Cow Tipping Secrets
Below is an excerpt from Yéiitsoh Omen Chapter10 when Rory flips a cow upside down to perform a stomach surgery.
“What to do Doc?”
“We need to cast her, flip her upside down so I can right the displacement and relieve the pain of the bloat by untwisting the abomasum. Then I’ll suture it in place, anchoring it with a unique toggle pin so it doesn’t move back again. Next I’ll give her IV calcium and glucose, and finally, we'll clean out the infected juices and tissue left over from her calving."
He picked up the casting rope and walked to the cow’s neck, on her right side. ‘We’re going to tip her over. I’ll position the rope on her. You go on the other side, Jen, and I’ll hand the line off to you.”
“Okay, ready.”
“Start by looping this rope around the cow’s neck. Hold it with a non-slip knot, I'd use a bowline. Do you know the bowline knot, Jen?”
“Yep, that’s the knot where the rabbit comes out of its hole to run around the tree, right?”
“Yeah, that’s a good way to put it. You don’t want the loop to slip; otherwise, it can choke her out. Watch this.” He set the loop over her head, took the end of the rope, gathered it into a wad, and threw it across the cow's back to Jen. “Grab it and hand it back to me, under her chest.” He pulled the rope his way from underneath the cow and gathered the loose end into a wad again. “We'll secure this second loop around her chest with a half-hitch behind her shoulder blades, see?” He took the bundle of rope and slid it around her back pulling the rope package back towards him to make a half hitch.
“Umm hmm.”
Holding his hand with the gathered rope above her shoulder blades, he stretched it backward over her spine. “OK. Now take the end of the line, and pass it to me again, under the cow's belly in front of her udder, see right here?”
She nodded.
“I'll make another half hitch on her back and then make the loop snug, in front of her udder. Finally, when we’re ready, I’ll get behind her and pull the rope. The hitches on her back will cinch the rope up around her belly and chest, forcing her to drop onto the ground. Then we’ll roll her on her back to do the abomasum tack down. Let me get my surgery stuff. I’ll be right back.”
***
