I'd cut that y Tex ear tag out they're $1.20. Scrap the rest.

Nope, don't do it.

I would open it up and take a look. just out of curiosity

I am not a cattle man but have opened up a few butchered 3 in the last 2 years

I really appreciate that when I get them it is usually because the vet was just their and said , safe to eat but not going to live long.

Johne's an intestinal inflammation wasting disease that I saw lead to a lot of water retention but the vet stopped by when I had it all laid out on the snow and said your good to eat this. he was fairly sure pre necroscopy but appreciated me having it all opened up for him when he came back because he heard I was going to butcher it.

the next one seemed to be a twisted stomach that one was very small and it had a full first stomach but about nothing in the others just air , it obviously hadn't been getting much nutrition. calf's bought at the same time were over 550 pounds .

personally I don't think I would eat the dead one , the time to butcher him was a week ago.
if it isn't putting on normal weight do it before they die and you have to question it like this.

if you do butcher it I would expect around 50-60 pounds of very very lean ground is all you get . that is just my opinion from cutting a few up

the skinny one I did this spring was about 400 I got 66 in ground and a little more in back straps

Do not eat that.

Do not eat it!!!

pneumonia

Would you fill your freezer with Mc Doubles?

I would eat road kill before I ate something that died from sale barn trading sickness. I know it is hard to turn a thousand dollar calf into bait but a solid herd in the morning is priceless.check my spelling for errors and you will get whiff I mean my drift.

Before anything else, contact the local State Ag Agent. They might have someone come out and take tissue samples for pathology testing. There may be something more to this than meets the eye.

You big sissies!!!
Pass the plate. I'll wolf it down

Trapper Man tough!

Hey Donna...... where'd we put my will.......

Blessings,
Mark

That's not a bad idea, I will suggest it to the owner.

After removing the intestines and everything behind the diaphragm I cut into it to get at the heart, lungs, etc. while it was hanging n the tractor. a lot, I mean a lot of liquid, not blood, came gushing out. That didn't seem normal, symptom of something, pneumonia?

it appears that it died from asphyxiation due to the chain around his neck.
Pretty obvious really...

straw colored liquid?

yes sounds like pneumonia was very likely

https://www.cfsph.iastate.edu/diseaseinfo/disease-images/?disease=contagious-bovine-pleuropneumonia

Yes, straw-colored liquid. the butcher he normally takes his cattle to also suspects pneumonia and has advised him not to eat it.

I saw several of the symptoms described in your link when I gutted it.

Thanks GCP.

Food poisoning, blood poisoning, sepsis, Bacterial infections of the bladder, bowels, etc. Don't even think about eating that animal, or feeding it to another animal you care about. Maybe best to bury it.