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Eastern NE KS | Bit of a downer story from fall of '18.
Nice potential replacement heifer died. Upon posting, we found a Walmart plastic bag in her gut.
Prior to her weaning and death she lost her appetite and had very watery bowel. I can't say I gave her all-out medical attention but I did offer fancy feed and treated w/ mineral oil drench and Sustain III blouses. This was a little silly because anything I offered was a new diet. I should have retrieved her mother to nurse (if she would). She became very depressed and died within a couple of days.
Here's the deal: A good heifer was lost to a circumstances beyond my complete control. The bag probably tumbled, wind blown into the pasture and a curious heifer went after it.
I have no idea how I can prevent this from reoccurring except:
All foreign materials are picked up when seen. I don't care if I'm late for church, I stop and get it. I have found mylar balloons, latex balloons, July 4th lanterns, water bottles and silage bag remnants. We use netwrap and have always worked hard at not creating a problem. After this heifer, I doubled down to pickup 'threads' around bale rings.
This seems like a lot of stuff and the place is a trash heap. Not at all. Stuff in the wind gets my attention when seen, not when convenient.
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Mind your plastic and anything else....
