(5/2019) One of the most frustrating things in veterinary medicine is when I know I could save an animal's life, but the animal is too uncooperative and won't allow me to handle it, so instead it dies. While uncooperative cats, dogs, goats, sheep and chickens can still be very difficult, usually I can get them sedated so they can be examined and safely worked with. Larger animals such as horses and cattle are even more challenging.

While the majority of horses can be handled enough to at least get sedated for further exam, cows are sometimes so minimally handled that I am lucky if I can get within 20 feet of them. While some clinics have dart guns for such animals, our clinic does not. Instead we rely on our clients to appropriately train their animals so that they can safely be handled. With the exception of beef cattle, almost all of the other animals we work with are at least basically trained. While a dairy cow may not be halter trained, she is trained to go and stand in the stanchion so she can be examined and treated.

The most common emergency I treat in beef cows is dystocia. While most of the time the calf can be manipulated into the correct position and successfully delivered, the cow has to be cooperative and stand still for this to happen. Last year I was called to a farm. The owner had noticed that the calf's front leg was hanging out of the cow but that it wasn't being delivered. The owner hadn't called immediately because it had taken him a couple of hours to corral the cow into a large paddock. He'd had to have his neighbors bring their four-wheelers over and chase the cow into the paddock. Unfortunately he didn't have a chute.

While the barn had old stanchions in it, he was unable to get the cow into the barn. Unfortunately not only would this cow not let you catch her, she'd also charge you and try to run you over if you got closer than 20 feet to her. I told the farmer that unfortunately I would not be able to help him unless he could get someone who could restrain the cow. I told him he could call around to some of the other vet clinics or animal control and see if they had a dart gun. The other option was to wait until she got too weak to run away and then maybe I could get the calf out if the cow didn't die first. Unfortunately the cow and calf died.

More recently I was called out to treat a different beef cow that was also having difficulty calving. This herd of cows belongs to a retired government worker. While he and his family had always farmed, now that he is retired, he has more time to spend with his beef herd. He doesn't have a large herd but he keeps a tidy operation that is in good repair and has friendly cows that are accustomed to being in close proximity to their owner. While the owner was working in the barn and getting ready to put in some ear tags, he noticed that one of his cows was having contractions but that she wasn't delivering the calf. He called me, as well as his adult son and friend to come help.

By the time I got to the farm, the cow was already in the barn. With a little bit of grain, they were able to bribe her to go into a standing stall and put a halter on her head and secure her. While she was standing quietly, I was able to determine that the calf was a breech and trying to come out backwards. Luckily the calf wasn't too large so I was able to manipulate him and pull him out backwards with help from the son. While the son wasn't used to working on the farm he willingly helped me pull the calf out. During the delivery the son got manure on his face and wanted to go wash it off. His dad laughed and told him Òwelcome to farmingÓ and instructed him that he was to keep helping me pull until the calf was out and then he could go wash up.

Luckily it was a relatively easy dystocia and I had the calf out less than 15 minutes after arriving at the farm. A few moments later we untied the cow and then the calf was up and nursing. I was delighted to see that the calf was alive, as was the farmer.

Unfortunately, dystocias aren't always noticed right away and the calf dies inside before I arrive. I thanked the farmer for being so attentive and noticing that there was a problem while I could make a difference. I also told him that I appreciated that he trained his beef cows to be tied in a stall. He told me that he understood that if Òyou can't catch them, you can't treat themÓ and so he made an effort every day to work with the cows enough that they could at least be restrained. He did admit that none of them were trained enough that you could lead them anywhere by the halter but he found that he could bribe them with grain to go where he wanted.

I find that breech presentation is harder to fix than calves trying to come out forward but with a leg caught back. However since the more difficult presenting dystocia was the easier to work with cow, it was a successful delivery. Unfortunately you can't talk to animals and explain to them that you are just trying to help them. Instead, as a vet, I rely on the owners to have consistently worked with their animal so that they can safely secure them so that they can be handled. There are few feelings worse that knowing that you could have saved a life if you only could have caught your patient.