show heifer accident

[Mcdonald Show Animals]

We have a Angus show heifer that we have just started halter breaking. It was going to be my daughters first show calf, I have halter broke numerous calves probably 50 for myself and for people I have worked for this heifer has been doing great we are home today and had her tied in the barn we went in to eat lunch about 30 minutes later  I went back out and was going to get stuff ready to wash her while my daughter ate her desert I got out there and she must of gotten spooked and fell I guess she broke her neck or suffocated I have never had anything like this happen before my daughter is 6 turning seven this was supposed to be her first show calf now she does not have one and I feel like it is all my fault.  what to do? 

 

[showsteerdlux]

Sorry bout the heifer. Sometimes those things happen and are just apart of working with cattle. When we lost our first show heifers calf last year I was upset and wondered what i could have done to prevent it(in this case nothing, cow aborted). The man we bought her from has had cattle all his life and he said I know it stinks to lose them but he reminded me that if you've got them your gonna lose them. We usually don't leave our calves tied, but I can understand with trying to halter break her. I guess bout the only thing you can do is try it again. hope telling your daughter isn't to hard for you and hopefully you will have better success next time.

 

[red]

I am so sorry! I was just talking to Frostback about her daughter's heifer. With animals things happen, no matter how careful or how well meaning. Talk to her, let her know it was just something that happened. Let her cry & mourn her heifer.
Where are you located?

Red :'(

 

[cattlejunky]

I am so sorry for your lose :'(. We have had some friends have freaky things like that happen.  I am a nervous nellie so I stay in the barn while they are tied just as precaution.  

 

[knabe]

couple things come to mind.  in college, we had one steer jump in the feed bunk and hang himself in about 3 minutes.  nobody had a knife, or could get one in time.
i know this will sound a little pompous, but i would never leave an animal tied up that couldn't lay down if i went away.  i only tie their heads up if i'm going to be there, and even then i usually don't do it.  sometimes i get the feeling that they are scared to put up a fuss with one standing there as we will probably just tie them up tighter to "teach" them how to behave.  sorry it happened.  try again.  not trying to say one isn't careful, but i just don't believe in leaving them if they can't fall over and get to the ground being tied up.  had that happen with a horse at school, and that one lived, thank goodness.  it was on cement, and a little too slick and she panicked.

 

[frostback]

I am  so sorry that happened. With livestock anything can and at some point will happen. It is one of lifes lessons but it is so tuff when it happens to someone so young. When you figure out what to say do you mind letting me know I may need the speech. Remember you did not do this and it is not your fault things just happen.

 

[ROAD WARRIOR]

So sorry for you and your daughter. I know that many people tie their calves heads up and go on about other things and never have a problem. I personally never leave one tied up high unattended. I break between 20 and 40 a year, these are my income for a year and a freak accident costs me money so I'm going to try and prevent as many as I can. I also keep a sharp knife in the tie up area of the barn, sometimes it nearly impossible to untie a knot with the full weight of a calf hanging on it.

 

[Telos]

I'm so sorry. Mourn, then go on and try again. Lessons...I hate lessons like this. This horrible accident will make you stronger and it is a reminder to all of us that bad things can happen.

 

[Mcdonald Show Animals]

well I have told her  she was dissapointed and cried a while. she wants to get on line and find some where to go look for another heifer. I thought she had enough rope that nothing would happen when we have kids we tend to change the way we would normally do things usually I would have been right there. We live in central oklahoma so I guess we might look for another heifer but with christmas just getting over money will be tight. every one just remember this next time you're about to walk away from one that is tied up I never thought it would happen to us but here we are. Now we just have to pick up the pieces and move forward. Thanks for the advice ??? ???

 

[ATOZ]

This may not help but when i was 11 we bought a dang good hereford show heifer ( first heifer that we paid alot for) i could walk up to her a rub her back in the open lot. One day she got herself untied and was walking around the pen and my mom caught her and tied her to a post. Before she could call my dad to tell him she  wrapped herself around the post and suffocated herself. To this day i still remember my mom crying and blaming herself but you know what ... kids are smarter than we give them credit for ,they know stuff happens. I never did blame my mom but my memory off that day was of her crying. My advice is to say sorry i did not mean for this to happen and go out and buy her another one , if it has to be cheaper so be it , and have fun with it. My main point of me rambling on is that i never did blame my Mom and your daughter will not blame you .... you will blame yourself  more than she will. Sorry for your loss.

 

[doubled]

Im so sorry to hear about the heiifer, that is awful, our show calves were always a part of our family, when we sold steers I always shed a tear for them and
their demise, my Dad always took them when I was a little girl when I was gone in school, the worst I remember is leading my calf onto the semi at Denver with the show halter on
and letting him loose in the semi, broke my heart in two.  Keep hanging in there, unfortunately its a lesson that all kids have to learn, I feel so sorry for all of you.
Hope you can find something to replace the one you lost.  Good Luck and give your daughter a hug.

 

[kanshow]

I'm so sorry....    :'(

 

[DLD]

Sorry to hear this. I'm always scared to go off and leave one tied up the first time, no matter how many times or for how long they've been tied up before. Sometimes it just happens.

I'm not too far away from you, sounds like. Feel free to PM me if you need any help finding another one.

 

[renegade]

I am soooo scared of something like that happening that i stay there when they are tied up because i have seen horses freak and i have heard too many stories. I am sorry that happend to your heifer, but when god closes one door he opens a window and i think that every thing happens for a reason.

At our fair we also have to lead our own cattle to the semi, no matter how young or how old. I cry and i know some guys that dont but i have seen the biggest, nicest, football player at the fair cry for his steer but every one hugs everyone else and the family cries together and we get that much closer. It was hard on my brother last year he was sad/ even a little mad for like a week but i was his first year. And you know what we move on and in a day or two we cant wait to get the next calf and start it all over again!

 

[Show Dad]

These things always seem to happen at the most inconvenient times. But that is why they are such a test of character. Not just yours but your daughters as well. I am sure it will bring you and her closer in your relationship.

 

[SKF]

Sorry about your daughters heifer. Its always so much harder when it happens to one of the kids calves. We have had a few freak accidents over the years.Two of them this year. I hope she finds another heifer soon.

 

[chambero]

You probably already know all of this, but my observations on tying calves up while breaking (some learned the hard way also):

Either tie them up very tight where they don't think they can move much or tie them loose enough to lay down.  A little bit of rope will hang hang one (no pun intended).  Restricted movement is best - they can't get enough momentum to hurt themselves.

I never leave them till they are good and broke.  That's a judgmeent call, but bad things happen.

I was taught at a very young age never to work on wild calves without a pocket knife in my pocket - just in case.  When they pull those ropes tight, you can't always untie them.

 

[Mcdonald Show Animals]

Well we are going to try and find another heifer asap so if any one in our area has some we can look at please let me know. I usually dont leave them tied up like I did her I thought she had enough rope if anything happened I see I was wrong the thing everyone has said about having a knife there we keep one right there in the feed room but when I got there it was to late. Thanks for everyones condolences feel free to send info on calves that you have for sale. My daughter wants to start looking soon.

 

[CAB]

You know, I've been reading all of these posts about the loss of these projects the last couple of days and actually having fond memories, both happy and sad, but fond all of the same. Our son is what we call our fall pig, meaning that we were blessed late in life with a son. This will probably be our last yr in the Jr. deal. Our FFA program is not too good. The memories that we talked about the most here are of coarse the successes, but also probably just as much, the heartaches. You all know that we lost a very good heifer to bloat here this fall, I was thinking of my oldest daughter's 1st project. She was a cool smokey Simi heifer that she bought from Buck & Sally Mueller, that is Mark' aunt & uncle for you Maine enthusiast. She died one frosty late April morning from bloat 18 years ago.She did get to show her. She was coming with her first calf @ the time. Often think of that heifer & think what if. We were very attached to her. Another one that is remembered frequently is one that is very similar to this deal. She was a Simi X heifer that was nervous. We were tying up a short dozen calves mid day, I was not as patient as I could, or should have been, I tied this heifer up, and you could tell she was very upset, My middle daughter made the comment that we needed to let her go, but that was all the inspiration that I needed to proceed. We went to the farrowing house to process some litters, came back roughly 30 minutes later, no longer for sure. She was in big trouble by that time. I shouted for Brooke to go get the Eppy, but it was too late. That heifer absolutely died of shock. Mostly my fault . Should have listened to my little helper. Have had calm calves jump gates, land on kids, broken bones, about anything go wrong that can, but my point after all that babbling is, it's still what we talk about around here, and all of these things are what makes this such a challenge and joy @ the same time. It's interesting to hear you all talk about your kids and their different gifts. My oldest and youngest have the worst luck, and my middle one that, yes, did use the pipe is some kind of calf whisperer. She definitely has a great gift around livestock. I know that we will all pick ourselves up and be a lot stronger for what God has chosen to put B4 us to make us stronger and bond together. Cab

 

[SWMO]

These are the life lessons that stay with us the longest.  It's unfortunate to lose any animal however, it is a fact of life that animals and people do die.  It's how we teach our children to deal with the tragedies and the triumphs if their lives that make them great well-adjusted and productive adults.