In 1989 I married a dairy farmer. One afternoon I went out to check the maternity pen to see if there was anything going on. A 3rd calf cow named Jean had three legs sticking out. It was a set of tangled twins. I called the vet as this was a job for him. The only one available was the one that had been in jail for tax fraud, but he came right away.
I was standing there watching him as he opened his vet case and muttered to himself that he did not have a new syringe. We didn't have any handy either and so he used the one in the brucellosis vaccination kit. I was horrified and said something to him at the time as he rinsed it out with Nolvasan, a blue colored disinfectant and squirted that into the straw I had just laid down. It was late afternoon and the sun was shinning on the straw. He said the sunlight would kill everything.
He then proceeded to give her a shot to relax the contractions and push the twins back in, turn them around and delivered them safely. I named them Daryl and Dipstick.
About 3 months later we get a letter from the state vets office that we had failed a ring test. That is a test on the milk for Bangs. Since there was a stream going through the property, I wondered if deer, often seen in the yard, were bringing it in. All the stock had been vaccinated.
I told new hubby, you will get a state guy and possibly a federal guy on the doorstep any day now. Next morning there they were. They don't take this stuff lightly. We were ordered to test all milk cows a.s.a.p. Which we did. They were all negative.
So they ran another ring test. Still positive. They concluded that we had something that was still incubating in the animal(s), but shedding in the milk.
So wait a week and then test again. Well, on the third test they came up with one cow named Jean. Then, and only then, did I remember the incident with the dirty syringe. I recounted the story to state vets whose mouths dropped open. But me with a squeaky clean reputation, they had to do something.
So they tested Jean's blood for the exact type of bangs and even back then in 1989 they could do that. There is only one very special kind that is used in making the vaccine, I think it is Strain 19.
If it was Strain 19 then I was telling the truth and if not I would be sued for slander by the vet.
It WAS Strain 19 and the state and federal boys reamed his heiny a new one I guess. I was assigned the dubious responsibility of hauling Jean to the butcher as soon as we got those results.
It was sort of interesting when I got her there. They knew I was coming and they cleared out a place and Jean walked off the trailer and into the plant and I have no idea what happened after that. I was handed paperwork and I went home.
They followed up with a clear ring test.
When I unloaded her I noticed a knot under her skin on her back side just above the udder. That's about where he gave her that shot to stop the contractions.
Just thought it would be interesting since we were discussing this.
BA
Thanks for your personal input. My experience with Bangs was back in 1962 when my mom saw the dogs chewing on a calf. A heffer we had aborted her calf. My mom had me put it in an empty feed barrel till my dad saw it. He immediately made plans to sell the heffer as soon as possible. He had me take the aborted calf way off into the woods and leave it.
Later he bought feed and wanted me to put it in the barrel in which the dead calf had been placed. I reminded him of the calf but he told me to put the feed in there anyway.
I always wondered if it contaminated any other cattle.
A neighbor way off had one of his dairy cattle bang out so they were branded with a B on the left jaw. The entire herd sent to slaughter.