the farm I trap at called me up today the vet was out and had diagnosed a cow as Jonhes and told them if you have someone who can put it down and put it to use , it is safe to eat

https://www.vet.cornell.edu/animal-...les-documents/johnes-disease-in-cattle-1

the vet stopped back once I had it gutted and we were looking through the intestines , he is quite sure based on the enlarged lymph-nodes all through the small intestine.
he will have the blood test back soon also.

figuring the fat is about nill I am thinking pull the tenderloins and grind the rest

Hard pass from me. It doesn't sound like a very pleasant disease for me or my family to possibly contract.

from what the vet said you potentially drink milk from Johnes cows all the time , because dairy live much longer than beef it is much more common in dairy.

stress like calving the animal gets weak and the bacterium takes hold inflaming the intestinal tissue.

beef don't normally get old enough to have a stressing event to have it take hold , I wonder if the cold maybe accelerated it. had this one made it to spring it would have gone to the regular butcher.

There are many, many, cattle out there with Johnes disease. We've all eaten them, and always will. Most don't show any symptoms until the end, but they contracts it years before, usually as a calf if I'm not mistaken. It's more common in dairies because most beef cattle are born in pastures, dairy cattle spend much of their time in the facilities. And once Johnes bacterium is presents it's very hard to get rid of.

And like most other cattle ailments, it is in no way dangerous to humans.

Most times it is transmitted while on milk as calves, so rigid control of colostrum, milk fed to calves(pasteurized milk) and milk replacer is key Calves suckling teats with manure on them is the most likely cause. Which is why calves are isolated quickly and not allowed to drink and are fed full feeds of colostrum via bottles or tubes.. Most dairy farms now do Johne's testing and there is a sliding scale. Milk from infected cows that show no sign is not fed to calves, even the colostrum milk. Many store frozen colostrum from negative test cows or feed colostrum replacements. Most signs won't show up until 2nd or later calving or about 4-5 years old. If the infection dose is heavy when calves it can show signs earlier. As to eating the meat, that is being done and has been done for decades. Many cows are culled for meat while infected but not shedding or showing signs. Most farms now don't have severe cases now as cows are culled earlier and the very sick cows shed a lot of the bacterium and they don't want that. The bacterium is related to TB and also Crohn's disease. This and other reasons are why it is recommended to pasteurize the milk we drink and use for food.

Bryce

thanks

that is about what the vet said

it hung gutted over night by the forks of the tractor to chill I am headed out to get it after work


my plan is to bring it home on my trailer and work on it a 1/4 at a time

Yep medium rare

the wife decided I was not leaving it in the driveway on the trailer over night so I got out to the farm and starred skinning I expected it to be froze hard but the hide came off fairly easily

I used the sawzall with a fresh blade to 1/4 I actually have more than 4 parts and any larger parts would have been to heavy to get hung

I hadn't shoveled my trailer after the last snow so I had fresh clean snow , I laid the skinned 1/4s on the trailer then when I got home hung them all in the garage.

Nice that the farmer offers it to you to start with. I wouldn’t hesitate a bit to consume it.

Dave

the vet asked him first if he had any butcher slots the next week .

he did not so the vet said then I won't do anything to try and make it better , just get your guy out to put it down.

it sounds like the blood test is 12 dollars + vet time to draw blood

it's a good relationship , I do all of the tree cutting on the farm that won't fall on a power line and I trap whenever he has a predator problem mostly raccoons with the chickens and turkeys that are the issue.


for skinning in the cold , I have used cheap cotton gloves under nitrile disposables before. last night I used rag wool under nitrile it was very comfortable skinning at 5 degrees.

Growing up on a farm I am sure we were fed a lot worse.

WS