can anyone advise what can I do with these calves? It feels like a sin to get them slaughtered too, or is it the only realistic outcome?

blue5000

Isolate them anyway first, with the cow. It could be up to 2 or 3 weeks before she goes.
Try get them on meal too.
Have the dept given you any options, trouble is if the cow is rotten with tb they will most likely get it too. If she is just exposed to it they might not get it yet.
If you are in a hurry to get clear the logical thing is to try get compensation for them and slaughter them. Do you normally sell weanlings or do you keep cattle to beef?

greysides

It will proabably be a week to two before they are ready to take the cow. So there is a little time.

I'd limit the calves access to the cow (easier if the cow is isolated away from the remainder of the herd) by bringing her in and out to them. Supply calf ration to make up the loss- the limited access should help them to take to the ration. When the cow goes they will hopefully have the ration to fall back on.
It should be possible to wean them soon but they need some fall-back.

You may be able to get them to take artificial milk once the cow is gone or have a kindly neighbour with a dairy herd that would supply with some for a little while.
Alternatively, they may be old and strong enough to 'rogue' some milk if left among the other cows.

Slaughtering them is not an option.

Keep them better dosed than the remainder of the calves as they'll be taking more grass sooner and more at risk.

bob charles

there are plenty of milk cows in marts that could be used to adopt these two little fellows

snowman707

bob charles wrote: »

there are plenty of milk cows in marts that could be used to adopt these two little fellows

will op be allowed to buy in ? locked herd!

greysides

snowman707 wrote: »

will op be allowed to buy in ? locked herd!

Only at his own risk and with DVO approval, which might be hard to come by.

'At his own risk' means that should the bought in cow go down with TB there would be no compensation, only whatever the factory offered.

There would also be a chance the cow might not take to the calves after all the hassle ........................

I've never heard of calves being slaughtered should their mothers be culled.

Min

greysides wrote: »

Only at his own risk and with DVO approval, which might be hard to come by.

'At his own risk' means that should the bought in cow go down with TB there would be no compensation, only whatever the factory offered.

There would also be a chance the cow might not take to the calves after all the hassle ........................

I've never heard of calves being slaughtered should their mothers be culled.

Neither have I.

The best solution is milk powder...

whelan1

1 calf is hard enough to get on to a foster cow never mind 2

5live

whelan1 wrote: »

1 calf is hard enough to get on to a foster cow never mind 2

I always found 2 easier than 1:). Poor cow doesnt know which side to look at first.

As to slaughter, i dont think you will be left with the twins. They would have a good chance of contracting TB. A neighbour had a bad outbreak this year and was left with 2 reactor cows that were within a month of calving so they couldnt be slaughtered till they calved. One week after calving, The cows were taken and a dept vet came and put the calves down:(

I would say your situation is similar

ellewood

greysides wrote: »

Only at his own risk and with DVO approval, which might be hard to come by.

'At his own risk' means that should the bought in cow go down with TB there would be no compensation, only whatever the factory offered.

There would also be a chance the cow might not take to the calves after all the hassle ........................

I've never heard of calves being slaughtered should their mothers be culled.

does that mean you wont get any compensaton just the value of the cow for meat or does that mean if one goes down "at your own risk" the factory can give you anything they want ie nothing or do the have to give you the "market value" as if they were killing a normal cow even though she mightnt be fully finished/fat when been killed.

Jed_Bartlet

ellewood wrote: »

does that mean you wont get any compensaton just the value of the cow for meat or does that mean if one goes down "at your own risk" the factory can give you anything they want ie nothing or do the have to give you the "market value" as if they were killing a normal cow even though she mightn't be fully finished/fat when been killed.

A reactor animal is given a salvage value by a factory which is, more often than not, far less than what the animal would get if it wasn't a reactor. And a bought in animal (other than a repplacement suckler calf or a stock bull) won't be valued by the Dept. so they won't give you compensation if it goes down and if it kills out in the factory with 'Generalised TB' (i.e. riddled with TB) then you've next to no chance of being paid anything by them either.

ellewood

cheeres thanks for that info