Should I call someone and if so...whom?

[zohdee]

I am really upset right now.  There is a farm behind our house that has dairy cattle.  Most are females who are pregnant.  When I got home from work my daughter told me there was a cow stuck at the farm.  I went back and through the fence I saw the cow laying on its side with one leg up.  Not knowing who the owner of the farm was, I called the farm that I did know who owned it.  They came down, looked at the cow, made a call and told me someone would be there in 10 mins for the downed cow.  It has now been two hours and no one has come.  If that cow was alive at that point (and the calves inside her) I am sure they are now dead.

Is this some kind of neglect?

 

[sugarcatmom]

Is there an SPCA you can call? 

 

[AbbysMom]

What became of this? Does your town have an animal control officer? I would start there.

 

[zohdee]

Nothing.  They came in the dark of night to remove the body. 

What infuriates me is there is no one who looks after these animals.  I know more about their cattle then they do.  I understand cattle is business but I cannot understand the lack of supervision.  I was given a phone number for the "owner" of the farm but it was not a working number.

What happened to farmers living on the farm and taking care of their stock?  It is now some faceless company who doesn't care about the well being of their animals.

Maybe I will contact PETA.

 

[trouts mom]

 

[mani]

The fact that these animals are called 'livestock' has always irked me...  such a cold, financial word.

However it has been interesting to watch the different farmers over here during our huge floods.. Many of the farmers, even on the big properties, were so terribly concerned about their cattle.. the interviewers would talk in terms of the farmer losing money, but the farmers were obviously so much more distraught about what their animals were going through.  It helped to restore my faith, but golly I felt for those poor beasts.

 

[swampwitch]

That's a horrible story, and you did the right thing trying to contact the owner, that's all you could do. But unless the entire herd is in poor shape, I really doubt that the owner didn't care if the cow and the calf died. Ranchers want their cattle alive and healthy; this is their reputation in addition to their families' livelihood. All the ranchers I've ever known rely on neighbors to alert them downed fences and cattle in distress, and they do the same. Ranches are big, ranchers can't be everywhere at once, sometimes they go on vacation, sometimes the people they hire to watch the herd don't do their job very well. 

The best thing you can for the cattle and your peace of mind is to get emergency contact info for the person in charge of the ranch behind your house. Nobody wants this kind of thing to happen again.

 

[momto3boys]

Oh goodness, that poor cow but I agree with others, Im sure the farmer didn't want this to happen

And please, whatever you do, no matter the circumstance, DO NOT, I repeat, NEVER call PETA for anything.

 

[gailc]

I would call the local sheriff's dept next time.  One of my BIL's owns a fairly large dairy operation nearby and that would never happen anywhere on their properties.  It could be a case of neglect depending on the condition of the other cows.  I live in a big farming area and I can't ever saw I saw a downed cow.  This must not be a responsible owner.  You could also contact a large animal vet in your area to pose this question of whom to contact if this occurs again.  Again at my BIL's farm their vet is their several times a week and they have a great herd health program in place. (we complain about our vet bills-theirs is $$$!)

By me there is a business who takes the downer cows not quite sure what they do with them but I do see their trucks.

If you want more info I can call my SIL to ask what they do.