Several years ago, a cow belonging to father-in-law had a heifer calf with a tiny stub of a tail. You know what would have happened if we sold her. Suddenly, the market for ox-tail soup would have affected the feeder calf market. We kept her and she’s been a consistently good mama.
This baby is in no way related to “Stubby”. This calf has no tail at all. A birth defect. . . and as Bonnie said not having a tail is not a good thing for a cow.
When I first saw the picture, I thought maybe this was some new breed that I hadn’t heard of! Duh!
Karen, I know you are a connoisseur of fine snake photos, so I’d like to share one with you. Check out the July 29 post at houseofsnark.com. He’s a big fella–like “how they grow’em in Texas” big!
Arrrrgh - not only did you mention snake, you mentioned photo. Hillbilly Mom, what ever am I going to do with you?!
I surrender. I give up. I’m waving the white flag. It’s all over now, Baby Blue. Will you be joining Babs & the Diva on our new team snake blog?
Now I’ll have to mention:
baby copperhead snake photos
black rat snake photos
diamondback rattlesnake photos
cottonmouth photos
poisonous snake photos
bull snake photos
coral snake photos
anaconda photos
boa constrictor photos
asp photos
pet snake photos
garter snake photos
fake snake photos
snake hoax photos
snake in the toilet bowl photos
snake in the window photos
snake in the outhouse photos
snake on the subway photos
Please feel free to add any snake photo names that I can’t think of right now in the comments. . .
Okay, now I’m guaranteed a few more thousand hits. I guess I’d better go look for some snakes - or photos - for the disappointed masses. I’m visiting Texas now, thanks.
That little guy is super cute! I miss see little calves running and jumping around in the sun. I drove around in the country here this spring just to see them play. Poor guy with no tail though…
I could send you some snake photos, but then I haven’t been to a baseball game here in Arizona in some time. (The home team is known as the Arizona Diamondbacks.)
The calf and I have a lot of common: I haven’t gotten much tail either. ;=)
SB is right, Manx cats actually suffer from spina bifida and are unable to walk properly and tend to hop along.
I would be very carefull about breeding from this calf.
I lived in a spooky old house in the equally spooky Hollywood Hills while in college. The house had been handed down from student to student, as well as 6 Manx cats. Rumor had it they had lived there since the glory days of the 1930’s when a starlet owned the home (it did sit one block above Graumanns/Hollywood Blvd). They were mostly healthy and a few could jump to a height of 6 feet from the floor. “Spidermomma” once ate 4 of her own litter, leaving just the paws to let us know. We thought they were inbred. They were freaky cats.
Good thing you have photos to prove this tale or tailless.
Saw a calf once whose tail had frozen and fallen off but yours is the first I’ve seen ‘au naturel’. I’ve heard of dairies in Australia removing tails but I don’t believe that it’s a very common practice.
Richard - some feedlots will remove part of the tail - for obvious reasons - yuck - which is probably why those dairies would. We have had frozen parts of tails, along with ears, sigh . . . another reason for the $ to be fooled with at sale time. You know that those ears and tails are so much in demand.
We also have had tails tore by coyotes. Our two wolf experiences were much more dramatic.
Tony - Spidermomma - great name - spooky story. We have a neighbor with a pack (flock? herd?) of mutant cats. Haven’t noticed manxes - you don’t want to get too close - if you catch my drift. But the majority of the inbred crew are polydactyl - their feet are almost as large as their heads.
July 30th, 2005 at 6:43 am
That little one is going to need “OFF” to keep the bugs away as it isn’t going to do any swishing! bonnie
July 30th, 2005 at 6:44 am
Oh Dear!!! What happened?
Sam’s Darling Wife
July 30th, 2005 at 7:29 am
She was born that way.
Several years ago, a cow belonging to father-in-law had a heifer calf with a tiny stub of a tail. You know what would have happened if we sold her. Suddenly, the market for ox-tail soup would have affected the feeder calf market. We kept her and she’s been a consistently good mama.
This baby is in no way related to “Stubby”. This calf has no tail at all. A birth defect. . . and as Bonnie said not having a tail is not a good thing for a cow.
July 30th, 2005 at 8:13 am
When I first saw the picture, I thought maybe this was some new breed that I hadn’t heard of! Duh!
Karen, I know you are a connoisseur of fine snake photos, so I’d like to share one with you. Check out the July 29 post at houseofsnark.com. He’s a big fella–like “how they grow’em in Texas” big!
July 30th, 2005 at 8:40 am
Arrrrgh - not only did you mention snake, you mentioned photo. Hillbilly Mom, what ever am I going to do with you?!
I surrender. I give up. I’m waving the white flag. It’s all over now, Baby Blue. Will you be joining Babs & the Diva on our new team snake blog?
Now I’ll have to mention:
baby copperhead snake photos
black rat snake photos
diamondback rattlesnake photos
cottonmouth photos
poisonous snake photos
bull snake photos
coral snake photos
anaconda photos
boa constrictor photos
asp photos
pet snake photos
garter snake photos
fake snake photos
snake hoax photos
snake in the toilet bowl photos
snake in the window photos
snake in the outhouse photos
snake on the subway photos
Please feel free to add any snake photo names that I can’t think of right now in the comments. . .
Okay, now I’m guaranteed a few more thousand hits. I guess I’d better go look for some snakes - or photos - for the disappointed masses. I’m visiting Texas now, thanks.
July 30th, 2005 at 9:37 am
So how about “snake on a plate” photos with recipes? bonnie
July 30th, 2005 at 10:23 am
That little guy is super cute! I miss see little calves running and jumping around in the sun. I drove around in the country here this spring just to see them play. Poor guy with no tail though…
July 30th, 2005 at 6:42 pm
I could send you some snake photos, but then I haven’t been to a baseball game here in Arizona in some time. (The home team is known as the Arizona Diamondbacks.)
The calf and I have a lot of common: I haven’t gotten much tail either. ;=)
Kirk
July 30th, 2005 at 10:11 pm
Manx *cats* sometimes have problems related to the mutation — hope this little calf will be ok.
July 30th, 2005 at 11:52 pm
What are problems which can arrise from the calf not having a tail? [Us cityfolk are clueless
]
July 31st, 2005 at 7:43 am
Hopefully, the lack of a tail is simply that - but only time will tell.
No tail = being without a free hand when the mosquitos & flies swarm around your head
Have you ever noticed how two horses will stand - head to tail? They’re helping each other swat flies.
July 31st, 2005 at 12:18 pm
SB is right, Manx cats actually suffer from spina bifida and are unable to walk properly and tend to hop along.
I would be very carefull about breeding from this calf.
July 31st, 2005 at 1:19 pm
I lived in a spooky old house in the equally spooky Hollywood Hills while in college. The house had been handed down from student to student, as well as 6 Manx cats. Rumor had it they had lived there since the glory days of the 1930’s when a starlet owned the home (it did sit one block above Graumanns/Hollywood Blvd). They were mostly healthy and a few could jump to a height of 6 feet from the floor. “Spidermomma” once ate 4 of her own litter, leaving just the paws to let us know. We thought they were inbred. They were freaky cats.
August 1st, 2005 at 8:25 am
She will probably end up in our freezer.
August 1st, 2005 at 8:43 am
Good thing you have photos to prove this tale or tailless.
Saw a calf once whose tail had frozen and fallen off but yours is the first I’ve seen ‘au naturel’. I’ve heard of dairies in Australia removing tails but I don’t believe that it’s a very common practice.
August 1st, 2005 at 9:10 am
Richard - some feedlots will remove part of the tail - for obvious reasons - yuck - which is probably why those dairies would. We have had frozen parts of tails, along with ears, sigh . . . another reason for the $ to be fooled with at sale time. You know that those ears and tails are so much in demand.
We also have had tails tore by coyotes. Our two wolf experiences were much more dramatic.
Tony - Spidermomma - great name - spooky story. We have a neighbor with a pack (flock? herd?) of mutant cats. Haven’t noticed manxes - you don’t want to get too close - if you catch my drift. But the majority of the inbred crew are polydactyl - their feet are almost as large as their heads.
August 3rd, 2005 at 9:17 pm
ah– so cute!!!