Sedated / Tranquilized Cattle

For purposes of this chapter I will be calling cattle immobilized, sedated, or tranquilized.  If I describe the condition of the animal as being lightly sedated, it means the animal may lie down, but can get to its feet and travel with a staggering motion, but is much calmer and just isn’t quite sure what’s going on.  (It is very sleepy).   If I describe the animal as heavily sedated, the animal has difficulty getting to its feet, and if it manages to do so, usually falls back down and could be somewhat aware of  its surroundings in an on and off manner.  If I call the animal tranquilized, the condition of the animal will be that it is completely helpless and unaware of its surroundings.  Actually, the word tranquilized means to chemically induce a calming effect.  This calming can be induced at various levels; but as stated, I will be referring to this term when the animal is completely unconscious and has been taken to a place of total unawareness with some analgesic effect where some minor surgery could be applied with the animal feeling no pain.  When the critter is revived, it will have no memory as to what occurred.

It is unfortunate that the United States have not conducted more studies on the chemical immobilization of domestic livestock.  The drugs available are limited, and virtually all of them will be of an “off label” nature.  The dosages given and the withdrawal time period set from injection to slaughter must be determined by your veterinarian and based on scientific data by this individual.

I had purchased some cutting bulls weighing around 600 pounds.  The morning I went up to process these cattle, I found one that was a little on the “wild side” with its head trapped in an empty hay ring.  (I modified the ring after this so it couldn’t occur again.)  He could have escaped on his own if he would have just lowered his head and backed up.  Needless to say, every time I tried to approach him on foot to provide assistance, he would raise his head and take off with the hay ring.  I thought he was going to break his blanking neck.  I penned the other cattle and started processing them, just after lightly sedating this steer with about one-forth of what it would have taken to heavily sedate him.  As I was working the other cattle, I would look down at him occasionally.  After about 15 minutes, I saw his butt go down allowing his head to slip right out.  I suspended what I was doing, drove him to the working chute, gave him his shots and castrated him.

I’ve removed, or have had to saw into, plastic and steel pipe collars on cattle’s feet.  These collars had been left by oilfield workers out in the pasture.  I’ve taken old car tires off of cattle’s necks that have been washed onto property from a creek.  I removed one tire from an 800 pound steer for a fellow that had cattle on an old abandoned farm with a “tire swing” suspended from a tree with a rope.  (That was fun).  I’ve partially sedated wild cattle that have tried to jump a steel fence and have ended up with their hind leg caught, just hanging there.  After the drugs go to work, it’s usually possible to approach the animal and cut the fence with a torch without the animal flopping around and breaking the hind leg.  I’ve partially sedated cattle with their heads stuck in the fork of a tree, or their hind legs caught in a tree root going downhill on a cattle path.  (The partial sedation seems to make the chain saw a little quieter for them).

Say you have a calf escape from your pasture and you find it on your neighbor’s adjoining property.  You’re lucky enough to trap it in your neighbor’s corral, but it’s not a very good pen, and you are afraid a good stiff wind could level the whole facility, let alone the fact that the calf is looking for a hole to escape from anyway.  You strongly suspect that when you return with your trailer to load him, he will no longer be there.  The solution will be to partially sedate the calf with a prescribed drug from your Vet.  This should be enough to make him lay down, but not enough to put him completely asleep.  When you return with the trailer two hours later, he’s still there but very sleepy, and with you coaxing him a little, you should be able to get him up and load him.  One note on the above:  You do not want to leave this animal until you are certain that he will remain in the sternum position, with his legs underneath him, or that if he does lay out flat, he will return to the sternum position on his own after a short period of time.  The reason for this will be discussed when we get to a heavily sedated or tranquilized animal.

You or your order buyer made a mistake.  Whoever did it, you ended up with crazy SOB you have been dealing with for quite some time.  You have it in a good set of steel pens, but the crazy thing’s nose is already bleeding from both nostrils caused by it running into the gates.  When he passes you in the pens, he has his head cocked sideways towards you, and he’s thinking about trying to see if he can fit into your hip pocket.  You hope that if he does attempt to jump the pens, he clears them, and doesn’t end up dangling from the top rung of the corrals by one or both hind legs.  A mild dosage of sedative could possibly prevent injury to the animal, or worse, injury to you, and many dollars if you end up with a crippled animal or an emergency room bill.  You could have been ahead if you had given this partial sedation to old crazy before you had to enter the pens to deal with him on a personal basis.

Now all of this you have been reading has been based upon my personal experiences.  But the ultimate and final source of drug information is going to be your veterinarian.  When properly done, there should be no need to administer any antagonist or reversal drug to partially sedated cattle.  This changes when we get into heavily sedated or tranquilized cattle dosages that must be employed for capture.  When you are heavily sedating or tranquilizing an animal, you must keep one important thing in mind.  The farther “down” or tranquilized the animal is, the closer it is to death.

Anytime you tranquilize any animal, its life will be in your hands.  First, don’t even attempt it unless you have a plan and adequate help with you to handle any situations you may encounter.  The animal should be protected from hypothermia in cold weather.  You should be prepared for hyperthermia in hot conditions.  You should know the normal heart rate and respiratory rate of the animal.  You should know the normal temperature of the animal.  You should at minimum know the entire above, monitor such, and know what to do to correct any problems encountered.  You shouldn’t run the animal and get its adrenaline level elevated prior to tranquilizing. You will greatly reduce your chances of being successful and increase the chances of capture myopathy, which will result in the eventual death of the animal.  You should leave the animal alone long enough for a proper induction time to lapse post injection.  (Give the drugs sufficient time to work before the downed animal is approached).  Chasing an animal after it’s darted is just as bad chasing it prior to darting it.  The only exception to this would be in not trying to run after or towards the animal, but to do as little as necessary to haze it with a horse or ATV, or both, in order to keep it from entering timber or an area that would deny access for loading and transporting.  Hopefully it will wander away to a clear area while all you have to do is just sit there quietly.

You must not leave a tranquilized hoofed animal lying on its side for too long a period of time.  It can expire on you indirectly from bloat, with the bloating causing restricted diaphragm movement resulting in suffocation and/or heart attack.  On a large animal it is necessary to have enough help on hand to get the animal to the sternum position, and a way to prop it up to keep it there.  I’ve used square bales of hay, spare tires, or just anything you can think of to use as a wedge. If your intention is to tranquilize or heavily sedate, have the antagonist on hand prior to doing such.  Should at any time during any portion of the procedure you think the animal may expire on you, you better be able to hit the jugular vein with such.

If you have “baited” the cattle with feed in order to get a shot at it, you want to make sure your subject doesn’t get very much of it.  When it comes time to antagonize drug in the vein, the first few breaths the animal takes in can be violently deep, and you run the risk of any feed left in the back of the throat being sucked into the windpipe.  That will kill them.

You should give an adequate dosage of the agonist with the first injection, once again your Vet should be performing these duties or there with you directing you at all times.  It is actually better to slightly overdose the animal than it is to underdose it.  It very seldom works to give additional darts of drugs if the first dart wasn’t enough.  You will end up chasing the animal around more trying to get a second shot once you figure out you didn’t give enough the first time. This gets the animal more excited, and also lacks the rapid rise in blood level of the drug from one injection.  You would be better served to monitor the underdosed animal from afar to make sure that when you leave, it will recover.  You will hesitate to leave without the animal after you have made all the preparations and have gathered all the help required to accomplish the task; but you can always return another day and do it right.  It would be better than killing the animal.

Again, this is just some of my experiences to let you know what you could be in for. The best, and only advice I want you to take from this is that you should attend a class and become certified in the chemical immobilization of animals, and do not do anything without the approval and under the direction and supervision of a licensed veterinarian.

Again, after the dart hits the animal, get away from it and leave it alone.  Again, the only exception being is to haze it with a pickup, ATV or horse to keep it from reaching an area such as timber. You will want it to go down in an accessible place if your goal is to move it to a different location. It will take five to 10 minutes for most cattle to succumb. Once it heads to an open area that suits you, leave it alone. The more chased and aroused, the less likely it is that you will be successful. Keep noise minimal.

When the critter has been down for at least five minutes, I quietly sneak up behind it with a lariat in a gloved hand. Have a helper standing by in a pickup, horse or tractor. Slip the rope over its head and around its neck and motion for your helper to come up. Tie the loose end of your lariat to whatever your helper brings. This way, if the subject becomes aroused and gets on its feet, you will have it under control. With it under the influence of the drug, it doesn’t take much choking for it to fall down again. If this does happen, slack the rope and loosen the noose on its neck slightly to allow it to breathe.

Once the animal is down, and with the rope still attached, I tie the legs in preparation for the transport and security.

There are several different methods you can employ to transport sedated cattle. My favorite method is to use a pickup bed that is designed to move the feed, or larger round bales of hay. When the subject is secured by tying the front and hind legs, I lift it onto the trailer. This method is featured in the pictorial portion of this document using the same trailor as described in the next paragraph.

My second favorite method entails using an eight foot wide by 12 foot long flat bed trailer that is pinned on the front and pivots at the axle. I back this rig up to the head of the tied animal, pull the front pin and lower the rear of the trailer to the ground next to its nose. I pull this trailer with a four wheel drive pickup equipped with a winch on the bed. I then place a short chain around the animal’s neck and attach the hook of the winch cable to it underneath its chin to prevent choking as it is being loaded.

I winch it far enough foward upon the trailer that the trailer levels out and I can replace the front pin on the trailer. I then take two ratcheting cargo straps, place one over the shoulders and one over the butt and away we go!

Upon arriving at the final destination, I pull the pin on the trailer, hook a long chain to something secure and drive forward until the animal is on the ground. I then untie its legs, administer Tolazine in the vein to revive it and get out of harms way!

THE ROPE METHOD

With a stock trailer in position for loading, and a rope around the animal’s neck, thread the loose end of the rope through the back of the trailer and out the side of the trailer towards the front. Dally the end of the rope on a saddle horn or a truck. Once this is set up, arouse the animal with an electric prod (hot shot). When it is on its feet, jerk it into the stock trailer, shut the gate and slack the rope. A hay hook works well for reaching through the side of the trailer to loosen or to completely remove the rope.

On one occasion a fellow had eight head of cows and calves, which were all wild, that had escaped his pasture and were on public hunting land. The hunters were raising cane, feeling the cattle were disturbing their deer hunt. The owners of these cows had three stock trailers and four horses. The owners drove me to the location the cattle were feeding and I darted them all from the pickup. We had all eight head down at one time, and they used the rope method with their horses to load the cattle. The whole procedure took about two hours.

TRACTOR METHOD

Once I knocked down a wild cow weighing between 1,500 and 1,600 pounds for a fellow. She managed to travel behind a pond dam that was inaccessible for me in my flat bed, tilting trailer. However, before entering the pasture she was in, I noticed this client had a tractor with a bale spike attached to his front-end loader up by the pasture gate.

Upon getting her hog-tied (which, by the way, is a two-man job on an animal of this size), I sent the client to get his tractor. Upon his return I put a log chain between the cow’s legs and belly, and half-hitched the other end of the chain to his bale spike.

She dangled upside down for a quarter of a mile while he exited the pasture with her. Upon reaching his stock trailer, we threaded her in the back of it. I unhooked and untied her, gave her Tolazine in the vein and shut the trailer gate. Within three minutes of the Tolazine injection, she was rattling her new cage on the 15 mile trip to the sale barn!