11month Jersey with cut tongue

[heidimsuk21]

My calf wouldn't eat or drink anything yesterday morning. She was fine the night before. We discovered that her tongue has a giant slice in it from the side inwards towards the center of her tongue. We can't figure out what she got into but it's a pretty clean slice. Just looking for some advice on what to do to help her through it. With a feed tube I've force fed her some CMPK D3, drench supplement, and been giving her water with Resorb. I've thought about putting her back on some calf milk just to help with the supplementation. The vet said there's not much else we can do. Just reaching out to see if anybody else has been in this type of situation and what you did. Thanks.

 

[CowboyRam]

One year we had a cow that had a sliced tongue, it was almost all the way across the width of her tongue. We took her into the vet, and the vet really didn't know what to do. We had him cut it off the rest of the way as there was not much holding on. She lost about two inches of her tongue. After that was all done she was not a happy camper, she really wanted to see someone. It took her a day or so to settle down before you dared get into the corral with her. We fed her hay cubes for several days and then turned her back out with the herd. Near as we can figure is that she got her tongue wrapped around some twine that was frozen to the ground. She darn near jerked her tongue off getting loose.

 

[TCRanch]

What your vet said. I had a calf that got kicked in the mouth, cut her gums and her bottom teeth were jutting out. Took her in and my vet cleaned out her mouth and said give it time, no antibiotics needed. She was a little goofy looking but healed just fine.

 

[Travlr]

My calf wouldn't eat or drink anything yesterday morning. She was fine the night before. We discovered that her tongue has a giant slice in it from the side inwards towards the center of her tongue. We can't figure out what she got into but it's a pretty clean slice. Just looking for some advice on what to do to help her through it. With a feed tube I've force fed her some CMPK D3, drench supplement, and been giving her water with Resorb. I've thought about putting her back on some calf milk just to help with the supplementation. The vet said there's not much else we can do. Just reaching out to see if anybody else has been in this type of situation and what you did. Thanks.

Tongues heal very quickly. If you really felt like doing the best for her you might give some wet mash for a couple of days or so. Otherwise it will heal by itself...

 

[heidimsuk21]

One year we had a cow that had a sliced tongue, it was almost all the way across the width of her tongue. We took her into the vet, and the vet really didn't know what to do. We had him cut it off the rest of the way as there was not much holding on. She lost about two inches of her tongue. After that was all done she was not a happy camper, she really wanted to see someone. It took her a day or so to settle down before you dared get into the corral with her. We fed her hay cubes for several days and then turned her back out with the herd. Near as we can figure is that she got her tongue wrapped around some twine that was frozen to the ground. She darn near jerked her tongue off getting loose.

Thank you for the information. We did talk to the vet about having it cut off but our vet is about an hour away and they were getting ready to close for the weekend so we couldn't get her there in time.

 

[heidimsuk21]

What your vet said. I had a calf that got kicked in the mouth, cut her gums and her bottom teeth were jutting out. Took her in and my vet cleaned out her mouth and said give it time, no antibiotics needed. She was a little goofy looking but healed just fine.

Thank you for your response. That definitely makes me feel better that she just might pull through it ok. She hasn't had a fever yet, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she won't get an infection. The vet did say I could run the cold hose water through her mouth just to help keep it clean. I did it once, but she was not having it.

 

[heidimsuk21]

Tongues heal very quickly. If you really felt like doing the best for her you might give some wet mash for a couple of days or so. Otherwise it will heal by itself...

Thank you for your response. When you say wet mash, do you mean mixing her regular feed with water? She usually gets some cattle cubes and a grower feed plus hay.

 

[puzzled in oregon]

Can an injury like this, put an animal at risk for wooden tongue ? A friend of mine lost a bull a few years ago
to wooden tongue. Said it got its start most likely from a injury/cut in the mouth. This was at the height of the
Covid panic. Vet did not have any sodium iodide, and could not get any.

 

[TexasJerseyMilker]

Wooden tongue, that sounds awful. I had to look it up.

Woody Tongue in Cattle: Causes, Signs, Diagnosis and Treatment

Woody tongue in cattle is a bacterial disease that affects the soft tissues of the oral cavity, tongue, lymph nodes and GI tract.

www.thevetexpert.com

 

[heidimsuk21]

Can an injury like this, put an animal at risk for wooden tongue ? A friend of mine lost a bull a few years ago
to wooden tongue. Said it got its start most likely from a injury/cut in the mouth. This was at the height of the
Covid panic. Vet did not have any sodium iodide, and could not get any.

I guess there's a chance of it happening, but right now I'm just trying to keep her fed and hydrated. We have penicillin if any infections start.

 

[bird dog]

Vet did not have any sodium iodide, and could not get any

LA 300 will work just as well. Your Vet should know this. Most of the time LA300 is used if the cow is bred. Sodium Iodine can cause abortions. Treatment success is much better if you catch it early. Look for excess drooling and not eating.

 

[TCRanch]

Can an injury like this, put an animal at risk for wooden tongue ? A friend of mine lost a bull a few years ago
to wooden tongue. Said it got its start most likely from a injury/cut in the mouth. This was at the height of the
Covid panic. Vet did not have any sodium iodide, and could not get any.

What @bird dog said. My first case of woody tongue was successfully treated with sodium iodide, and she was bred. Didn't abort, fully healed. Second case of woody tongue was treated with LA300 but whatever she ingested (not metal because she already had a magnet) had already segued to her heart and we lost her to hardware disease. That said, best friend has successfully treated two cows with just LA300 with only 2 (hefty, 6cc per 100) doses.

 

[puzzled in oregon]

There was no concern of abortion with the bull. I think it either advanced quickly or it was not noticed quickly enough. Yes they used heavy doses of LA, but did not get the results needed. The vet felt if they had had the Sodium Iodide it might have made a difference.

 

[puzzled in oregon]

With somethings I probably start antibiotics prematurely, but I dislike waiting sometimes to see if or how sick
they will get.

 

[noltrh]

My calf wouldn't eat or drink anything yesterday morning. She was fine the night before. We discovered that her tongue has a giant slice in it from the side inwards towards the center of her tongue. We can't figure out what she got into but it's a pretty clean slice. Just looking for some advice on what to do to help her through it. With a feed tube I've force fed her some CMPK D3, drench supplement, and been giving her water with Resorb. I've thought about putting her back on some calf milk just to help with the supplementation. The vet said there's not much else we can do. Just reaching out to see if anybody else has been in this type of situation and what you did. Thanks.

When we had mouth problems my dad would soak shell corn for a couple days. We took on a lease place once and bought herd from estate. Some cows were so old they had no teeth. Sold the ones with bigger calves but wanted to keep the ones wit babies to grow out. Worked great. Had a bull with busted jaw. Worked out too.

 

[heidimsuk21]

When we had mouth problems my dad would soak shell corn for a couple days. We took on a lease place once and bought herd from estate. Some cows were so old they had no teeth. Sold the ones with bigger calves but wanted to keep the ones wit babies to grow out. Worked great. Had a bull with busted jaw. Worked out too.

Thanks for the information. I appreciate it.

 

[Hamiam]

Unfortunately we share a driveway with a neighbor that is feeding this $80 hay to his cows. I often go over & pick out some of the mesquite thorns & briars for them. I tried to tell him about woody tongue but he thinks I'm a stupid city girl that pays $125 a bale for hay. I started working with a neighbor who raised Brahmas when I was a teen & though I lived in the city during my husband's military career, I hardly feel like a stupid city girl.

 

[kenny thomas]

And i thought $30 hay is too high.

 

[Hamiam]

And i thought $30 hay is too high.

We've had a bad drought in Wise County Texas for 2 years in a row. Good coastal hay is costing around $140-160 right now. I paid on average $110 last summer & after the drought hit, I had to buy more at $140. (I wasn't expecting to feed hay most of the summer & fall) . We have a small place, just 30 acres & no hay pasture. I'm thinking about going from commercial cow/calf operation to just having feeder calves during the summer months & not having to hay them.