The most horrific horn injury

[Mkay]

After a 5hr run down to the 'local' abattoir with sheep we came home to a yearling heifer trapped in a corner being savaged by a grown heifer.

After shooing her off her and seeing her horns dyed red I rang the vet before even inspecting the damage.
Once in the crush and we could see, my god! I have never seen anything so horrific, it was like a shark attack!

The heifer had put her horn in though the vulva and then torn it out upward..over and over and over again.

Her vulva and anus were shredded and a good portion of her rump also. Now for the good part, the vet.
Ian Miller of Donald Macgregor, Wick. Without a second thought or suggestion of PTS started reconstructive surgery, thankfully she had little to know nerves left and didnt require an epidural so she remained standing (and eating, her resilience was remarkable! ). He worked on her for 2hrs solid.

The main points were that by some miracle only 7/8 of her rectum were detached, so as it was still there Ian was able to rebuild a lot of surrounding tissue and repair the anus, she will not however ever be able to be serviced or calved.

She is now passing solids and liquid, so prognosis is better as long as we can avoid infection.

The heifer was de-horned the next day. No one will ever convince me again that they do not do any damage with their horns to one another!

Annoyingly that heifer is a gentel beast, but the youngsters mother is a nut job. (We were sold her as 'a bit lively' which she was fine in the field but once she sees hurdels she gets nervous and once inside down right dangerous (going in the building is like getting in a Spanish bull ring)) she had bullied the heifer in to a corner along with the youngster and wouldn't let her out, so the heifer had taken it out on the youngster in front of her.

[Duncan MacIntyre]

Well done that vet!

I used to keep horns on all of mine, and in winter they were tied up in a wee byre. When the herd expanded and I build a larger shed with lose pens for the winter, cows which were very happy with each other outside turned into fiends when penned, and the horns had to come off.

The boss cow of my herd incidentaly has been Saltaire Drill since 2000, prior to all the dehornings - she is polled.

Duncan