850lb steer rises to his front knees and wants to stay there

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jkwilson

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850lb steer seems to have front leg problems. First noticed a couple of months ago when the ground was frozen hard that he seem a little hesitant to walk on the frozen muddy areas. Once it thawed he seemed fine. Now he usually spends some time on his front knees before getting up. Doesn't seem to be favoring either front leg more than the other.

Hooked the trailer up to take him to the vet tomorrow, but wanted to see what the collective wisdom is here.
 
One of my butcher steers did that for a few days. His legs were real stiff from me ramping up the grain too fast. I took it easy on the grain for a few days and he got better.
 
Hooked the trailer up to take him to the vet tomorrow,
The number of people who have to take their animal to the vet, rather than the vet coming to the farm, still surprises me. Vet observing farm conditions, feed, housing ect is part of diagnosing and preventive medicine.
 
The number of people who have to take their animal to the vet, rather than the vet coming to the farm, still surprises me. Vet observing farm conditions, feed, housing ect is part of diagnosing and preventive medicine.
Cant get a vet to make a farm call 'round here. $250 minimum, 10 minutes or 1 hour
And you BETTER have dang good facilities or they wont ever come back
 
Sounds like the too much protein.... sounds like founder.... it can come and go to some extent. If it was one foot/leg I would say more likely an abcess deep in the foot... not both at the same time
 
Not sure what happened. I answered this, but apparently the forum choked and it's gone. Won't go into all of the detail, but we butchered him. Vet wanted to see the leg that was causing the problem and did a PM. I thought he was sore on both feet, but vet said it was just his right. He thinks the calf was injured when young and it just showed with weight. He was mid-weight in a group of 7 steers and was always the lightest eater and slowest gainer of the bunch.
 

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