Heifer with one eye

ITFarmer

Hi All,

Thanking you for reading my post. I have a have 21 month old limousin heifer.

Vet had to remove one of her eyes when she was a calf.

Perfectly healthy, calm/quiet, quality (easily R+) animal.

Original plan: keep till she was ready for sending to factory/mart.

Now considering holding onto her and putting her in-calf.

Anyone have an opinion on putting a one-eyed heifer in-calf?

Gods Gift

If your putting her incalf to a one eyed bull. Make sure he’s missing the same eye.

emaherx

ITFarmer wrote: »

Hi All,

Thanking you for reading my post. I have a have 21 month old limousin heifer.

Vet had to remove one of her eyes when she was a calf.

Perfectly healthy, calm/quiet, quality (easily R+) animal.

Original plan: keep till she was ready for sending to factory/mart.

Now considering holding onto her and putting her in-calf.

Anyone have an opinion on putting a one-eyed heifer in-calf?

I don't particularly see any issue with a one eyed cow, we had one in the past although she lost her eye as a cow. If the animal is quite, easily handled and can go through a crush and put behind calving gate etc without freaking out then I don't see an issue.

Rows Grower

Gods Gift wrote: »

If your putting her incalf to a one eyed bull. Make sure he’s missing the same eye.

He could be missing both eyes and ears and it wouldn't matter once the one eyed monster is functional.

Danzy

Had one that ended up blind, did fine for the months after till finishing.

One eye is enough.

She always got plenty of notice and never approached from blind side, well without letting her be certain of who it was.

blue5000

I've had a few, mostly lost from pink eye. Only thing I'd have to add is if the bad eye is on the same side of the crush as you stand on it might be harder to handle her in the crush. Then again she's a lim so you'll always be having 'fun' at the crush anyway. Try to always keep her in a group she'll be fine.

hopeso

You've had her for over a year and a half now with one eye....If you haven't seen any reason not to keep her in that time, there should be no problem....

KatyMac

I had a cow with one working eye for years and years. The only issue I ever had with her - if approaching her on the blind side make sure you make enough noise so she knows you are about, especially if she has a calf. If you suddenly appeared you might give her a hop and she might turn on you before realising it was you. I used to go into the herd singing (sounding like a cat in pain) or whistling just to give her notice.

dh1985

I had a cow with one good eye and one eye that was blind from birth due to some form of cancer. Had her for years. No bother really apart from getting her into the yard. She would be going round in circles looking for you. No other problems

Who2

I’d be sending her off to the factory. Why add the extra hassle. There will be plenty of cheap sucklers at the end of the year when this current program ends.

_Brian

It’s amazing how they adapt.

We had a deaf heifer here and she did fine. As someone mentioned above just had to be sure not to startle her walking up on them.

ITFarmer

Hi All,
Thanks for all the informative plus some amusing/funny posts. As mentioned she is very calm and causes no hassle. I agree, it is wise to alert any animal with a vision deficit when approaching them.

That is a clever point by Blue5000 with respect to an animal with one eye and your cattle-pen/chute. Ideally the animals blindside would be on the wall side of the cattle-chute.

As highlighted on one post, in general you need to be focused on ensuring the benefit of keeping an animal is greater than the cost.

tanko

ITFarmer wrote: »

Hi All,
Thanks for all the informative plus some amusing/funny posts. As mentioned she is very calm and causes no hassle. I agree, it is wise to alert any animal with a vision deficit when approaching them.

That is a clever point by Blue5000 with respect to an animal with one eye and your cattle-pen/chute. Ideally the animals blindside would be on the wall side of the cattle-chute.

As highlighted on one post, in general you need to be focused on ensuring the benefit of keeping an animal is greater than the cost.

Had a cow here years ago that lost an eye to an infection. It didn't do her any harm, i think she was kept until she was twelve.
If farmers only keep animals where the benefit is greater than the cost there's not going to be many cattle left in the country.