Culling a cow

A bolt gun has the correct charge and it's concentrated in one area.

^This

A captive bolt and a rimfire are not similar. Different coloured blanks (containing different powder charges) are used for different species, ensuring the job is done humanely. Still not a tool for a first -timer, as the pithing needs doing.

If I were less than an hour away I would have offered to do it myself.
 

Farmer Fin

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Aberdeenshire
Captive bolt will just stun and creates a hole in the skull, which is why they either need to be pithed to destroy the brain stem or carotid arteries cut to bleed out, as at a slaughter house.

Large enough free bullet or shotgun aimed in the right place will get to the brainstem killing them.

Lots of knackerman still use free bullet especially for horses.

As for the op if you have no experience of doing it then get someone who has.
 

cyffylog

Member
Location
Bangor, Gwynedd
Just to update those of you who offered helpful and constructive advice (and for those who posted unwarranted offence) the local disposal firm relented and offered to dispatch. The cow was put down with a bolt gun, pithed and collected on Tues . Although she repeatedly tried she could not get to stand. She kept her head perfectly still as I gave her a drink out of a bucket as usual.

A rather tearful, undignified and thankless end to a life. I bought her as a maiden heifer 16 years ago, she had 12 good trouble free calves all of which I sold as yearlings wary of the likelihood that they would inherit the fast growing hind hoof problem. She was never a particularly friendly cow but liked to be combed, very greedy and the Alpha cow in the last 10 years.

My enquiry stemmed solely from my uncertainty as to whether I could perform an equally humane dispatch as the Vet and thus not pointlessly incur Vet charges without benefit. The constructive advice offered varied, but probably came down on the side of getting experienced help rather than DIY, which I was relieved to achieve.

Cyffylog
 

Dry Rot

Member
Livestock Farmer
Surely if you keep livestock ..... the how do I dispatch one in an emergency thing should have been thought about before this point in time ?

I do not understand the pet owners who merrily go in for breeding ("It'll be good for the kids") and fail to accept that Nature will experiment. And in the absence of her own remedies, which are seldom humane, we have a duty to do what is necessary. No criticism of the OP who has asked for advice and done the right thing.
 
Just to update those of you who offered helpful and constructive advice (and for those who posted unwarranted offence) the local disposal firm relented and offered to dispatch. The cow was put down with a bolt gun, pithed and collected on Tues . Although she repeatedly tried she could not get to stand. She kept her head perfectly still as I gave her a drink out of a bucket as usual.

A rather tearful, undignified and thankless end to a life. I bought her as a maiden heifer 16 years ago, she had 12 good trouble free calves all of which I sold as yearlings wary of the likelihood that they would inherit the fast growing hind hoof problem. She was never a particularly friendly cow but liked to be combed, very greedy and the Alpha cow in the last 10 years.

My enquiry stemmed solely from my uncertainty as to whether I could perform an equally humane dispatch as the Vet and thus not pointlessly incur Vet charges without benefit. The constructive advice offered varied, but probably came down on the side of getting experienced help rather than DIY, which I was relieved to achieve.

Cyffylog
Glad you got things sorted, to me you came over as someone who cared for their stock and came on here looking for some helpful advice.
It’s a shame this thread didn’t go entirely as you would have hoped but thanks for updating us as to what happened.
 
FFS by the time you have ballsed about at that the vet would been out and cow put down within the hour.

I've had cows break legs and seeing them like it has me in tears.

If ever a thread needs deleting it's this one. :(
Even if I completely gave up with hunting and shooting I’d keep my certificate and a shotgun. Nothing worse than a animal on the ground while your waiting for someone else to deal with it... if you want to keep livestock you should be able to deal with dead stock
 

Wellytrack

Member
Even if I completely gave up with hunting and shooting I’d keep my certificate and a shotgun. Nothing worse than a animal on the ground while your waiting for someone else to deal with it... if you want to keep livestock you should be able to deal with dead stock

Even if you don’t own a firearm the vets would deal with something like this very quickly. I’d be surprised if it wasn’t dealt with within the hour.

Nothing wrong with someone starting a thread asking advice about a farming issue, though i wouldn’t take time to start one and wait on all the replies about what to do with an animal needing euthanised, especially for the sake of saving money.

$hit happens, I know. I’m still traumatised remembering a particularly bad year 12 years ago where I lost 16 animals over the winter due to adult scours, BVD, and viral infection, one a broken leg at feed passage, another a broken back due to a particularly aggressive cow attacking a younger animal that was added to the group that in hindsight should not have been.

Finding that animal still takes me back to the moment and gives me chills thinking about it.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

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Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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