Farm owners cull their cow Violet after chronic health problems including failure to breed, labored breathing, and overheating. They traced the issues to fescue toxicity and mineral deficiency, tried treatments, consulted a vet, and decided harvesting was the kindest choice. They thank supporters for their encouragement through a difficult decision.
This is a short and difficult message video. In fact, I'm just gonna read what I want to say. This is something we've been thinking about today and writing and trying to think of the best way to communicate this to you guys because we appreciate you so much for going through this journey with us. Good times, bad times, ugly times, all kinds of times. We thank you for being there with us. It is with deep sadness that I say we harvested Violet, our family cow, today. As you may know, she has struggled nearly since we received her. Early in the growing season, Violet didn't come into heat, didn't lose her winter coat, and had labored breathing along with overheating. This ended up being a combination of fescue toxicity and mineral deficiency. We began treating for both of these issues in a number of ways: fescue binders, minerals, and other methods. It was at this point we began to discuss the possibilities of culling her, selling, or harvesting. As we needed animals that could thrive on our property without as much maintenance. In the meanwhile, we were encouraged by some improvements. Recently, she relapsed in some of the old symptoms. After consulting with the vet and other professionals, we suspected fescue toxicity or pneumonia. This is when we made the tough decision to cull her sooner than later. Once we harvested and dressed her out this morning on our farm with a local butcher, we saw no signs of pneumonia. Meaning it would have been fescue toxicity. I've raised probably 100 cows in my lifetime on this very pasture. I don't know if you guys know that or not. My dad has been raising cows my whole life. We've had a number of cows ourselves, between dairy cows and beef cows. On the— we've raised them on this, these very grasses, eating this fescue, leading me to believe that cattle can thrive here but for whatever reason Violet couldn't. Again, this has been one of the hardest choices we have had to make on the farm. Hindsight is 20/20, so with that clear vision, I say next time we'll be more careful to get breeds and our individual stock from farms that are more aligned with our climate and practices. So in closing, I just want to thank you guys, and, um, I'm We're all sorry that this has happened, and I want to thank you for bearing this burden with us. We have so many true fans that have been there with your kind words in this hard time. We of course struggle with it, we of course have doubts and all these things, but you guys have come through and given us a kind word in a time of need. So for that, we just want to say thank you for sticking with us through that. Anything you want to add?
I just want to say thank you for all the encouraging, kind comments, and it means a lot to us because it's hard, you know. This has been a really hard day today. Thank you. Thanks.
If I had to start my Homestead all over again, it could only pick one animal… 
