CowboyBlue
Well-known member
Daddy bought a Hereford heifer a couple of years ago from a friend at church. She is a pretty little thing, and her first calf was born easily and grew off fairly well.
A few months ago, she started walking so very slowly from place to place that she is always last to the feed, last to the water, etc. I have looked her over as closely as I can, and I can find no injuries to her hooves, no swellings or marks on her legs. When she walks, she drags her back hooves through the dirt, almost as if they are too heavy to lift. She also seems to have a 'bowed,' or arched back. For a few weeks, she was poor, but not much more so than the others. Her calf was a big, pretty BWF heifer that was as healthy as could be. We took her off of her, and I am hoping that will help her get some of her strength back. And, now that I have added mineral blocks and sulphur salt blocks and a syrup tub, all of the cows are looking much better, and none more so than the little lame cow.
I asked my mentor, my oldest uncle who has been running cattle in this part of Texas for a "hunnerd years," what he thought about her. He has been keeping an eye on her, and is just as puzzled as I am. He thinks she may have fallen and injured her back or hips, or maybe she got some kind of weed poisoning. (I should add that her manure output is regular; not constipated in the least, and no looser than any of the other cattle). He said it's probably too late to call the vet, and we'd have a five-hundred dollar bill for a two-hundred dollar cow. His advice was just to let her be and see what happened. She is a pretty little cow, and I hate to get rid of her if she can pull out of this.
Have any of you seen anything like this?
A few months ago, she started walking so very slowly from place to place that she is always last to the feed, last to the water, etc. I have looked her over as closely as I can, and I can find no injuries to her hooves, no swellings or marks on her legs. When she walks, she drags her back hooves through the dirt, almost as if they are too heavy to lift. She also seems to have a 'bowed,' or arched back. For a few weeks, she was poor, but not much more so than the others. Her calf was a big, pretty BWF heifer that was as healthy as could be. We took her off of her, and I am hoping that will help her get some of her strength back. And, now that I have added mineral blocks and sulphur salt blocks and a syrup tub, all of the cows are looking much better, and none more so than the little lame cow.
I asked my mentor, my oldest uncle who has been running cattle in this part of Texas for a "hunnerd years," what he thought about her. He has been keeping an eye on her, and is just as puzzled as I am. He thinks she may have fallen and injured her back or hips, or maybe she got some kind of weed poisoning. (I should add that her manure output is regular; not constipated in the least, and no looser than any of the other cattle). He said it's probably too late to call the vet, and we'd have a five-hundred dollar bill for a two-hundred dollar cow. His advice was just to let her be and see what happened. She is a pretty little cow, and I hate to get rid of her if she can pull out of this.
Have any of you seen anything like this?
