Excerpted from
"Zero tolerance for downer cows"

Beef Today, June/July, 2000

A downer cow in the sale barn aisle is not a pretty sight. For starters, it's a sure bet that everyone involved, including the cow, loses. To compound the problem, it is highly visible fuel for animal rights organizations.

Thankfully, it's a problem that is becoming less common. In 1994, the National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) national market cow and bull quality audit reported 1% of market cows and bulls were disabled prior to harvest. In the 1999 audit, that figure had dropped to 0.7%.

Still, Colorado State University beef specialist Tom Field says one downer cow is too many. "It's a big deal when it does happen," he says. "It yields a real, real problem for our industry. It is a public relations nightmare. Ideally, we'd like it to be a zero."

At Kentucky-Tennessee Livestock in Guthrie, KY, the issue has practically become a non-issue. "There is no market for them," says owner Mark Barnett. "If they don't walk, they don't sell. That has taken care of itself. If she isn't standing, we don't receive her." He will let a producer take an animal off the truck to euthanize her, but that's it.

Besides concern for the animal's well-being, Barnett says a downer causes a bottleneck in his Thursday sale.

"It's a nightmare of an image problem," says Terry Lemons, part owner of the Dickson Livestock Center, Dickson, Tenn. "You have got to take care of your stock."

Partner Sandy Fussell adds, "If somebody pulls up here with a down animal we will not let them unload it."

Both animal scientists and market operators agree that prevention is the best cure. "Market the animal before it turns into a bone rack," says Temple Grandin, Colorado State University (CSU) animal scientist. "The No. 1 cause [of downer problems] is letting a cow get too far gone, too skinny, too debilitated, before selling it. You've got to market them when they're still fit to travel."

Fussell agrees, advising producers to cull cows earlier. "Don't let them get as far as they do. Everybody thinks their cows have one more calf in them," he says.

The article ends with Tom Field stating, "A downer animal is a violation of our responsibility as stewards of livestock. We need to prevent these situations for a lot of reasons - the most important being, it's the right thing to do."