Short ears!

[cowman]

Do you ever get sick of how cattle buyers discount a calf with short ears? If he's missing an inch or so, knock ten cents right off the top! Their excuse is he might go lame...Duh! It's his ears stupid, not his legs!!!
After getting screwed like that a few times in my younger days I just refuse to let those thieves steal them. I keep them at home until they are yearlings and then sell them. Miraculously they are now very acceptable with no price discount! No more concerns with lameness!
I hope everybody doesn't try this though or the cattle buyers will have to come up with a whole new scheme to screw us! Maybe curly coats or not enough pigment in the hair!
Another thing is if a calf got a rough ride in the truck or at the mart and he might limp a tiny bit or have a little blood on him, suddenly he is worth less than the oldest cow on earth! I had one calf who had a little horn scur that got knocked off...suddenly you would have thought he had BSE, TB, and probably rabies! Half price! The auctioneer was happy as hell to sell him to his drinking buddy until I stood up and said NO SALE! Well they were upset with me because I'd ruined their litle crooked game but to hell with that! I took him home and took him to another mart the next week and guess what? Suddenly he wasn't a pariah and he sold right up with the rest! And the same buyer bought him!!!
It is very important to be there when your cattle sell so these "respectable" cow thieves stay honest!

[15444]

One thing about the short ears. It is very true that you get paid better for short eared yearlings then calves. This is because the buyer now knows that if that calf made it through its winter without any problems with its feet, it is healthy and it is worth the same as any normal animal. They don't have to worry cause that calf won't see a second winter. Buyers do have a right to discriminate against short eared calves though. We have had calves with frozen ears whose feet bugger up on them in the winter.

[kato]

You're right about the watching them sell. We have passed lots of them, and got dirty looks every time. We have never gotten less for them when we brought them back either. Sometimes one week can make you a hundred dollars.

I remember one weanling pig sale in particular that happened many years ago. Absolutely every animal whose owner stayed and watched went home again! The ones who took off to the mall, and came back for the cheque were just fuming when they got back.

When only one buyer shows up, that's what happens. There's no one to keep them honest.

[cowman]

You know 15444 I've never had a short eared calf founder. But then I don't pour the barley to them like there's no tommorrow and my cows and calves are in deep straw when they are born.
I don't get many short eared calves because most are born in the barn but there are always one or two surprizes that may be outside for an hour or two and it doesn't take very long at -40 with a wind.
If a person has a calf with frozen ears duct tape(the handy mans best friend) works great for holding the ears to the body!

[kato]

We have had more than one cow make it well into her teens with no ears. We have also had calves freeze their ears at the end of April.

Short ears combined with a short tail would be more of a worry, since it indicates a more severe freezing.